File talk:Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home, 419 Seventh Street, Augusta (Richmond County, Georgia).jpg

In 1970 I rented a room on the top floor of this house. At the time it was owned by Mrs. Peebles who was the widow of a former clipper ship owner and merchant. He had collected a huge amount of carved antique oriental furnishings and statuary and it was stored all on the lower level of the house.

Mrs. Peebles rented 3 rooms on the top, right side of the house. Two rooms for engineers from the railroad and the room for my husband & I. My husband was attached to Ft. Gordon, Ga.

Mrs. Peebles was in her late 80's at the time and her maid, Haddie, was in her late 70's. Mrs. Peebles and her husband had lived in the home for years and they never had any children. It is not known what happened to the collection when she passed away.

Mrs. Peebles lived on the left side of the house. The bottom level had the front room, dining room, sitting room and kitchen. I remember how dark it was for she never had any curtains open to let daylight in. Due to the collectibles, there were pathways to get about from room to room, rather than open floor space.

As you opened the front door, the large staircase was to the left and was at the center of the house. The staircase had huge railings and I always thought of Woodrow Wilson sliding down that railing.

There was one bathroom at the end of the hall on the 2nd floor, which all the tenents shared. The white claw bathtub is most memorable for it was set very high.

Our bedroom had a fireplace, which had a metal cover and was no longer used. The old gas light fixtures were still in place on the wall and I remember one fixture between the 2 windows of our room, which faced directly over the front porch. The bed was an original and had a step up to get into it. The bed was shorter than we are used to having today and I remember my feet constantly bumping the footboard. It was a large 4 poster bed with wood ceiling.

The house was very cold in the winter and yet the windows still opened easily so the wood was in good condition. The glass panes of the windows had air bubbles in them and were thick.

The following are links and tenent information on this house:

http://www.wilsonboyhoodhome.org/ http://www.wilsonboyhoodhome.org/tour/IMG_0329-tb.html (THIS WAS OUR ROOM)

William Cincinnatus Peebles and May Booth Peebles owned house 1930-1975

1930 – After having been used by the Presbyterian Church as a Manse for 70 years, the house is sold to Mr. and Mrs. William Peebles as a private residence. 1976 – The estate of May Booth Peebles sells the property to Bill Moore and Thomas Rosier. They convert the house into a beauty parlor and florist shop and briefly open it as a house museum.

AzTrina (talk) 05:32, 18 August 2009 (UTC)