SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – Featuring single-story ranch houses with carports and green lawns spread out along streets that wind in confusing arcs, Kensington Park seems a world removed from the oak-shaded squares of downtown Savannah and its mansions and row houses built between the Colonial period and the Civil War.
Yet the 1950s suburban enclave tucked away amid strip malls and shopping centers on Savannah’s less glamorous south side now has something in common with the city’s oldest, most picturesque neighborhoods. Kensington Park recently earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of America’s historic treasures.
The Savannah most outsiders and tourists know is a full two centuries older than Kensington Park. But the younger neighborhood’s nearly 400 homes still pack a certain time-warp factor, having changed little in the decades since young professionals began seeking out places to raise families away from the core city.
“June Cleaver lived here. That’s pretty much it,” said Pam Miller, president of the Kensington Park Community Association, when asked to sum up what makes the neighborhood unique. “The houses were big, ranch-style homes with a lot of emphasis on living space for families. Things now pretty much look the same as they did back then.”
How do ranch houses from the 1950s end up on the same list of America’s most significant historic places in a city as old as Savannah, where Georgia was founded in 1733 as the 13th British colony? For starters, it meeting the minimum age requirement. The National Park Service, which oversees the National Register, mandates that eligible places and properties must be at least 50 years old.