These tin-sided warehouses dominate the downtown area of Bellville and are remnants of the railroad era. The mural was added sometime after I first photographed the buildings in 2009.
Note: This replaces a post originally posted on 5 November 2009.
This simple Georgian cottage is enhanced by a Craftsman-inspired front porch. Property records date it to circa 1940, but I believe it was built earlier.
This Queen Anne cottage is one of the finest works of residential architecture in Glennville, located right in the heart of downtown. The Hughes family was prolific in the area, but I haven’t located much about the Coates family. Cemetery records indicated Charles Marion Coates (1882-1935) and Eula DeLoach Coates (1887-1951) lived in Glennville around the time this house was built.
Elder Abraham Jackson was the patriarch of Jackson Town, a historically Black neighborhood near Collins, Georgia, and he and his family were among the earliest burials in what would become the Jackson Cemetery, still dominated by his descendants and cousins today. The cemetery is very well-maintained.
Born enslaved in Barnwell, South Carolina, Elder Jackson later served (1865-1866) in Co. C, 1st Regiment South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (Colored), which was redesignated Co. C, 33rd Regiment, United States Colored Troops. He married Rilla, whose last name remains unknown, in the 1850s.
This memorial for Anna Collins, the very wife of Henry Collins, is the earliest grave I found in Jackson Cemetery. She may have been Elder Jackson’s sister-in-law.
Nellie was the wife of George Jackson. Her vernacular memorial, which has been repaired, is very similar to that of Anna Collins. It reads: Dear husbad (sic) and children. as you is now, once was I, and as I am now you must be. Remember death and follow me.
Nettie Crabb was born in Brownstown, Indiana, in 1841, but further details of her early life are elusive. She married Dr. Robert L. Weems, a physician who served as a surgeon during the Civil War. Widowed in 1880, she moved to Bird Island, Minnesota, where she worked as a milliner. In 1882 she homesteaded in Wessington Springs, Dakota Territory (present-day South Dakota), and worked in a pharmacy, which she would eventually own, the only known woman in the territory to do so. In The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (2009), Ann D. Gordon noted that Nettie was “well skilled in her profession (pharmacy).”
Nettie married another Civil War veteran, Cleveland T. Hall, in 1884, but was widowed again in 1886. Ever busy, Nettie was elected as a trustee of the Wessington Springs school in 1887 and 1888, and was also served as an election judge. In 1889, she argued for women’s suffrage at a state constitutional convention. Later that year she served as vice-president of the Jerauld County Equal Suffrage Association. In 1890 she was prominent in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
In 1895, she was one of the first settlers of Fitzgerald. where she established the Fitzgerald Enterprise, the first major newspaper in the community. She also remained active in the WCTU and was known for her support of railroad workers. Her first son, Victor, had died of exposure when his train was caught in a snowstorm in Minnesota. When Nettie C. Hall died at the age of 68 on 14 June 1908, she was a legend of the community and her lifetime of work and advocacy was celebrated. In 1910, railroad workers and the WCTU erected the “Mother Enterprise” drinking fountain in her honor.
Fitzgerald Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This is the current post office in Fitzgerald. It opened in 1966.
For much of its history, this was the home of the Lawrence Earl ‘L. E.’ Justice (1908-1986) family. Mr. Justice was an insurance agent. Like many of the houses on West Central Avenue, it was likely built circa 1910-1920. Online property records date it to 1950, which is not correct.
I made this photograph in 2009 and have been looking for it for a few years. This pyramidal cottage was one of my favorite vernacular houses in Fitzgerald, but not long after I made this shot, the house was stripped down in a what appeared to be a renovation. Fast forward to 2025 and the house was returned to this appearance, with some unobtrusive updates. I’ll get a shot of the updated version next time I’m in town.
Westwood Cemetery is perhaps the oldest and largest Black cemetery in Fitzgerald.
Though the earliest burial I could locate was in 1918, the cemetery may have been established earlier, in the heyday of the Westwood community and the AB&A Railroad shops, circa 1900-1910.
The usual variety of memorials is present, ranging from handmade vernacular headstones to stenciled and commercial examples. As always, I’m sharing only a representative sampling of what I found and was able to photograph.
Interestingly, some of the earliest memorials in the cemetery are commercially made marble headstones.
Hattie Allen’s memorial is one of the finest in Westwood Cemetery. It notes that she was born in Houston County, Georgia, and that she was a member of Bethel AME Church, one of Fitzgerald’s oldest Black congregations.
The gravestone of Mr. King illustrates the difficulty in the identification of some burials, especially those using hand writing. Some of the inscription has eroded over time. As a result, the photographic documentation of such memorials is an important step in recording their lives.
The vernacular memorials are always my favorites. Ms. Jones’s was difficult to read.
This simple vernacular memorial was painted white, as were a good number in Westwood Cemetery at one time.
The marker for Mr. Anderson was cracked, a common issue with handmade memorials.
I presume this was the son of Walter Anderson. If so, his father outlived him by a decade. Both of their memorials were likely made by the same person.
This is one of four handmade posts marking the plot of the Mathis Family. This one bears the name K. C. Mathis, who died in 1952.
A broader view of the Mathis Family plot, with the handmade boundary posts visible at the corners.
This headstone is handmade, but of a shape commonly found in commercial memorials of the Victorian era.
I love unusual names and am always happy to find them when rambling around old cemeteries. Rev. Owens may have been associated with one of the local congregations in Westwood, but I have been unable to located anything about him.
The lamb is a common symbol in cemeteries.
The government supplies headstones to all veterans who choose to be remembered for their service. This memorial indicates that Mr. Medler served in the army in World War II.
John Medler was likely the brother of J. C. Medler (previous photograph). Both served the United States in the army in World War II.
This memorial is of a vernacular style common in the last century.
This small cross is one of the finer commercial memorials in Westwood Cemetery.
Though not fully visible in this photograph, the name at the bottom of this memorial is ‘Cummings’. Cummings was one of the two leading Black funeral homes in Fitzgerald for the latter half of the 20th century.
The graves of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are decorated with flower pots.
This marker has no identification.
The Lyons family plot is interesting for its placement of small Christmas trees near each grave.
The cemetery is not neglected but rather in a more natural state, with native grasses and wildflowers abundant throughout.
Fairview Missionary Baptist is a historic Black congregation in eastern Ben Hill County. It was established in 1912 by Rev. W. C. Tucker. The present structure was built between 1994-1999.
A small cemetery is located across the road from the church and contains stenciled concrete headstones alongside a few commercial examples. The following are meant to be representative and in no way a complete documentation. I believe some have been lost to vegetation in the surrounding woods.
Find-a-Grave is in error in noting that this is also known as Old Field Cemetery. The two are off the same road but several miles apart, and Old Field is a White cemetery.
Among legible headstones, A. J. and Laura Brown’s indicate they were among the oldest members. They were likely born enslaved and were in their early 60s when Fairview was established.
No specific birthdate for Laura is given, though the memorial notes that she was 50 when she died.
Mr. Jackson was a veteran, but details were not readable on his memorial. The date of his death may indicate that he was a casualty of World War II.
Mr. Shepherd was a Staff Sergeant in World War II. No other service details are given on the memorial.
The shoes and figurines are a tribute.
This is one of the more modern commercial stones in the cemetery.
