This well-maintained Folk Victorian was located near the Rushing Barn and may have been part of the John Rushing farm. The photo is a few years old but the house is still standing, to my knowledge.
This tenant dwelling was located on Harville Road. The photo dates to 2013 and the house may be gone by now.
Cypress Lake was built just down the road from the historic Riggs Millpond, possibly on land once owned by Abraham Riggs (1814-1886), but other than that, its history has been somewhat elusive. According to the National Inventory of Dams, the pond and dam date to 1912. The present spillway and pavilion may be contemporary to that date but I cannot confirm. At the very least, both have likely been updated over time.
The dam was compromised during Tropical Storm Debby on 7 August 2024 but survived the deluge. These photographs were made in 2021.
This was one of several grocery and general stores in Nevils in the early 1900s. It’s located adjacent to the old Shearwood Railroad Depot. The photographs were made in 2014; as of 2025, the building is still standing.
The Coca-Cola ghost mural is nearly unreadable now. Such traces of the commercial past are so common in small towns as to nearly be cliche.
I made this photograph in 2013 and don’t know the fate of this little saddlebag cottage. It was located near a larger farm, so I presume it was a tenant dwelling.
Also known as Fish Trap Primitive Baptist, Mt. Pisgah Primitive Baptist Church is a Freedmen’s congregation established by Elder Aaron Munlin in 1883. It’s one of the oldest Black congregations in Bulloch County. Elder Munlin was born into slavery in South Carolina in 1843 and was sold to an enslaver in Bulloch County in 1856. After the Civil War, he helped establish other congregations of Black Primtive Baptists in Bulloch County, including Banks Creek and Bethel.
According to Alvin D. Jackson of the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center: “Mt. Pisgah Primitive Baptist Church is located in Bulloch County, Georgia. It was organized on November 21, 1883. There were only 5 people present at the time of the organization. Brother Howard and Sister Martha Kirkland, Brother Cain Parrish, Elder Aaron Munlin and a white Brother, Elder J. L. Smith, who acted as clerk during the organizational. These few met on Thursday, before the 4th Sunday in November and constituted the church (Mt. Pisgah). The door of the church was open to accept members. On came – Brother Andy Donaldson. They chose Elder Aaron Munlin to be their pastor. These few began doing work for the master in their own way and God blessed them.”
“Elder Aaron Munlin served as pastor 18 years. He was a great man, sold as a slave, the founder of Sister, Bank Creek Primitive Baptist Church and Moderator of the Mt. Pleasant Association. He departed from this life April 11, 1911. The 2nd pastor was Elder Washington Hodges. He served 20 years. The 3rd pastor was Elder Hershel Smith who served 12 years.”
Karen E. Osvald writes: This house was built by my great-grandfather, John M. Hendrix. It was called Cedar Lawn.
The surrounding community is also known as Cedar Lawn.
The Lee family were the namesakes of the Leefield community.
This has been identified as the home of Theophilus (1808-1881) and Rebecca Crumpton Nichols (1818-1869). According to Findagrave, Theophilus Nichols was born out of wedlock on 16 January 1808 in either North Carolina (probable) or Virginia. His father’s surname is said to have been Mann, and his mother, probably surnamed Nichols, is believed to have died in childbirth or very shortly thereafter. Theophilus told his grandchildren that his grandfather, who lived in Rappahannock County, Virginia, during the American Revolution, had four sons who served in the Continental Army. I’m most grateful to Anna Hubner for inviting me to photograph it. Anna and her husband are slowly restoring the home and surrounding acreage.
The home likely dates to the 1840s or 1850s, but that hasn’t been confirmed. An amazing anecdote regarding Nichols and the house: “Theophilus left home…at age 12 and ended up as a young man in Bulloch County, Georgia, where he married Rebecca Crumpton, had 10 children, built a large home, a farm of more than 1600 acres, and was known as a master carpenter and a most respectable citizen. His house was protected from being burned by Sherman’s troops in 1864 when local blacks surrounded the house and protested to the soldiers that Theophilus had never owned slaves and was adamantly opposed to that institution.” [Nichols is absent from the 1850 and the 1860 Slave Schedules of the U. S. Census, and this is also true of his neighboring Crumpton in-laws. This would place Mr. Nichols in a rare position in the antebellum South and the story bears further research.].
A friendly menagerie resides on the property, but the Asian Water Buffalo were my favorites.
Some of the herd are rescues from petting zoos, and they’re quite friendly.
As to the house, it was covered with vinyl siding, which caused serious damage to the exterior boards. Anna and her husband have already replaced some of them. Many believe that vinyl preserves houses as an interim measure, but as this case proves, it can actually do more damage than good. And aesthetically, it’s just not very appealing.
