Historic Garner House In Lilburn

I recently had the pleasure of photographing the historic Garner family home on Five Forks Trickum Road in Lilburn. I appreciate the information shared by the current owners and Garner descendants:

The home and 500 original acres were passed down from William Garner to his son William "Newt" Garner.

In an early census you can see that this area was called Garner District and William Garner is listed as "landlord." In other words he rented land out to tenant farmers. William's son Newt fought in the Civil War and had a daughter in 1885 named Commie Garner who lived in the home nearly her whole life. She lived just a couple of months shy of 100. She had married a Thomas Wesley and by her death the property had been whittled down to 50 acres. At this point most of that remaining land was sold to make Wesley Ridge (named after Commie Garner Wesley and her husband).

You'll find more photos and a lot of great Gwinnett County history at Gwinnett County GAGenWeb.

Historic Lawrenceville Georgia

Lawrenceville has been the county seat of Gwinnett County since the first courthouse was moved here in 1820. Still a charming and thriving city of Victorian homes, historic sites, restaurants, shops, and the newly relocated Aurora Theatre, Lawrenceville offers many ways to spend an enjoyable afternoon or evening.

After Lawrenceville was incorporated in 1821 the population began growing, and businesses relocated to the new county seat. In 1829 Lawrenceville had forty dwellings, ten stores, ten machine shops, three law offices, three doctors, one academy, one Methodist church, one Baptist church and one Presbyterian church.

In 1832 ten acres were set aside northwest of Lawrenceville for the Lawrenceville Academy. The Lawrenceville Female Seminary was incorporated by the General Assembly in 1837, and a two story brick building was erected by Daniel Killian in 1838 (now the Gwinnett History Museum). In 1893 a public school system was created in the town, and a new building was erected.

The historic courthouse was the third built on this site, completed in the 1880's, updated in 1903, and expanded in 1935. It was used until 1988 when the new Gwinnett Justice Center was built. It houses the Gwinnett County Historical Society and is used for meetings and exhibits. The City of Lawrenceville and local merchants host concerts on the green during the summer.