“ So, it’ s like a living, walking tour,” she added.
She said if someone had a question about a specific building, when they scanned its QR code, it takes them to a webpage that’ s hosted by the Welcome Center’ s website.
“ We are trying to do the four inner blocks first,” said Barber.“ So, like, North, South, East, West Broad. Just the ones that are touching the courthouse.”
She said the committee would like to have some of the plaques on the building by July 4, 2026.
On the webpages, people will find photos of each building around the square and information about what businesses have been located in each building over the years. The research that was done for the project goes back to when Moultrie was first established and is supported by photos and articles.
“ It’ s a living project. We can always add to it,” said Barber.
She also said, if she gets in more phots of the different buildings, they can be added to the site and will automatically be updated.
“ It’ s going spectacularly. I’ ve found so many great photos,” she said.“ I’ ve gotten really good at identifying everywhere in town.”
Barber said fun, historical facts about Moultrie were also included on the webpages.
“ It makes you think a little bit,‘ like wow, times were different’,” she said.
Barber said she and the committee have been working on the
Ponder’ s East Central around the holidays in the 1990s
project for two years and it was going to continue as an ongoing project.
“ The Dames have worked hard curating all this information and these fun facts and these photos and putting it on the internet,” she said.
She said the online project was knowledge-based for people who wanted to know about the history and teachers could use it in their classrooms. Anyone, who was living somewhere else and was missing home or was trying to remember where a certain business was years ago, could also quickly access the information, she said.
“ You can look it up now. It’ s there and it’ s accessible,” Barber said.
She said the project was also meant to be nostalgic and was meant to bring back feelings.
“ And let you see what you lived,” she added.“ You get to go back and relive those memories.”
She said the project also seeks to preserve the stories of the buildings, highlighting what once stood and how downtown has evolved over the decades.
“ It’ s a great project. It has a lot of heart in it. It’ s meant to be nostalgic and bring you back to a simpler time and to preserve the history for generations to come,” said Barber.
For me, when I went to the page, it was fascinating to see a couple of photos of downtown when the streets were still dirt. You wonder what people back then would have thought about how Moultrie has grown.
As new information is discovered, the project will continue to grow and be updated. To see what has been discovered so far, visit www. downtownmoultrie. com / resources / history-ofdowntown-moultrie-buildings /.
MARCH 2026 MoultrieScene 29