Whitley Cemetery Through Gate,

Irwin County, Georgia, 2002.

c. Brian Brown

Typical of many family cemeteries, the Whitley Cemetery isn't easily accessed by the outside world. It has always been one of the best-kept family burying grounds in Irwin County. The cemetery was established in the 1850s; the land was formally deeded by W. T. Whitley, Sr. on 27 August 1913. With Mr. Whitley, Willie Myers, Ella W. Royal, Martha V. Whitley, and Alice Young were the original trustees. Descendants of all these families still live in Irwin County, some near the Whitley Cemetery.

Grocery & Filling Station, Irwinville Farms,

Irwinville, Irwin County, Georgia

c. Arthur Rothstein, 1935

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

South Georgia's Smallest Towns

& A Few Ghost Towns

History in the Mail

From time to time, I'll display images from my collection of the postal history of South Georgia. These covers are often humorous, but more often, one of the few printed links to the histories of towns and settlements which exist now only in memory.

Lumber City, GA, May 23 1907

(Telfair County)

Lumber City survives today, and is another one of those tough river towns, albeit with friendly folk. The town's namesake, lumber, is still in good supply in this area at the confluence of the Ocmulgee and Oconee Rivers, but much of the preparation and finishing has moved on. The greeting on this souvenir postcard is quite humorous..."Lumber City is rather dull now as all the bars are closed.."

Forest Glen, GA, Jan 18 1945

(Wilcox County)

Forest Glen was never much more than a store/post office, with a church or two around its fringe, but today, virtually nothing remains. It occupied an area about a mile or so north of Bowen's Mill on US Highway 129. I'd appreciate any information anyone may have on Forest Glen.

Jacksonville, GA, Jan 11 1882

(Telfair County)

Jacksonville, just over the Ocmulgee River in Telfair County, was the first city in the United States named for the vastly popular President Andrew Jackson. A seminal figure in the early Indian Wars, Jackson was a good choice for an area on the Ocmulgee River known for Indian skirmishes and an early Spanish Missionary presence, now being researched by Fernbank in Atlanta. This postcard contains cotton prices of the day, and complains that prices are far too low. Jacksonville has several claims to fame, such as the site of the World's Largest Bass, the invention of Bingo, and the First Christian Baptism (apocraphyl). Julian Williams is hands-down the most knowledgeable and passionate champion of Jacksonville history, and you'd enjoy his website, to which I've provided a link below. Of course I can't do this without mentioning, for better or worse, one of the most popular and notorious South Georgia Honky Tonks of all time, Boone's Saloon. Boone's still keeps its doors open, but not with the raucous spirit of its older days. Otherwise, Jacksonville is a lot like the Ocmulgee River. It doesn't get in a hurry, and doesn't really like a lot of outside interference. It's proud, Southern, and independent.

LINK

www.pbase.com/jacksonville_ga/old_jacksonville_ga

Osierfield, GA, May 5, 1967

(Irwin County)

Last Day of Service Cover with 5c. National Grange Stamp

Osier, meaning corn, fits the area perfectly, as Osierfield from its inception has been a bit of an agricultural outpost. A thriving whistlestop in its day, Osierfield went the same direction as many rural settlements and dried up to nearly nothing. But today, with Madie Denton's Osierfield Grocery and her antique and found bottle and glass collection, and Milton "Buddy" Hopkins, renowned naturalist and author, most recently of In One Place: The Natural History of a Georgia Farmer, which details with great humor the life of a South Georgia birdwatcher and all-around Renaissance man. (Buddy gave me this cover from the Osierfield Post Office when I was in high school, and I've treasured it for many years.)

Above, Top to Bottom:

Abba, GA, Nov 18 1937

Abba, GA, May 8 1945

(Irwin County)

Abba was never a large place, but today has a thriving Baptist church (see earlier post). In its heyday it boasted a general store and post office, and I've personally talked to a few natives of the area, off Lower Rebecca Road, In Irwin County, who say childhood there was idyllic. I'm currently checking to find out when the Abba Post Office closed. I'm also unsure of the origin of the name of the northwest Irwin County settlement, but suspect it's related to the Atlantic Birmingham & Atlanta Railroad, which pushed through much of the site's history.

LINK

www.saltmarshpress.com for Buddy Hopkins' book.

Wilcox County Courthouse, After 9/11/2001.

