This kitschy monument has been promoting Georgia’s largest cash crop to passersby on I-75 for nearly forty years. Designed by A. R. Smith, Jr., it was sponsored by the Georgia Peanut Commission as a tribute to the peanut industry and as a memorial to Nora Lawrence Smith, longtime editor and publisher of The Wiregrass Farmer. And while there are other monuments to America’s favorite legume scattered around the country, this one is the largest. At least that’s what the folks in Ashburn tell me.
The peanut was toppled during Hurricane Michael on 10 October 2018.
With its Eastlake-inspired gable ornaments, this house is representative of the evolving late Victorian ideal which appreciated some decoration but sought a less intricate, more functional style. David Baldwin writes: This house was built by Samuel Bell Hudson and Hudson Street in front is named for him. He is from Centre, Alabama and moved over to Dempsey, Ga. to work as a clerk with the Betts Saw Mill there. When the saw mill came to what now is the site of Ashburn shortly after November, 1888, he was one who came with it. He also started a phone company for Ashburn in November 1897, prior to the Huckabee phone company, started by Walter Huckabee’s father. Mr. Hudson also started the newspaper, The Turner County Banner, in 1906. His son Porter Hudson was a popular mail carrier in Ashburn. His son Davis Hudson was sheriff of Worth County in the 1940’s. He had another son Vivian Hudson. His grandson, Russell Hudson, was involved in the Nixon grain deals in the 1970’s that greatly benefited farmers.
Ashburn Heights-Hudson-College Avenue Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Thomas John Shingler (1864-1934) was the brother of James Simon Shingler, for whom the neighborhood was named. Mr. Shingler gave then-adjacent land in 1907 for the future construction of the Methodist Church. I understand that this house, like most in this district, were designed by famed architect Peter Dennis, a family friend.
Shingler Heights Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Shingler Building, constructed in the first decade of the 20th century, is the two-story brick commercial block on the right. It’s one of the nicest such structures in Ashburn.
Ashburn Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Designed in 1907 by Alexander Blair & P. E. Dennis…it remains one of my favorite courthouses in Georgia. The Italianate clock tower is an eclectic but forceful addition.
This is the typical style of pavilion used for gospel music “singing conventions” throughout the Wiregrass Region in the early part of the 20th century. Typically, these conventions were day-long or weekend-long gatherings. The structure was built by R. V. Ayers in 1902 when J. S. Shingler leased the site to the South Georgia Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. In the nomination form for the National Register of Historic places, it’s noted that its urban setting makes it unusual for a Georgia campground. Most are located in rural areas. The form also notes, “The campground is also significant in religion as a product of the Wesleyan-Methodist faith, which began in 1843 and is a rare faith for Georgia but one that still exists today, as the Wesleyan Church. The Wesleyan Methodist Church, a different Methodist faith than the Methodist-Episcopal Church (now the United Methodist Church), had a small following in Georgia, with the Ashburn-Tifton circuit being the largest in the state. This campground is said to be one of six associated with that faith that survive in Georgia. At the height of this faith’s activities is when the tabernacle was constructed about 1902, which was before Ashburn became the county seat of Turner County in 1905. The Wesleyan Church itself stood nearby but is now gone. The religious campground/camp meeting movement was widespread in the 19th early 20th centuries and continues to this day.”
The origins of Methodism in Ashburn date to 1888, when a Mission Sunday School was formed. By 1895, five separate mission churches came together as one congregation and worshiped in a wood frame sanctuary (built circa 1891 and now in commercial use). Though the National Register of Historic Places Nomination form gives a contradictory date (1917) for the present structure’s construction, I’m using the more recently cited date of 1911, from the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. Land was given by James Simon Shingler (1859-1943), Ashburn’s leading citizen of the era and a devout Methodist, who brought in dirt to build up the hill so the church could be seen throughout Ashburn. Macon architect Peter E. Dennis, of the firm Dennis & Dennis, was a close personal friend of J. S. Shingler and was responsible for the design of this church, as well as the most prominent homes in the Shingler Heights neighborhood.
