College Hill, National historic building in Augusta, Georgia

College Hill is a two-story wood-frame house with clapboard siding, a gabled roof and a pair of brick chimneys near the ends. Its seven-bay main facade carries a two-story veranda with segmented arches on slender square columns; the centered entrances have sidelight windows, pilasters and fanlights above. It stands on a 6-acre estate on the south side of Wrightsboro Road, about 2 miles west of downtown Augusta.

In 1787 Georgia granted George Walton 100 acres west of Augusta for his services to the state; he had College Hill built on the land in 1795 and moved there from Meadow Garden. Walton, a lawyer who sat in the Continental Congress, was captured by the British at Savannah in 1778, then served as governor and chief justice. He died at the house in 1804, and it passed to his Harper descendants. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

The house has stayed in the hands of Walton's descendants, the Harper family, since 1795, which is why it is also called Harper House or Walton-Harper House. George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, died there in 1804. The name College Hill comes from Walton himself, and the estate is now reduced to 6 of the original 100 acres.

College Hill is a private residence and is not open to the public, so there are no tours or interior access. The house stands on the south side of Wrightsboro Road, about 2 miles west of downtown Augusta, and can be seen from the road. The estate now covers 6 acres of the original 100-acre grant.

The 100 acres granted to George Walton in 1787 for his services to Georgia have shrunk to the 6-acre estate around the house, all that remains of the original tract. The two-story veranda on the seven-bay facade, with its segmented arches on slender square columns, is the detail to look for from Wrightsboro Road.