The Tour
Founded in Augusta in 1882 by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Paine College grew from an audacious act of interracial cooperation — its board of trustees is often called the oldest interracial body in the nation. This walk through the compact, tree-shaded campus visits the clock-towered administration building, two 1920s mission-built halls, a chapel that honors a friendship stretching to the Congo, and the home of a record-breaking novelist. Along the way you'll trace how Paine students launched the 1960 sit-ins that opened Augusta's civil rights movement.
Paine College Campus Tour is a self-guided walking tour of Augusta, built around its campus side. It's one of 8 Georgia Roam tours in Augusta — each a different route through the city, on your own schedule.
The walk covers 6 stops over about 0.6 miles and roughly 55 minutes, entirely at your own pace. Each stop's story unlocks on your phone the moment you arrive — GPS-triggered, hands-free, no guide and no tour group to keep up with.
What you'll see
Paine's campus is small enough to cross in a few minutes, but it holds some of Augusta's most important African American history. The walk starts at the clock-towered administration building, which honors the two bishops, one Black and one white, who traveled the South together raising money for the school. Its predecessor burned in a mysterious 1968 fire that also destroyed a rare collection of African art.
Nearby are two brick halls from the mid-1920s, built with money from white Methodist mission boards to house students and train teachers, plus the 1947 library that now holds a museum. At the back of campus stands the Gilbert-Lambuth Memorial Chapel. It honors John Wesley Gilbert, the college's first graduate and the first Black archaeologist, and Walter Lambuth, the white bishop who went with him to start a mission in the Congo. You'll also stop at a site honoring novelist Frank Yerby, whose 1946 novel became a Hollywood film. And you'll learn how Paine students started Augusta's civil rights sit-ins in 1960.
The route is about half a mile on campus sidewalks and takes roughly an hour at a relaxed pace. Weekdays during the school year are liveliest. Remember that this is a working campus, so enjoy the buildings from outside unless an event is open to the public. The Georgia Roam app tells each stop's story as you arrive.
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