'Persevere, don't give up': Georgia preservation group honors team for saving tabby building in Darien that survived fire during Civil War. The Adam Strain has a new life

In July 2023 (Picket photo), nearing completion (Marion Savic), and side view (Ethos Preservation)

The tabby Adam Strain building in coastal Darien, Ga., looked forlorn, lonely and, frankly, about to collapse in 2008 when it was listed among the state’s “Places in Peril.”

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation cited residential development pressure and the demolition of an 18^th century house north of town. Local concern for the Strain, which was built around 1815 and survived the Burning of Darien during the Civil War, had reached “a new high,” the nonprofit said.

Someone needed to step up and purchase “this rare survivor” and come up with a vision for its use as part of Darien’s heritage tourism program, the Trust urged.

That finally occurred in January 2020, when Milan and Marion Savic bought the Strain and began a long and expensive restoration of the distinctive warehouse perched on a riverfront bluff.

Marion Savic holds award with the Adam Strain team. Milan Savic is at far right (Photo GTHP)

The Trust this past weekend recognized the work by the Savics, consultants and preservation companies with its Marguerite Williams Award, presented annually to the project that has had the greatest impact on preservation in the state.

Last November, the Savics opened Tabby House Brewing in the Adam Strain and a restored bank building next door. The couple is developing an upstairs museum about the project and its ties to the local culture.

“It is an important example of a building that many thought was too far gone (left) being saved through perseverance and a commitment to quality craftsmanship,” Ben Sutton, director of preservation and legislative advocacy for the Trust, told the Picket in an email Monday.

The commerce building’s connection to the Federal burning of Darien in 1863 first drew me to its story, but the passion of the Savics and local residents kept me plugged into the daunting project.

“We had an amazing team that came together to do what was near impossible -- save the beautiful Adam Strain,” the Savics said in a Facebook post about the award.

I asked Marion Savic about the five-year effort and what advice she might give to someone taking on such an involved and complex project.

“It takes dedication, perseverance, good quality contractors, engineers, architects, etc. to make it work -- and money,” she replied. “State and federal tax credits definitely help offset some of the cost. Persevere, don’t give up and the outcome will be worth it.”

It weathered a firestorm during the Civil War

The Adam Strain has stood amid palm trees on a bluff of the small, interior port city above St. Simons Island for more than two centuries. Tabby ruins of other businesses lie just below the site and Darien’s famous shrimp fleet is just to the east.

Scene from "Glory" shows troops arriving in Darien in June 1863.

Tabby is a type of cement made from crushed oyster shells, lime and other materials and was popular in Georgia and Florida for several centuries leading up to the Civil War. Stucco was placed on the exterior to protect it from water damage.

The warehouse was used to store cotton prior to shipment in 1861 and 1862 before the Union naval blockade clamped down on Georgia’s coast during the Civil War.

In June 1863, Darien held little strategic value to the Union, but Col. James Montgomery (below), commanding the African-American 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, supposedly believed it was a safe haven for blockade runners.

He had another reason for shelling, looting and burning Darien, leaving only a few buildings standing among the charred ruins. The destruction was depicted in the award-winning 1989 film "Glory."

Steven Smith, site manager for nearby Fort King George Historic Site in 2013 when the Picket first wrote about the town’s burning, said Montgomery “wanted to make a political statement. Here was a town built on the backs of slaves.”

After most townspeople had fled, Montgomery ordered Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the famed 54^th  Massachusetts Infantry to participate. While Shaw didn’t mind the looting to help resupply his troops, he opposed setting the town to torch. He apparently relented under threat of court-martial.

The Strain survived the fire but much of its interior was destroyed. The episode caused a howl of protest across the South and even in newspapers in the North.

'A case study in tabby preservation'

The warehouse was repaired after the Civil War and saw a rebirth for several decades before it was used for storage following World War II. It then sat empty for about 50 or so years.

The Strain, perhaps the oldest surviving in Darien, was beloved by its 2,000 residents, who worried for its future as its appearance worsened. The years rolled on.

Downtown has grown since this view of the Strain (Courtesy of Kit Sutherland)

It came within whiskers of being demolished before the Savics stepped in and bought the property. Two hundred-plus years had done its damage. A wall had a pronounced lean, the back wall facing the river was hanging by a prayer and other areas were in need of structural stability. The building was at risk of being toppled by strong winds.

