This little central hallway cottage was bathed in bright sunlight when I made this photo a few years ago. The Spanish Moss and oak canopy were a perfect frame for this enigmatic landmark. Everything about Cox, Georgia, is an enigma. Located in the vicinity of a long lost 18th-century frontier fortification known as Fort Barrington, on the Altamaha River, the community was first known as Barrington. It was named for Josiah Barrington, a cousin of James Oglethorpe. People have been inhabiting these swampy backwoods near the coast since the early days of the Georgia colony.
The post office for Barrington was open from 1894-1916. Cox never had the honor. The Seaboard Air Line Railway operated a line through the area, and it was likely due to the lumber and turpentine business that would have been prolific here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Perhaps Cox was someone involved in one of those businesses.
This isn’t somewhere you find by accident. It’s located at the terminus of Possum Point Road, and a recently placed sign proudly makes reference to the marsupial moniker. In fact, it states: Welcome to Possum Point, Cox, Georgia, Population: Just a Few, Richard Bolin, Sr., Mayor
I learned this morning when I was with my mother, aunts and cousins that my grandmother was born in Cox. So on my way back up to Savannah from Darien I drove out Cox Rd and down Possum Point Rd to get a feel for the area. I also drove down the long dirt road to Barrington County Park on the Altamaha River. Thank you for sharing this post and helping us discover these places that are a part of our personal and collective history.
Thank you for sharing. So glad you all got to go out there. It’s isolated but beautiful.
This photo would make the perfect cover for your book. I hope you do one someday soon. Your blog got me driving back roads whenever I got the chance when I lived in rural Middle Georgia. It was bittersweet how the past was vanishing in front of my eyes to be replaced by another Dollar General.
If you were to do a book this photo would make a perfect cover.
I LOVED this post.. as I do many of yours. AND I so appreciate all of your posts, your efforts to cover this overall subject. I do not live in Georgia, (yet),but have traveled there many times, always making effort to take the many off the beaten path roads. Actually I’m headed there soon again, searching small towns to consider for retirement in the next three years. Wish I had the time to visit Possum Point and Cox, but unfortunately its a bit north of my focus. But thank you. So many of your posts “take me away” to a place I hope doesn’t only exist in memories…. lovely, lovely Georgia, a place like no other.
Thank you so much, Kathleen. That’s the best thing I could hear 🙂
Atmospheric! Nice photography!