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Georgia family fighting to restore the historic Chivers House

A Dublin historic home is on the brink of decay, and a family with ties to it is working hard to bring it back to its former glory

DUBLIN, Ga. — Back in 2017, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation put the Chivers House on the list of places in peril across the state.

Now a family with ties to the home hopes they can work with the owners to bring it back to its former glory.

"I did it 40 years ago -- you get married in the church, and then you walk up the street to Chivers House to get married in our home," Kathleen Wingard Rollins said. 

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Rollins reminisces on the history of her family's home.

"My grandparents were considered philanthropists in Dublin," Rollins said. 

Rollins says her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. O.L. Chivers, lived in the Spanish Revival-style house built in the 1920s. She says the house served as a center for social activity for adults and children.

"My uncle telling scary woman stories up in the sleeping porch," Rollins said. 

Back in 1991 Rollins says the house was sold to First Baptist Church of Dublin. Today the house features a shattered window, loose bricks, and other signs of neglect.

"They rented it out to two people after they quit using it, like the Red Cross and different groups rented it, and after that was over with, after the year 2000, is when it started being low maintenance and just really started looking bad," Rollins said. 

People with First Baptist Church of Dublin wouldn't go on camera for an interview. A representative with the church told us they have no plans to the sell the home right now. 

Rollins says this year the family raised $250,000 so the trust could buy the home from the church.

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"We have been working with the church and church's lawyer for more than three years, and here we are now and the house is really getting bad," Rollins said. 

She says the family still hopes they can work something out with the church, but in the meantime it hurts to see their family memories fade away.

The family of the Chivers House created a Facebook page to gather support for the home and to keep the public updated. 

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