Higgins

THOMASVILLE — If all goes according to plan, a Smith Avenue building could become the site of a whiskey and bourbon distillery.

Jill Higgins told Thomasville Payroll Development Authority (PDA) members she and her husband, Brian, plan to open 1861 Distillery at 312 Smith.

“We’ve closed on our building. We’re ready to go,” Jill Higgins told the PDA at a Monday morning meeting.

Tim Sanders, PDA legal counsel, told Higgins PDA property tax abatements are in conjunction with the number of employees a new business expects to hire.

The site for the proposed business, which would have a tasting room for 1861 Distillery products, is just outside the downtown Thomasville district boundary.

A meeting is scheduled with city officials this week to discuss utilities for the site, Brian Higgins said.

The year 1861 in the name of the business honors the year the railroad began bringing visitors from the north to Thomasville, where the rail line ended. History records that Northerners’ physicians suggested they come to Thomasville for the pine-scented air.

The Higginses are Thomasville residents.

  

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820