If you’re driving on U.S. Highway 80 through Dudley, Ga., just after the big “Jesus is coming soon” sign, you’ll see a pasture full of sheep on the left inside the town limits near Sixth Street. Here’s another shot highlighted on March 11.
Dudley, home to fewer than 500 people, is about seven miles west of Dublin, Ga., the county seat of Laurens County. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.
If you’re driving on U.S. Highway 80 through Dudley, Ga., just after the big “Jesus is coming soon” sign, you’ll see a pasture full of sheep on the left inside the town limits near Sixth Street.
Dudley, home to fewer than 500 people, is about seven miles west of Dublin, Ga., the county seat of Laurens County. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.
Just down the street from the tallest building in Dublin, Ga. — the closed old First National Bank — sits this empty pool hall on Madison Street. It is sandwiched between two other buildings that look like they’ve been closed for a long time.
Dublin suffered during the recent recession as the unemployment rate for Laurens County, where Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat, rose to 13.8 percent in July 2011. Two years later it was about two points lower, but was down to 9.4 percent in December 2013, according to federal government data found at this site.
Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty, according to Census data
This fried chicken outlet on Telfair Street in Dublin, Ga., is one of many buildings that closed during the recession. The unemployment rate for Laurens County, where Dublin (population 16,201) is the county seat, rose to 13.8 percent in July 2011. Two years later it was about two points lower, but was down to 9.4 percent in December 2013, according to federal government data found at this site.
Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty, according to Census data
Here’s the old farmhouse near Dexter, Ga., that fronts the privy mentioned in the previous post. As you can see, the front of the house rests on a pile of concrete blocks, but the back of the house is on newer brick supports.
Dexter has about 500 people and is a few miles southwest of Dublin, the county seat for Laurens County. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.
There’s no telling how old this privy is outside an old farmhouse just north of Dexter, Ga., in Laurens County. The unpainted house had some signs that someone might have been restoring it awhile back (new brick foundation in the rear; random concrete blocks at front holding up building.) But there was no electricity going into the place on Georgia Highway 257 near Dexter’s new water tower.
Just beyond the privy, you can see a small grove of seven mature pecan trees with a field in the rear.
Dexter has about 500 people and is a few miles southwest of Dublin, the county seat for Laurens County. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.
This scene of a flat Interstate highway could be anywhere. On Interstate 16 near Savannah? Or on Interstate 26 near Charleston? Maybe Interstate 55 in Mississippi or 65 in Alabama? How about I-40 near Wilmington? (Answer: I-16 at Exit 132, Ash Branch Church Road in Bryan County just north of Pembroke, Ga.)
What’s so familiar about the scene is that there are miles and miles of little development between large cities. Over the last 50 years, Interstates connected America in new ways never imagined years earlier, but that connectedness started an outpouring of talent and people from rural areas to cities and the suburbs. Bryan County, which is in Savannah’s metro area, has a poverty rate of 14.7 percent.
Photo taken Feb. 16, 2014, by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.
You can’t miss this sign in Dudley, Ga., that VanishingSouthGeorgia.com Brian Brown calls “Roadside Religion.”
Better South President Andy Brack remembers Dudley as a home to a great aunt who passed away a few years back. Dudley, home to fewer than 500 people, is in Laurens County in the middle of Georgia. Some 23.6 percent of residents of Laurens County (population 48,434) live in poverty.
This is an old precinct house in the rural area of Minter, Ga., in Laurens County. Like many public structures in the area, it’s built of granitoid, writes VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown, who took the photo in August 2013. See another photo.
More than likely, this is the Oconee Voting Precinct on Minter Tweed Road. It’s probably still being used as a polling location as evidenced by the instructions for electronic voting on the table. Regardless, it’s certainly a relic of our rural past — a place that used to have wooden ballot boxes for paper ballots.
Laurens County, population 48,434, is in the middle of Georgia between Macon and Savannah on Interstate 16. Its county seat is Dublin, population 16,201. Thirty-six percent of Laurens County residents are black; 23.6 percent of the county’s residents live in poverty. Dublin, however, has a majority black population (57.6 percent) and 31.9 percent of residents live in poverty, according to Census data.
VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown likes the hand-painted sign on this door of this old building in Emmalane, about four miles southwest of Millen, Ga.: “L.P. Mons, Well Driller.”
“There are lots of cotton farms in this area off the Old Savannah Highway south of Millen. In fact, the oldest cotton farm in America (Juanita M. Joiner Farm) and the oldest timberland company (Southern Woodland Company) are operated by the 8th generation of the family on lands dating to 1783.This relic, located in the vicinity of the farm, probably served the now-forgotten community of Emmalane as a general store or commissary.”
Jenkins County, whose county seat is Millen, was home to 9,213 people, according to the U.S. Census in 2012, an increase of 10 percent from two years earlier. Almost 30 percent of residents live in poverty.
