I made this photograph on 17 June 2009 and the image got lost in my archives, until now. I don’t recall where in Randolph County this structure was located, but it was one of my early favorites. I believe it was somewhere between Benevolence and the now demolished Hour of Prayer Church, if that helps anyone in pinpointing its whereabouts. The single-pen style, while equally distributed among white and black laborers, is sometimes referred to as “Cracker”. It’s one of Georgia’s most widespread [and endangered] rural housing types of the late 19th and early 20th century and is often associated with tenancy, which in Georgia usually meant farming or turpentining. It was also popular in textile mill villages. As seen on this example, most single-pen cottages featured a shed room at the rear.
Certainly enjoyed your comment, Rafe. You captured the essence of the place, and the framed print of a house similar to this one is indeed a treasure, just the kind of keepsake I like to find at such shows.
One of my prized possessions is a framed print I bought at an arts and crafts show, many years ago, of a similar house in the middle of green fields, in a “weathered barn wood” frame. You could tell it was once a treasured home, even if rustic by today’s standards.
Probably had no running water, kerosene lamps for light, outhouses, and whatever heat the fireplace could put out for a wooden house like that. But sturdy, and considered adequate, for its time and place.
A marvelous photo! Made me appreciate my own humble cottage even more.
I have seen many places like this across the back country roads of both Georgia and South Carolina, although seldom lived in, these days.