There are too many people to thank personally for all the work that is being done to clean up in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, but these signs popped up in my parents’ neighborhood in Fitzgerald this week.
Utility workers, first responders, and everyone else who continue to aid in the effort are also appreciated, as are good neighbors and volunteers.
I know these folks are doing their jobs and don’t seek praise, but it doesn’t hurt to take a moment to appreciate their efforts.
I can’t say “thank you” enough for getting us a bi t closer to normal. I know there’s much more work to be done but we will get through this.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. The older I’ve gotten, the more I understand that holidays aren’t about gifts but about the togetherness of family and memories of our traditions at this time. One of my traditions is riding around my hometown with my mother on Christmas Eve and looking at all the Christmas lights in the parks, in peoples’ yards, and listening to holiday music on the radio. This was my church when I was growing up, and it looked particularly nice last night as we made our annual drive. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Stay safe.
This nearly forgotten Folk Victorian house was recently exposed when land was cleared across from the old Ashton School. I expect it will soon be razed, as the back section has already begun to collapse. It likely dates to circa 1900-1910.
Farise Taylor writes: I played on the porch of this old house when Mr. J. T. McMillan and wife Ruby lived there with their children, John Earl, Ronald, and their sister. Before the McMillans lived there Mr. Artis O. Williams (1893-1973) and his wife Nellie Lowman Williams (1892-1967), along with their five sons lived there. The boys were D., Artis, George, Frank, and Boyette, all of whom served in combat in World War II. In 1951, Mrs. Williams, an English teacher at Ashton School, wrote a book of poetry, Songs in the Night.
Nellie Lowman Williams, signed page from book, Collection of Brian Brown.
In her book was a poem entitled “One Five Star Mother to Another”. This poem was a tribute to another mother, Mrs. Sullivan, who lost all five of her sons in World War II. The text follows, below.
I saw your picture in the news one day, So full of courage, Mrs. Sullivan; Upon your desk there stood five portraits gay; From each frame smiled a stalwart sailor-son. Two sisters underneath the skin we are, Five stalwart service-sons, also, had I; They, too, went boldly forth to global war, And crossed the deep to conquer or to die.
Alike, we say, and yet–so different! The ship, your sons, your very heart, went down. My sons came back, as hale as when they went; They changed my cross into a glorious crown! Still, I keep thinking, Oh, and could it be, Your precious five sent five back to me!
I have a signed copy of this book somewhere, and as soon as I can locate, will scan a photo of Mrs. Williams. I don’t know if Mrs. Williams ever shared the poem with Mrs. Sullivan, but I imagine she did. It’s hard to conceive the loss suffered by many families in the wake of the war.
Jimmy Troupe tells me that his great-grandfather, Joshua Troupe, built this house in the 1890s, and it was subsequently home to his grandfather, H. A. Troupe, Sr., and his father, H. A. “Sonny Boy” Troupe, Jr. Jimmy grew up in the house and still owns it today. It’s likely the house was expanded at some point to its present layout. He also told me his grandmother said the family name was originally Troup but the “e” was added later, and that just up the road, toward Fitzgerald, there was a Troupe Schoolhouse in the early 1900s. The family was well-represented in the area.
The earliest known owner of this Ashton landmark was Reuben Walker, and like the Troupe House, it’s believed to date to the 1890s. I’m not sure it was built the way it presently appears, or it was a central hallway cottage with the gabled second floor added soon thereafter. It’s a vernacular interpretation of the Queen Anne style. The Aycock family are more recent owners.
Those of you who know me personally know that I’m a bird nerd of sorts, and have been since childhood. When my father called me on 8 April 2018 and reported an unusual blue bird hanging around his backyard, I made a trip over to Fitzgerald to investigate it myself. From his description, we both thought it might be a Lazuli Bunting but that was easy to dismiss since it’s a western species, never before recorded in Georgia. Sure enough, it was a beautiful Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena). The bird likely followed a storm system that moved across the middle of the country and wound up in South Georgia. It only hung around a couple of days, but it was a gift to see it.
Last week, I finally got confirmation from Jim Flynn of the Checklist and Records Committee of the Georgia Ornithological Society that the sighting was officially confirmed. He wrote: I wanted to let you know that we finally completed a round of bird records that included your Lazuli Bunting report. I am happy to say that it was unanimously accepted. This is the first fully documented record for Georgia. After all of these years of record keeping, going back to colonial times, it’s tough to get a new state record!
I believe this was one of Fitzgerald’s earliest African-American churches, but I haven’t been able to locate the name of the original congregation. The structure has been altered since I made this photograph in 2010, but it remains one of the city’s most architecturally significant vernacular churches. The steeple is unusual.
Fitzgerald’s first general hospital was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s to replace Dr. Dudley B. Ware’s much smaller convalescent hospital on Central Avenue.
My grandmother worked here in the 1950s and my mother and father were born here. It was used by the community until 1974 when a more modern facility, Dorminy Memorial Hospital [now Dorminy Medical Center] opened. When I was growing up, the hospital housed the Cooperative Extension office and other governmental offices.
I made these photographs in 2019, a few months before this structure was razed. For most of my life, it was known as C. M. Copeland’s workshop and studio. I believe it was originally a neighborhood grocery store but I can’t confirm that at this time.
