These structures, likely built in the 1950s, were located behind Bennie’s Red Barn Restaurant in the historic Harrington community on St. Simons Island. They were lost to development by 2020.

My identification of the structures as apartment houses is tentative, as I have been unable to confirm anything about them. I have been told they were built for employees of Sea Island or that they may have been owned by the late Alonza Ramsey (c. 1932-2010), a legendary resident of the Harrington community whose Old Plantation Supper Club was a longtime favorite. I have no idea which, if either, is correct, but the layout of the houses would indicate company housing or rentals.

By the time I documented them in 2017, they appeared to have been abandoned for quite some time and were obviously returning to the elements.

The structures were utilitarian in design and represented modern and practical housing in the mid-20th century.

They were built of cinderblock, like the nearby vernacular church and Masonic lodge.

If I recall correctly, there were 5 or 6 buildings in the oak grove that dominated the neighborhood.

This was one of the largest remaining historic Black resources on St. Simons before it was demolished, even if it didn’t have the elements that many would consider worthy of preservation. Describing the loss of such places, Patrik Jonsson wrote in The Christian Science Monitor in 2002: Blacks once owned 86 percent of St. Simons, but now the small remaining settlements are intertwined with development roads and gated condos…Where small ramshackle villages once stood in the shade of giant live oaks, hacienda-style townhomes now crawl all the way up to the water.

I hope someone will reach out who knows more than I do about this place. There must be some great stories.