Meadow Garden: Home of George Walton

400 feet west of here is Meadow Garden, home of George Walton, Revolutionary Patriot and soldier, Governor, Congressman, Senator, Jurist. With Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall, he signed the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, for the State of Georgia. Born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1749, George Walton went to Savannah about 1769 and read law under Henry Young, Esq. Prominent in Revolutionary activities from the start at Tondee's Tavern, July 27, 1774, he became President of the Council of Safety, delegate to Continental Congress. In 1777 he married Dorothy Camber of Chatham County. Commissioned a Colonel by Gov. Bulloch, he was wounded and captured in the siege of Savannah, 1779. Soon after his release he was elected Governor. In 1780 he built Meadow Garden, on a 200 acre tract of land on the edge Augusta. Many great men of the day visited Meadow Garden. George Washington was a guest here in 1791 and Gen. LaFayette paid his respects to the Walton family here in 1825. George Walton died at Meadow Garden, February 2, 1804 and was buried at Rosney Chapel. His body was later moved to the Signers Monument in front of the Courthouse. Meadow Garden, one of the foremost shrines of the Revolution, was purchased in 1900 by the Nat. Soc. DAR. Filled with rare colonial treasures, it is maintained by the Augusta Chapter DAR, aided by other Georgia chapters.