C. M. Copeland, Fitzgerald, 1977 [detail]. Library of Congress. Public domain.
C. M. Copeland (15 July 1916-4 February 2000) was a brilliant wood carver, best known for his sculptures of wildlife made with cypress knees. He was often referred to as “The Happy Wood Carver”. He was also a banjo picker and folk singer, who had a radio show on local radio station WBHB with Wimpy Fowler, The Wimpy and Jigs Show.
C. M. Copeland Treasures in Wood, Fitzgerald, 1977. Library of Congress. Public domain.
He was documented by folklorists for the South Georgia Folklife Project in 1977, both for his picking and his carving.
Wimpy Fowler and C. M. Copeland, Fitzgerald, 1977. Library of Congress. Public domain.
At the time of the South Georgia Folklife Project photographs, his shop was a few blocks down the road from this location. This structure was adjacent to his home and I believe he moved his operations here sometime after 1977 for the sake of convenience.
The Old Field Cemetery is a rural cemetery located a few miles from Fitzgerald which has fascinated me since I first photographed it in 2009. It contains a mixture of commercial and vernacular memorials, with several significant vernacular memorials, including the unusual Benton Family cross [pictured above]. Old Field Cemetery predates the establishment of Fitzgerald; the earliest identified burial [1861] is that of Archabald McInnis (4 July 1816-7 July 1861) with several other burials dating to the 1880s. At least one pioneer family of the Old Soldiers Colony of Fitzgerald, the Hallett Rathburn family, is also associated with the cemetery.
An interesting comment on the entry for Flora Ann Dixon McCall on Find a Grave fills in an important fact about potentially missing gravestones: Rumor has it (as recounted by Josie Mims McCall) that many McCall’s [sic] were buried in the Old Field Cemetery, however, a local man vandalized the cemetery and many of the grave stones were destroyed as he “cleaned” up the cemetery. He was upset that no one in the town of Fitzgerald helped him clean up the cemetery, after he placed an ad in the local paper to encourage all families to lend a hand, so he demolished most of it with a tractor during his “clean up.”
Vernacular Memorials of Old Field Cemetery
Cylindrical Memorial No. 1, Decedent Unknown
There are three cylindrical headstones in Old Field Cemetery. It’s an unusual form of grave marking that I’ve not encountered elsewhere .
Cylindrical Memorial No. 2, Decedent Unknown
All are made of poured concrete and two examples are ornamented by round stones placed on the ground beside them.
Cylindrical Memorial No. 3, Decedent Unknown
I don’t think these stones have any particular religious meaning but rather a practical one. I don’t believe they ever contained the names of the decedents and their identities may be lost to history.
Wooden Grave Marker, Decedent Unknown
Wooden markers were commonly used to mark graves in the past, especially in rural cemeteries. Wood is among the most vulnerable of all the materials used to mark graves and countless examples have been lost to the elements over time.
Benton Memorial, detail
The top left horizontal section of the Benton Memorial cross is actually signed by the maker, Jessie Morris. Morris may be responsible for several of the vernacular memorials in Old Field Cemetery. Signed vernacular stones are very rare.
Benton Memorial, detail
The top right horizontal section of the cross [see first photo in this article for an overall view] contains the words God Bless You All.
I cannot read the names of the Bentons buried here and have no idea if there’s a connection, but my father remembers two or three Benton brothers who lived in the general area in the 1950s. He recalls that they were bachelors and lived in a large old house on the Jacksonville Highway [U.S. 319] and were among the first people he knew of in Ben Hill County to grow and sell strawberries.
The original memorial marking the final resting place of Brinkley Bishop was surrounded by four cedar trees that have since been removed.
Brinkley Bishop (1811-1899), detail
It was replaced by a modern vernacular stone by his grandchildren.
There are quite a few simple vernacular memorials throughout the cemetery, like the two Hasty stones pictured above.
Baby Morris (birth and death dates unknown)
The headstone for Baby Morris features a butterfly and vine design. It possibly dates to the late 1930s, when considering the design of the Baby Beck memorial which is located nearby.
Baby Morris (June 1938)
I believe the two baby memorials may be the work of Jessie Morris, who made the cross for the Benton family.
Frank Cook (29 September 1870-4 April 1928)
The memorial for Frank Cook is a hybrid form commonly found in rural cemeteries. The headstone was poured into a mold and the lettering and shaking hands designs are created with stencils.
Commercial Memorials of Old Field Cemetery
John Sullivan (1842-?)
The headstone for Frank Sullivan notes that he was a Marine. It is in the government-issued style known as “Civil War” or “Recessed, or Sunken, Shield” and was in widespread use from the 1880s until at least the 1910s.
Alex M. McInnis (10 May 1881-31 July 1883)
The headstones for two of the six children of Daniel A. (15 December 1855-26 May 1906) and Elizabeth Tucker McInnis (14 February 1859-12 July 1934) are very common examples of one of the most popular commercial motifs of the Victorian era.
Mattie Thetis McInnis (4 July 1889-4 December 1893), detail
The lamb represents the Lord and also symbolizes innocence, hence its presence on numerous infant and toddler graves throughout the United States.
Mattie Thetis McInnis (4 July 1889-4 December 1893)
Infant and childhood deaths were common before the advent of modern medicine.
