EAM PRESERVATION

The Church of The Good Shepherd is a three building complex located in Thomasville, Georgia consisting of a chapel, a two story parish hall and a vicarage.  Listed on Places in Peril for 2024 by the Georgia Trust, Good Shepherd has served Thomasville's African American community as a house of worship, a school and a community center for well over a century. That vitality continues to this day with summer youth programs, weekly services and a free neighborhood dinner every Sunday.  EAM Preservation has been retained to conduct a comprehensive conditions assessment on all three structures.  One remarkable feature of the site and a strong reason for its national significance are the beautifully preserved classrooms on the second floor. Before public education was available for African American children, these classrooms hosted an enrollment of 150 students.  Standing in the space today, under the watchful gaze of President Lincoln's antique portrait, one feels like the students just left.