Abbeville, Georgia

c. Brian Brown

In response to the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, Americans began hoisting the flag in a frenzy unseen since WWII. Passing through Abbeville en route to the Georgia/Arkansas Game in Athens the weekend after the disaster, I was taken aback by the stark realities of what had happened, when I saw this single large flag hanging over one of the front windows of the courthouse. Built in the first decade of the twentieth century, the Wilcox County courthouse sits just up from the Ocmulgee River, on US Highway 129. Abbeville has never been much of a big town, but has always been a favorite of swampers and river folk, with its easy access to the Ocmulgee, and great fishing in all directions. Each year it hosts the increasingly popular Ocmulgee Wild Hog Festival. A while back, Ian Frazier also wrote an article, which focused on wild hog culture in South Georgia for The New Yorker. It isn't every day that a little town like Abbeville gets coverage in The New Yorker.

LINKS

www.hogfestival.com for the Ocmulgee Wild Hog Festival

www.wesjones.com/hogswild.htm#source for The New Yorker article

Baseball Team, Irwinville Farms,

Irwinville, Irwin County, Georgia

c. John Vachon, 1938.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

Chester Foster, third from left, is the only man I'm able to identify in this photograph. The Library of Congress holds a vast collection of photographs of the Irwinville Farms Project, a directive of the Work Projects Administration and the Farm Security Administration. The WPA and FSA sought to improve the lives of rural Americans during the Great Depression, and many houses and barns built for the Irwinville Project are still in use today. I'll highlight some of these in future posts.

LINK

http://rs6.loc.gov/pp/fsaPlaces10.html

Voting Precinct Houses of Irwin County, Georgia

Throughout much of the twentieth century, when America was still predominately a rural society, people voted near their homes and farms, in rural subdivisions known as voting precincts. While the practice of dividing voters among georgraphical lines is still the rule, most voting today is done in centralized facilities such as churches, armories, and high school or college gymnasiums. A dwindling number of South Georgia counties still maintain rural precincts. Luckily, at least six survive, if all are not in use, in Irwin County.

Waterloo Precinct House, 2002

Osierfield Precinct House, 2001

Frank Precinct House, 2002

Roberts Precinct House, 2000

Holt Precinct House, 2001

Land's Crossing Precinct House, 2001

(All Above c. Brian Brown)

Andrew Bee, 4th Michigan Cavalry, Co. L

Courtesy of William A. Brennan

Sons of Union Veterans

collection of Brian Brown

Private Bee, who with his Union comrades from Michigan, was instrumental in the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis at Irwinville, Georgia, May 10, 1865. Private Bee was said to have been the first man to lay hands on Davis at Irwinville, and therefore became a celebrity throughout the Union.

LINK

www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-640 for my article on the capture of Jefferson Davis

Tobacco Barn,

Washington Road, Irwin County, Georgia, 2002.

c. Brian Brown

While a good many of these structures remain, in varying states of repair, they are rapidly disappearing. During much of the 20th century, tobacco was one of the leading crops in the Georgia, though today it has fallen largely out of favor, and tobacco barns are no longer vital to production.

Tobacco Barn, South Georgia, 1977.

c. David Stanley

[[Cover Image for Fall 2003 Folklife Center News]]

The American Folklife Center, at the Library of Congress, is a great and largely unknown resource documenting rural America and its many traditions. Its publication, Folklife Center News is available free of charge to anyone interested, and may be obtained by written request to: Library of Congress, American Folklife Center, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540-4610, or via internet at http://www.loc.gov/folklife/. While trying to track down the exact location of the flue-cured tobacco barn on the cover of this issue, I contacted David Stanley, who said it was most likely in Irwin or Tift County, but the team of documentarians he worked with that summer covered many miles, and he was unsure.

Abba Baptist Church,

Abba Community, Irwin County, Georgia, 2002.

c. Brian Brown

Abba is a settlement in Irwin County. In days gone by, at least through World War II, it had a post office, store, and a railroad stop. The church, which was organized in 1889, is all that remains. Area residents take great pride in maintaining this historic place, and the congregation remains quite active. The gothic minarets at the front of the church are quite interesting, and somewhat unusual for a rural house of worship.

Gravesite of Major John B. Mitchell, Co. Q, 5th Georgia Infantry, CSA

Cedar Creek Baptist Church Cemetery

Wilcox County, Georgia, 2001

c. Brian Brown

Major Mitchell's (Sep 21 1847 - Oct 23 1913) burial place has become a local curiosity and landmark. Little information regarding his life or service to the Confederate States army is available, but he was obviously a well-respected member of his community. Cedar Creek lies at the northern end of Wilcox County, near the Pulaski County line on US Highway 129. Driving north, the churchyard is to the left, and slopes gently down to its namesake creek, and a perimeter of moss-draped trees. I would appreciate any further information on Major Mitchell.

