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Lilly Schoolhouse<br />
Historic<br />
Circa 1912<br />
The upstairs auditorium seats<br />
approximately 150 and has been restored<br />
to an art-deco theater/auditorium of the period.<br />
Go back in time to the<br />
Old Lilly Schoolhouse<br />
Saved from impending demolition, the Lilly Schoolhouse in Lilly,<br />
Georgia has been a labor of love for local attorney, Michelle<br />
Smith. The loving restoration has been a four-year project,<br />
that had a year-long delay last year due to the January 2017 tornadoes<br />
and weather that almost destroyed three years of painstaking, historic<br />
restoration. Circa 1912, the Historic Lilly Schoolhouse was built by Perry<br />
Green Busbee, Sr., the father of Georgia Governor George Busbee. The<br />
school has a 150-seat auditorium/theater, a large banquet room, and two<br />
period classrooms with original chalkboards.<br />
Rain damage from the January 2017 storms was not covered by the<br />
insurance policy as rain was excluded. Disaster assistance with FEMA and<br />
SBA, while promised by both bureaucracies never materialized, since Lilly,<br />
Georgia was 30 miles outside of the disaster declaration. Local delegations<br />
pleaded to have the disaster declaration amended by FEMA, only to be<br />
told that such an amendment could only come from the President. A<br />
letter to President Trump requesting assistance could not unravel the<br />
bureaucracy.<br />
Undeterred, Smith has continued the labor of love, starting over<br />
last January repainting and reworking areas already restored. Historic<br />
restoration is a slow process, as it is not enough to just make an old<br />
building look new. Original colors of surviving paint are matched, as<br />
well as original stain colors from surviving baseboard and trim. Period<br />
lighting, curtains, and appropriate historic era furnishings are just some of<br />
the details that make an old building go back in time.<br />
This is not the first time the Lilly Schoolhouse was almost destroyed<br />
by water damage, as the school was in danger of being lost completely by<br />
catastrophic roof damage due to water and rain damage in the 1980’s. The<br />
upstairs auditorium was completely in ruins.<br />
The downstairs floor has a large banquet<br />
room that leads out to the Lilly<br />
Schoolhouse grounds and two additional period<br />
classrooms with original chalkboards.<br />
The entire front classrooms were almost completely lost due to massive<br />
termite damage that obliviated entire supporting beams. So as not to<br />
destroy the integrity of the original heart pine classroom flooring, Smith<br />
insisted that the termite repair was done by crawling under the school, and<br />
slowly taking up individual heart pine boards to save and relay them after<br />
new supporting beams were constructed underneath. At all times, the goal<br />
has been to save the integrity of the building and to maintain its character<br />
and charm.<br />
M<br />
iss Kitty, Lilly Schoolhouse Resident<br />
Cat and Official Hostess.<br />
misskitty@lillyschoolhouse.com<br />
The Lilly Schoolhouse is not perfect, because construction in 1912 was<br />
not perfect. Defects and imperfections have been lovingly preserved,<br />
including the original glass in an interior door that was once an exterior<br />
door. The original craftsman built the door by hand and squared out the<br />
opening by sight. The original out of square opening, visible if you look<br />
close remains, to be true to the character and charm of the building.<br />
That door was built with love for the Lilly Schoolhouse some 100 years<br />
ago, and love should not be changed to fit in a square.<br />
The Lilly Schoolhouse will open late summer or early fall <strong>2018</strong>, weather<br />
and rain permitting.<br />
www.lillyschoolhouse.com<br />
At Home in Houston County 61 59<br />
59 Lilly Schoolhouse.indd 1 10/25/18 3:49 PM