Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society

Advocacy

 

With nearly 750 members, Cobb Landmarks is influential with policy makers, developers, and others who make decisions about the community's historic environment. Serving as a catalyst for community preservation action, its members work to bring local history into the lives of the community it serves.

 

Cobb Landmarks provides technical assistance with numerous historic properties, presses preservation causes with elected officials and media reporters, and plays an active role in current events that impact the city and state.

 

 

Partnerships / Advocacy

 

Since Cobb Landmarks’ founding, its programs have provided countless hours of hands-on technical consulting and helped to preserve the character of local cities for future generations. Serving as a leader within the preservation community, the organization has formed several strategic partnerships. Highlights of several recent collaborations include:

 

 

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation

 

In March 2008, Daryl Barksdale, Executive Director for Cobb Landmarks, was asked to coordinate a local initiative to assist historic property owners with guidance in tornado damage assessment and recovery. For the past five years, Cobb Landmarks has participated in the Georgia Trust-led Collaborative Preservation project in conjunction with other local nonprofit organizations in Georgia as part of a national pilot project funded by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

 

 

Acworth Society for Historic Preservation

 

In 2005, Cobb Landmarks negotiated a property transfer of the Cowen Farmstead to the Georgia Trust. Built in 1854, the Cowen Farmstead is believed to be one of the oldest houses in Acworth and is listed in the local, state, and national registers of historic places. The Georgia Trust has completed a $295,000 exterior stabilization project on this formerly endangered property. Cobb Landmarks was instrumental in this undertaking and developed a letter of understanding with the Georgia Trust regarding partner roles and rehabilitation.

 

 

City of Marietta

 

In May 2008, Cobb Landmarks board members advocated on behalf of city council members to staff the Historic Board of Review with professionals who have demonstrated experience in architecture, preservation, or history, skill sets that may prove advantageous to the board’s ability to effectively maintain the historic integrity of structures in Marietta’s downtown square.

 

 

Cobb County

 

Cobb Landmarks has partnered with the Cobb County government’s historic preservation commission in recent years on several projects. Cobb Landmarks co-wrote two successful federal grant applications that funded the county’s recently completed historic resource survey and historic driving tour; it is also a strategic and financial partner in a historic homeowner workshop planned for March 14, 2009.

 

 

Cobb Landmarks will continue its efforts to maintain current funding levels for preservation-related programs and services. In addition, it will advocate for additional funding, tax incentives, and laws aiding preservation efforts. The following summary includes ways in which Cobb Landmarks has played an active advocacy role:

 

• Successfully advocated for the passing of a state bill (HB 851), which strengthens the tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic properties.
• Gave support to Friends of the Strand Theatre, a group working to rebuild the 1935 movie house located in Marietta Square.
• Contacted legislators to support an increase in state funding for the Georgia Heritage grant program.
• Participated in Historic Preservation Day at the State Capitol, where staff and board visit with state legislators to discuss pending preservation legislation.

 

Publications

 

To educate the public about preservation issues, Cobb Landmarks develops and sells publications, which include Cobb County, Georgia, and the Origins of the Suburban South: A Twentieth-Century History (Thomas A. Scott, 2003) and The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County (Sarah Temple, republished in 1989 and 1997). Additional printed resources include:

 

• A historical map of Cobb County used by teachers in the Talking Walls program.
• Bi-monthly member newsletter, The Landmarker.
• A booklet entitled Historic Highlights of Cobb County.
• Landmarker reprint histories of the famous Civil War locomotives, the General and the Texas.