Farm Boy who Sells Grit,

Irwinville, Irwin County, Georgia

c. John Vachon, 1938

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

Mt. Calvary Church,

Ben Hill County, Georgia, 2003.

c. Brian Brown

In recent history, African-Americans were prohibited, by the use of "Jim Crow" laws, from public assembly, though these laws were not applied to their places of worship. As a result, churches were generally the center of African-American social and cultural life. Most African-Americans worshipped very near their homes, often on the lands they cultivated.

Cotton in Fog,

Near Owensboro, Wilcox County, Georgia, 2002.

c. Brian Brown

Before the spread of the boll weevil from Southern Alabama into Southwest Georgia in the early 1920s, cotton was the South's top crop. Farmers saw prices fall from a high of 30 cents/lb during World War I, to a dismal 5 cents/lb by the mid-1920s. Not only did this crisis endanger the livelihood of a hundreds of thousands of black sharecroppers, it also gave rise to a growing class of white sharecroppers, and was the beginning of the end of the tenant/sharecropping system. In recent years, modern agricultural science has created a host of chemicals to suppress the problem, and the crop has seen a major comeback.

Cora, Woodlawn Cemetery

Eastman, Dodge County, Georgia, 2002.

c. Brian Brown

West Bros. Gro., Your Rio Store,

Rebecca, Turner County, Georgia, 2002.

c. Brian Brown

Rebecca (pop. 246), a whistlestop near the Alapaha River founded in 1904, was, like many South Georgia towns, much busier in the days when cotton was king and passenger train service was the rule. This store is now closed, but its fading sign hints of a much more prosperous past.

Private Garage with Confederate Jack,

Tift County, Georgia, 2005.

c. Brian Brown

In the modern South, emblems of the old Confederacy are everywhere. An icon of great pride, the Confederate naval jack was flown on vessels of the Confederate navy. Three other flags, all bearing a vestige of the St. Andrew's Cross pictured above, served as the official banners of the CSA government. For more information on the often misinterpreted history of Confederate flags, please visit the Museum of the Confederacy, http://www.moc.org , or the SCV, http://www.scv.org .

Henry Land's Grocery,

Land's Crossing, Irwin County, Georgia, 2001.

c. Brian Brown

The late Henry Land operated this roadside grocery and general store for many years. It is an example of the once-common crossroads stores that thrived throughout the countryside of South Georgia. Land's Grocery still stands at the intersection of Georgia Highway 107 and Jeff Davis Park Road, and, though it has been closed for some years, good memories of this local landmark abound.

Tarpaper Farmhouse, Pansy Road,

Ben Hill County, Georgia, 2006.

c. Brian Brown

This abandoned homesite is a typical example of the style of utilitarian houses built by rural folk from the late nineteenth well into the middle twentieth century. As there was no insulation on most of these structures, the fashion was to "side" them with a gritty, sand-like paper, often called tarpaper, as they aged. The most common of these papers was natural in color, and, as with the one above, many implemented a faux-brick pattern.

Brushy Creek Angel,

Brushy Creek Baptist Church Cemetery,

Irwin County, Georgia, 2006.

All above, c. Brian Brown

Brushy Creek Baptist Church, just south of Ocilla, Georgia, was first constitued on 17 December 1831, as Dorminy's Meeting House, one mile northwest of Irwinville, at that time the county seat. Services were initially held at the home of John B. Dorminy, Sr. Archibald Odum was the first regular pastor. In 1836, the congregation relocated to the 3rd District of Irwin County, to Young's Meeting House. On 26 March 1853, the final and present location of the church was chosen, near Brushy Creek. Today, Brushy Creek has one of the most active and prosperous congregations in Irwin County, and many fine examples of 19th century gravestone art survive in its well-kept cemetery.

Abandoned Farmhouse, Thompson Road,

Irwin County, Georgia, 2002.

c. Brian Brown

The purpose of this site will be to share my photographs & historical antecdotes about South Georgia. (All images by me, and other contributors, are copyright protected. Contact me for permissions or other information. I don't mind my images being reposted, but if you do so, please link them to my site. Images from outside sources are protected by their own specific copyrights, which will be noted) This region encompasses half the state, and though it has been relatively immune to urban sprawl, changes are beginning to occur. Many of the structures I have photographed in recent years have already disappeared, most of them victim to the elements of time; therefore, it is my desire that this space serve as a documentary archive. The WPA and Farm Security Administration photographers of the Great Depression (Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Jack Delano, John Vachon, Karl Mydans, and Arthur Rothstein, to name but a few) serve as my creative muses for this project, and, on occasion, I'll highlight some of their work from South Georgia. I will also occasionally incorporate other images as they relate to South Georgia. I hope you enjoy my view of this highly endangered and rapidly disappearing environment--Brian Brown