From the Building and Grounds Committee – Repointing our Churchyard Wall

As a part of this season’s capital projects, repairs are now being made to the Churchyard walls. Keith Nichols, our masonry contractor, has secured — from Thompson Building Wrecking, our nearby neighbor on 11th Street — bricks to fill in the holes on the west wall. Mr. Nichols reports that, quite unusually, we know the source of these: Pullman Hall.

Pullman Hall, 560 Walton Way, burned in May 2019 and was built in 1852-53 as a railroad depot for the Augusta-Waynesboro route. Three railroads served Augusta then; that line became a part of the Central of Georgia Railway.

A walk around the entire walls reveals different colors of bricks in different areas of the wall. For example, bricks in the area of the front gate area are a dark red. From various maps for the late 1800’s we know that the West Wall was a part of the Sibley Cotton Warehouse. Walls at the front, along Reynolds Street, are probably older, most likely built as churchyard walls. Several pictures reveal how well the Pullman bricks match the colors of the West Wall. Notably, mortar for repairing old walls is especially formulated and mixed, both for color and to accommodate the differences between modern brick and old brick.

We are grateful for the award of a grant from the Watson-Brown Junior Board which partially funds this project to repoint our churchyard walls.