Now, the building is an additional tourist draw in the city near St. Simons and Jekyll islands.

On Saturday, the Trust presented numerous preservation awards in Brunswick, Ga., during its annual Spring Ramble of historic homes and sites. The organization seeks partners to revitalize properties it has acquired or, as in the case of the strain, raise awareness of other endangered historic resources.

A press release on the award reads in part:

“From 2020 to 2024, the Savics and their team undertook a complex, multi-phase rehabilitation -- restoring historic tabby walls, wood floors, windows, and even a rooftop hoist system -- while installing a concealed steel frame to ensure stability. The adjacent 1880s-era Darien Bank building was also restored and incorporated into the project.

The large upstairs room features a bar, event space and artifacts found during work (Picket photo)

“Today, the buildings house the Tabby House Brewing Company and Museum, reinvigorating Darien’s waterfront and drawing new energy to the historic district. With techniques that now serve as a case study in tabby preservation, this project stands as a powerful example of vision, perseverance and the profound impact historic preservation can have in shaping Georgia’s cultural and architectural legacy.”

The recipients of the Marguerite Williams Award for 2025 are: Marion and Milan Savic, Bennett Preservation Engineering, Ethos Preservation, GEL Engineering, archaeologist NicholasHonerkamp and Myrna Crook, Landmark Preservation, LKS Architects, Method Engineering and Saussy Engineering.

The Strain team recognized Fred Ecker of Landmark Preservation for  his leadership and expertise.

Civil War Trails receives public history award from Emerging Civil War

Chris Mackowski, Drew Gruber, Richard Lewis of Civil War Trails

The head of Civil War Trails credits community partners for the organization’s recent recognition for promoting history through hundreds of roadside markers.

Emerging Civil War, a collaboration of 30 historians, bestowed its 2023 Award for Service in Civil War Public History to CWT at its annual meeting in Spotsylvania County, Va.

“It’s never about me, but about our partners who make this program tick,” CWT executive director Drew Gruber told the Civil War Picket in an email.

Based in Williamsburg, Va., Civil War Trails is considered the world’s largest “open air museum,” with signs and markers at about 1,400 sites across six states: Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

“This award recognizes the work of thousands of community leaders, archivists, and local historians who have proposed and researched their local stories which manifest as a Civil War Trails site,” Gruber said in a news release about the award. All signs are generated at the grass-roots level, he said.

Print and digital brochures help travelers find their way, Gruber said. “And when they arrive, they'll find a Civil War Trails sign that will fuel their imagination as they picture the historic events swirling around them.” (At left: Sign in Korean, Spanish in Chantilly, Va.)

The award recognizes the work of an individual or organization that has made a significant impact on the field of public history in a way that better helps the general public connect with America’s defining event, according to ECW.

Chris Mackowski, ECW editor-in-chief, said CWT’s red bugle logo signals a worthwhile roadside stop.

“Civil War Trails has made Civil War history accessible and immediate to travelers, who can explore the story of the war at their own pace and according to their own interest while enjoying plenty of surprises along the way,” Mackowski said in the release. “It’s a wonderful way to encourage people to engage with history in a way that’s meaningful to them.”

The editor touted CWT’s relationships with tourism agencies and businesses.

Past recipients of the award include American Battlefield Trust; historian and author Gary Gallagher; Dave Ruth, former superintendent at Richmond National Battlefield; and the late D. P. Newton, founder of the White Oak Civil War Museum.

USS Monitor: Navy recognizes Virginia museum for cleaning of ironclad's two Dahlgren guns, which are still being conserved

Erik Farrell uses special drill in Dahlgren bore in early 2020 (Mariners' Museum and Park)

The conservation team that cleaned the inside of the 13-foot guns of the USS Monitor has been recognized with a maintenance excellence award from the U.S. Navy and a video showcasing the exacting work that involved precision tools and a whole lot of muck.

The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) awarded the Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Va., a Pennant of Excellence for helping to preserve the heritage of the armed service.

In February and March 2020, the conservators removed the last concretion from inside the barrels of the smoothbore 11-inch Dahlgren guns.

They used a special drill and spade bit to remove the hardened mix of sediment and sea life. The weapons were inside the USS Monitor turret that was raised from the Atlantic Ocean floor in 2002 and have been in their own treatment tanks since 2004.

