Dutch Henderson brought this house to my attention a few years ago and we recently coordinated on the location. It was built by Leaston Powell. Wayne Frost writes: I have a pretty good feeling my grand daddy- Tom Pullen made these posts. I was raised next door…so I have a lot of memories of this house. I can still see my uncle Leaston Powell out side tending his animals . He always wore a black felt hat and pointer overalls and brogans. He liked to trap quail to eat and I would sit beside him under his Chinaberry trees and shoot robins, I loved it as a kid and yes we ate them. My grand daddy Tom Pullen lived about 1/4 of a mile from Uncle Leaston and he didn’t own a car so he would hook up a wooden sled (that he built) to his mule . He would stand on that slay and ride it to my grand daddy’s. I could hear him coming as the sled was being pulled up the road. He had a high pitched voice like Sweenie on the Green Acres t.v. show. Life was simple back then.
As is common with this style of house, it has a shed room at the rear. It also has two wings on the front, known as preacher rooms, or keeps. Rural preachers once had to travel for many miles to different charges, or churches in their care, and members of their congregations often opened their homes to them. The rooms were usually independent additions to the house and positioned so the preachers could come and go as they pleased.
A much more unique feature of the house are the two rough-hewn elongated diamond-shaped porch posts, featuring a cutout diamond in the middle. I feel certain that Mr. Powell made these himself.
I haven’t been able to locate a date for the house, but I would guess late 1870s to circa 1900. It has clapboard walls, later covered by false brick (tar paper) siding.
A small barn, likely a corn crib, survives on the property, as well.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 
As the first of the grandchildren of Leaston and Katie Powell I was somewhat spoiled…I rode on the sled because I was too little to “keep up” so my Papa took that extra time to hitch up the mule so I could go with him to get the cows at sundown and bring them home…I played in that corn crib all by myself for awhile till Jimmy Johnson was born…uncle Felt and Aunt Jewel lived down the road in a little house on the property…then it was just Me and Jimmy for awhile …then the rest of the klan started coming along….climbed that old chinaberry tree for a loooong time and played many years…got bathed in a washtub after it was filled with well water and sat in the sun till it warmed up…Papa had a red wagon he used to hall food down to the pigs so he sat me on top of the big cans and pull me with him so I could go with him…My Mama sat me in her lap to sew and taught me how to make my own clothes …had to stand in a chair next to her to learn to make biscuits …my life was formed there and it carried thru to my way of being a grandma and great grandma…so THE BEAT GOES ON…
My name Jeremy Powell. This is where my Grandfather Curtis L. Powell was raised. My Grand dad moved to Detroit to find work after coming back from the war. I can remember visiting “the farm” as a child. Some of my childhood memories are the way the rain roared on the tin roof, the of the best watermelon I’ve ever tasted still growing after generations in a corner of the property and knats being so thick during the day casting a swirling haze in the air. Seeing these pictures brought back a flood of emotions. I can’t believe it still stands. I have to look but I think I have a photo of the farm my father Curtis L. Powell II took the last time we were there in 1986.
Leaston Powell was my grandfather. I spent many happy summers there as well as holidays. The barn was a corn crib. Beside it was a small stall for Hattie, the mule, and a small corral for her. A chicken pen and chicken coop was behind the house. Originally, the kitchen was in a small building behind the house and separate from it. It was eventually torn down and the kitchen was moved inside. My grandmother cooked feasts in that little kitchen! One of the side rooms off the porch was closed and converted to a bathroom with a shower. We rode on the sled Hattie pulled and in the wagon. Sometimes a “rolling store” (a converted school bus) would drive up and we would all get treats. Cousins, aunts, and uncles filled the house with happy memories.
I was raised around that house as my grand parents lived next door ! My Grand mother was Gertrude Powell Pullen- sister to Leaston Powell.
On Fri, Sep 27, 2019, 2:28 PM Vanishing South Georgia Photographs by Brian Brown wrote:
> Brian Brown posted: ” Dutch Henderson brought this house to my attention a > few years ago and we recently coordinated on the location. It was built by > Leaston Spence Powell (15 April 1845-15 February 1925). As is common with > double-pen houses, it features a shed room” >