Tag: Georgia

Posted on

Precinct house, Minter, Ga.

Precinct house, Minter, Ga.
Precinct house, Minter, Ga.

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.

Photo by Brian Brown.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Well driller, Emmalane, Ga.

Hand-painted sign on old store, Emmalane, Ga.
Hand-painted sign on old store, Emmalane, Ga.

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.

Photo by Brian Brown, 2013.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Farmhouse and silos, Emmalane, Ga.

Old farmhouse and silos, Emmalane community, Jenkins County, Ga.
Old farmhouse and silos, Emmalane community, Jenkins County, Ga.

VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown sent along this typical Georgia country scene about four miles southwest of Millen — an old Victorian farmhouse surrounded by silos, farm implements, dirt roads and mud puddles.

Remind you a little bit of some of the descriptions of eastern Georgia from Tobacco Road (1932) author Erskine Caldwell?  Nearby on Brown’s photoblog, you can find other neat stuff around the Emmalane community:  Brinson’s Bar-B-Que (“a well-loved institution in Jenkins County … three slices, of Sunbeam bread, a generous helping of potato salad and Brinson’s sweet tea complete this classic Southern meal”), Skull Creek Baptist Church and an old general store.

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.

Photo by Brian Brown, 2013.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Car wash, Millen, Ga.

Car wash, Millen, Ga.
Car wash, Millen, Ga.

The bright color and mural on this car wash in Millen, Ga., caught the discerning eye of VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown.

Millen, which had a population of 3,492 in 2000, is the county seat of Jenkins County, which 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.

Photo by Brian Brown, 2013.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Abandoned house, Millen, Ga.

Joseph and Lucinda Applewhite House, Millen, Ga.
Joseph and Lucinda Applewhite House, Millen, Ga.

VanishingSouthGeorgia.com photographer Brian Brown writes that this old Neoclassical Revival home is currently for sale in Millen in eastern Georgia.  The house, said to have been built in 1892-93 and named the “Joseph and Lucinda Applewhite House,” reportedly did not have the columns when originally built in the Queen Anne style.  The columns were said to have been added in the 1980s during a renovation.

One person who saw the photo of the home in Millen, which had a population of 3,492 in 2000, wrote, “There’s nothing lonelier than an abandoned house.  Oh, the memories that were made there.”

Millen is the county seat of Jenkins County, which 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.

Photo by Brian Brown, 2013.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Historic church, Jenkins County, Ga.

Carswell Grove Baptist Church, Jenkins County, Ga.
Carswell Grove Baptist Church, Jenkins County, Ga.

The historic Carswell Grove Baptist Church, pictured above, about 10 miles northwest of Millen, Ga., has a complicated history, writes Georgia photographer Brian Brown in this post on VanishingSouthGeorgia.com.  The current church building, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was constructed in 1919 after a lynch mob burned down its predecessor during a time of racial violence that was known as “Red Summer.”

According to an excerpt of an article in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, the church had one of the largest black congregations in eastern Georgia in 1919.  An April 13 of that year as hundreds gathered to celebrate its founding, an altercation broke out after two white police officers arrived.  Both police officers and a black man were killed.  Another man, Joe Ruffin, was severely wounded.  According to the story, which writer Cameron McWhirter published as a book in 2011(Red Summer:  The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America):

“A white mob quickly formed and went on a rampage. The mob burned the church down, then killed two of Ruffin’s sons—one of them a thirteen-year-old. Rioters threw the bodies in the flames, then spread out through the area, burning black lodges, churches, and cars. They killed several other people; no one knows how many. The wounded Joe Ruffin was saved from the lynch mob only because a white county commissioner drove him at high speed to the nearest big city, Augusta, and put him in the county jail there.”

Brown said efforts were ongoing to preserve and stabilize the current church structure.

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.

Photo by Brian Brown, 2013.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Restored church, Oliver, Ga.

Old Methodist church, Oliver, Ga.
Old Methodist church, Oliver, Ga.

Here’s a photo that’s perfect for Thanksgiving.  It’s an old Methodist church turned into a venue for special events, like today’s holiday.

The church (ca. 1908) in Oliver, Ga., between Statesboro and Savannah sat vacant for about 10 years before being bought and restored three years ago, according to its owner.  Now a venue for weddings and other events, the church is interesting to some because of its Star of David windows.

Oliver, population 253 in 2000, is slightly over half black.  An estimated 31 percent of residents are at or below the federal poverty line.  Oliver is in Screven County, which got started after the Revolutionary War and soon became part of the Black Belt of Georgia where cotton became an important staple crop tended by enslaved African Americans.

The county’s population jumped from 3,019 in 1800 to 8,274 by 1860, according to Census figures.  While it had 14,593 people in 2010, the county lost an estimated 391 people — 2.7 percent — by 2012, according to the U.S. Census.  In 2010, Some 25.4 percent of county residents lived below the federal poverty level, 9 points higher than the state average.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013, by Andy Brack.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Hauling lumber, Cooperville, Ga.

Hauling lumber, Screven County, Ga.
Hauling lumber, Screven County, Ga.

 

Here’s a typical scene across the rural South — a log truck hauling lumber to be processed into 2x4s or pulverized into pulp for mills.

These days, the forest products market in the U.S. is considered optimistic in the near-term, according to a 2013 report by USEndowment.org.  And that, should help the rural South.  In the longer term, the market faces challenges and opportunities, according to the report.

In the photo above, the truck was turning off U.S. Highway 301 in Cooperville, Ga., in Screven County and heading toward Savannah. The county, which had 2,675 people in 2000, according to the Census, got started after the Revolutionary War and soon became part of the Black Belt of Georgia where cotton became an important staple crop tended by enslaved African Americans.

The county’s population jumped from 3,019 in 1800 to 8,274 by 1860, according to Census figures.  While it had 14,593 people in 2010, the county lost an estimated 391 people — 2.7 percent — by 2012, according to the U.S. Census.  In 2010, Some 25.4 percent of county residents lived below the federal poverty level, 9 points higher than the state average.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013, by Michael Kaynard.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Abandoned chair, Statesboro, Ga.

Abandoned chair, Statesboro, Ga.
Abandoned chair, Statesboro, Ga.

This photo can be taken in almost any rural Southern town — an abandoned piece of furniture tossed onto the side of the road.

This upholstered chair is near a housing project in Statesboro, Ga., where about 50 percent of the town’s population lives in poverty, according to the U.S. Census.  While it’s likely that most of those living in “poverty” really are students who live cheaply in shared apartments, you can find evidence of poverty if you look around.

Statesboro is 54 percent white and 40 percent black.  Its median household income is $19,554, according to the Census.  It also is the county seat of Bulloch County, which has 72,694 people (2012), two thirds of which are white.  Just over 30 percent of residents live in poverty.  The median household income for the county is $33,902.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013 by Michael Kaynard.  All rights reserved.

Posted on

Clothes line, Statesboro, Ga.

13.1122_statesborolaundry

While it is unclear whether Statesboro, Georgia’s poverty rate is artificially high because all of the students who attend Georgia Southern University, there are parts of the community where it’s clear that there are a lot of needs.  This photo shows a housing project in the western part of the city.

U.S. Census data show more than 50 percent of Statesboro’s 29,779 people live at or below the federal poverty level.  The community is 54 percent white and 40 percent black.  Its median household income is $19,554, according to the Census.

Statesboro is the county seat of Bulloch County, which has 72,694 people (2012), two thirds of which are white.  Just over 30 percent of residents live in poverty.  The median household income for the county is $33,902.

Photo taken Sept. 23, 2013 by Michael Kaynard.  All rights reserved.