Shingler Heights Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This grand old Victorian home, designed by the prominent Macon architect Peter E. Dennis [later of the firm Dennis & Dennis], is in the process of being restored. When I photographed it, I was under the impression that it was abandoned but have since confirmed that it’s being renovated and lived in again. It was also the site, in December 1937, of the suspicious death of 27-year-old Azzie Martin, a black woman who had been hired to cook for a party, and has been the source of many local legends. It should come as no surprise that the perpetrators of this crime were never brought to justice.
David Baldwin writes: The house was built in 1897 by John West Evans (1844-1904) according the the Ashburn Advance newspaper. Mr. Evans was associated with the Betts Saw Mill [John Samuel Betts (1848-1918)] in Dempsey, near Eastman, and he came over with the crowd in late October 1888 after the Georgia Florida and Southern Railroad line connected north of Ashburn, completing the line from Macon to Palatka, Florida. He was from Hawkinsville originally. He had attended the [Mt. Zion] Academy as a boy in Sparta, Georgia. His teacher was Mr.[William J.] Northen, who later became Governor of Georgia and who signed the charter establishing Ashburn as a city. Mr. Northen also served as President of the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention and would stay in the homes, like this one, as he traveled the state doing his duty. Mr Evans was the first Postmaster in Ashburn. He served in the Georgia Militia during the War Between the States. He died early.Mr. Evans and Mr. Betts married the Bohannon sisters of Dodge County...[John Evans married Ella Bohannon (1852-1910) and Mr. Betts married Elmira Josephine Bohannon (1858-1907)]…Hence the county road on the s.w. section was Ashburn was named Josella Road.
This is the only house in Ashburn that is noted for being truly haunted. In 1935, a young lady who ran the local theater was leasing the second floor and decided to have a Christmas party. They hired a young black woman (Aza Martin) to cook the chicken. Supposedly the young lady got drunk and did not have the chicken ready. A young man with a bad temper carried her to the third floor attic and beat her with a wooden chair. Sheriff Story later found the chair with blood on it. At 3 am the boys of the party brought her body down to put it in the trunk of a car. Mrs. Evans, the daughter in law of Mr. John West Evans (deceased), opened her downstairs door and saw them bringing the body down the stairs. They took the body to a negro named James Worthy, a coal suite operator. He placed the near dead girl in the loft in his house. He was arrested in the following weeks but then let go. She continued to be reported missing. Finally, in March her body was found in Little River by some black loggers. Her mother identified her by the shape of her teeth and her dress. An inquest was held by main men of the town who determined the death was by unknown origin. The young man that committed the crime was reported to have attempted suicide between December and March, but survived. He went on the live as a Christian but no doubt he had to live with this crime all his life. The boys there that night committed to forever hold a secret as to what happened and as far as this writer knows they have. The murdered lady is said to haunt the house by those that have lived there. Milton Cravey was one.
Barbara Clements, a former owner, relates more: The Evans house was purchased in 1976 by Wesley and Barbara Clements, they began renovation of this home and lived in it with there three small children until 1982. The Aplplewhites purchased it in 1983 and did very little renovation to the home, other than when it caught fire. The Clement’s searched South Georgia to find windows to replace the broken ones; it took over a year to find enough windows. The Clements painted the house a light grey which was a Victorian color and they also had the original tin roof cleaned and painted. An antique dealer and her husband purchased it in the 1990s and began a massive renovation to the home. They also purchased the home across the street and began renovation of it, but never completed it either. They placed the massive brick fence around the property. The story is that the Evans family had taken a holiday and left there teenage son at home. He had a party there and during the party a young black female servant was killed. The boys at the party took the lifeless body to Hat Creek and threw it in, placing her purse and a rock on top to keep her from surfacing. In the spring her body did surface. The house was always referred to as the haunted house. During the first two years of the Clements’ renovation there were many stories in the Wiregrass Farmer, a local weekly newspaper.
Thanks to Wayne Blue, who obtained this circa 1900-1910 photograph from a grandson of John L. Evans, we now have an idea of what this Ashburn landmark looked like in its early days.
John and Lynette Robison are the present owners and are doing a great job of restoring it. I was so glad to hear this, as it’s one of the most beautiful and important houses in Turner County. John writes regarding the “haunted” status of the house: After living in the house for almost a year I can say that the only thing that is in the house are the squirrels that get in on the third floor from time to time other then that there are no ghosts!