The first gun yielded pieces of crab, seashells and coal while the second held a bolt. Neither contained the remains of a cat that legend holds was stuffed into a barrel by a sailor moments before the USS Monitor sank on Dec. 31, 1862.

Once conservation is complete, the two guns will go on display. They will help tell the story of the innovative warship that tangled with the CSS Virginia in March 1862 – the first battle between ironclads.

"The guns still require additional work. Desalination has to be completed, followed by removal of the treatment solution, controlled drying, and the application of different coatings to strengthen and protect the guns,” Erik Farrell, an archaeological conservator, said in a statement to the Picket.

“Because of the fragility of the material, the guns cannot be dried until an environmentally controlled case is available. Funding dependent, the remainder of the conservation process is expected to take around three years," he said.

Farrell is among those showcased in the new video, which was produced by the museum and SoundVision Studios. It shows the boring process and includes interviews with those involved.

The museum team and Master Machine & Tool of Newport News built a custom boring apparatus and cradle support to clean the bores. The barrels had between 1" and 3" thickness of concretion covering them all the way down the bore and forward to the muzzle -- hence the need to clean the inside of the 8-ton guns and help remove harmful ocean salts.    

In 2018, Farrell and others traveled to a Naval History and Heritage Command facility to look at a similar Dahlgren -- one used by the USS Kearsarge, the sloop of war famous for sinking the Confederate raider CSS Alabama off Cherbourg, France, in 1864.

They were able to measure the interior of the gun and learned both the Monitor and Kearsarge barrels -- which were made at the same foundry – were built to a specific Board of Ordnance pattern. The measurements would help crews know exactly how far down to drill without causing damage.

(Photo at left: One of the Dahlgrens in its treatment tank. The Picket took this photo during a visit a few years ago)

During the project in early 2020, water was pushed inside the barrels as the drilling did its magic, forcing sediment and muck out. “Sludge in this operation is a sign of success,” said one speaker in the eight-minute video. The effort included chiseling hard material to see what was inside.

The NHHC maintenance award is presented to nonprofits that demonstrate the greatest improvement in an artifact’s conditions over the past year.

Conservators with the pennant honoring their work (Mariners' Museum and Park)

“Private museums are critical in telling the Navy story, and this award recognizes The Mariners’ Museum and its Conservation team as a force multiplier in informing the public of our Navy’s history,” NHHC Director Samuel Cox said in a press release. “Their efforts honor those that have served as they continue to inspire and educate our next generation.”

Conserving the thousands of recovered items is not work for those who want instant results.

The process can take anywhere from months to years. The turret, which has been in a treatment tank for nearly two decades, needs another 10-15 years of conservation to draw all the salts out, officials say.

The museum has a blog with posts by USS Monitor conservators about the ongoing work to prepare artifacts for possible display. Click here to see posts about the boring and the turret.

One of the barrels before the boring project (Mariners' Museum and Park)

Atlanta History Center is honored by Georgia Trust for major restoration of Battle of Atlanta cyclorama painting

Restoration work in December 2017 (Atlanta History Center)

The Atlanta History Center has been recognized for its meticulous restoration of the Battle of Atlanta cyclorama painting, a 360-degree depiction of a critical moment in the July 1864 battle.

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation on Friday announced an Excellence in Restoration award to the center.

Completed in 1886 in Milwaukee, the cyclorama was show in a few cities before coming to Atlanta. The oil-on-canvas painting was displayed for decades in Grant Park but its condition deteriorated over the years and it needed a thorough restoration. In 2014, the city and the Atlanta History Center agreed to have it moved and restored at the center’s campus in the Buckhead neighborhood.

The massive painting was rolled into two scrolls and taken by truck to a new building at the history center. Swiss, German and American conservators spent months on the project and the painting and restored diorama opened to the public in February 2019.

“Through digital interactives, an introductory film projected onto the painting, and a variety of unique artifacts and activities, visitors to the new exhibit are encouraged to think critically about how history is made,” the Trust says of the exhibit.

Excellence in Restoration awards recognize projects that depict the form, features and character of a historic building as it appeared at a particular period of time. Restoration requires sensitive upgrading of mechanical systems and other code-required work to make the site functional. This year, the Trust presented three Excellence in Restoration awards.