Category Archives: Bachlott GA

Log Tobacco Barn, Bachlott

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Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Chuch, Bachlott

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This church was founded in 1842 and joined the Alabaha Association (Crawfordite) in 1905. They joined the Satilla River Association in 1969. The congregation disbanded in 1991. I’m not sure when the present structure was built.

Above is a good representation of the old-style shuttered windows.

 The interiors of all of the Hardshell churches are beautiful testaments to faith and good carpentry.

Bethlehem Cemetery is large and well-maintained, as are all of the Hardshell cemeteries, but is unique in that it contains a pair of grave houses, a relative rarity in South Georgia.

Adult Grave House

Child’s Grave House

Note the gopher hole at the edge of this lot. Gopher holes are a sure sign of rattlesnakes, too.

Some references list this church’s address as Bethlehem Road in Hickox, but if you attempt to take that road from U. S. Highway 301, you will find an overgrown field road that leads to an inaccessible bridge. Since I had to access it from Bachlott, and due to the fact that it’s closer to that settlement, I listed Bachlott as its location.

 

Bachlott Church of God, Brantley County

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Fatlighter For Sale, Bachlott

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Our good friend, Jesse Bookhardt writes: Fat-lighter is still in demand as a good fire starter. The stuff was prized in history and when growing-up, I loved to smell it when collecting and splitting wood for the cook stove and fireplace. It burns with a black smoke and creates lots of creosote which can be dangerous in large amounts in stove pipes and fire stacks. We made corner fence post of it. It didn’t rot but wouldn’t always hold a nail well. Longleaf and Slash pines were chipped for turpentine boxes and the scared resinous wood surface was called a Cat Faces. When the tar dripped the face turned to lighter-wood. There are may names for the wood. In Northeast Alabama, the old timers call fat-lighter “rich wood.” Back in the 1950’s and perhaps earlier, chemical companies collected the old “Cat Faces” along with pine stumps that were basically fatwood. Their factories turned the stuff into a variety of products including explosives. Long live the culture and history of South Georgia.