About The
Shotgun House

Last-Of-Its-Kind Shotgun House

The Hambleton-Williams Shotgun House was built in 1907 and preserves an authentic residential house typical of a low-income African American family in Thomasville. The house sits at the start of the color line in Thomasville and is one of the last remaining houses of its kind as most others have been demolished.

Our New Vision

In 2018, gifts from local foundations enabled the Jack Hadley Black History Museum to purchase the Hambleton-Williams Shotgun House.

Over the last several decades, these structures have been in a state of severe decline. These sites of significance—especially for the hotel as one of the few remaining sites listed in The Green Book—are in peril and need restoration before it’s too late.

Within these challenges, an opportunity arises one with an enormous impact on the mission of the Jack Hadley Black History Museum and the community of Thomasville. With the recent acquisition of the Imperial Hotel, Shotgun House, and adjacent land, there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to construct a new facility that brings together the Jack Hadley Black History Museum, the Imperial Hotel, and the Shotgun House on one campus. In doing so, a new vision for the Jack Hadley Black History Museum is realized as multiple stories are preserved at their fullest and the historic sites are protected.