A sign outside notes that this is an “Old Line” Primitive Baptist Church. The congregation was established in 1884.
Upper Mill Creek Primitive Baptist Church, Bulloch County
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Category Archives: –BULLOCH COUNTY GA–
Dr. John C. Nevil House, 1902, Bulloch County
Built by Dr. John Calhoun Nevil (1873-1953), this cross-gable Folk Victorian home is a well-known landmark on U. S. 301. Dr. Nevil’s son, John Paul Nevil (1910-2001), a sheriff of Bulloch County, also resided here. Originally built as a modest three-room house in 1902, it was expanded to its present appearance by local carpenter Butler Barr in 1910 using pattern books typical of the Victorian era. The home also served as Dr. Nevil’s medical office.
National Register of Historic Places
Lower Lotts Creek Primitive Baptist Church, Bulloch County
The second oldest congregation in Bulloch County, Lower Lotts Creek was constituted in 1801. I’m not sure when the present church was constructed. Its architecture is typical of many Primitive Baptist structures in that it has side entrances, in addition to the front of the church.
The historic Lower Lotts Creek cemetery is the final resting place of many of the pioneers of this section of Georgia. The Hollands, whose family plot is seen above, were a prolific family in early Bulloch County.
This cenotaph was placed by descendants of Bridger Jones in 1996. It reads: Bridger Jones (1759 – 1819), Son of James Jones and Mary Bridger, a daughter of Robert Bridger who was a grandson of Colonel Joseph Bridger (1628 – 1686), Councilor of State in Virginia to King Charles II of England. Jones served in the American Revolution as a seaman in the Georgia Navy, and later as a cornet in the militia of North Carolina, where his father had moved. His wife was Rachel Barry (1762 – 1830), daughter of James Barry and Mary Noble, daughter of Samuel Noble of Carteret County, N. C. Bridger and Rachel came here in 1806. He was a Justice of the Bulloch County Court (1808 – 1813). Their children were Berry, Mary Rachel, Bridger Jr., John Thomas Briant, Josiah, Bazzell, Buckner, and Ann. After his father’s death, Berry deeded to the church six acres including the graveyard where family members are buried.
Ric Stewart writes: “Another grave of note in Lotts Creek PBC cemetery is Garret Williams, who didn’t want to be buried. Instead, his family hoisted his coffin in a large oak tree when he died in 1887. A vandal stole his skull, so fifteen years later he was finally buried in the churchyard at Lotts Creek.“
Croatan Indian Memorial Cemetery, Bulloch County
In 1870 a group of Croatan Indians migrated from Robeson County North Carolina, following the turpentine industry to southeast Georgia. Their knowledge and historical association with pinelands made them natural choices for this industry, and unfortunately, their social class at the time made them vulnerable to its exploitation. Many became tenant farmers for the Adabelle Trading Company, growing cotton and tobacco. Tenant farming and turpentining were connected in that they provided housing and commissary goods for their employees, resulting in a type of indentured servitude. They established the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Adabelle, as well as a school and this nearby cemetery. After the collapse of the Adabelle Trading Company, the Croatans faced both economic hardship and social injustice. As a result, most members of the community returned to North Carolina by 1920. The Croatans are thought to be historically connected/related to the Roanoke-Hatteras people, but scholarship on these tribes is debated and constantly evolving.
The small cemetery is located deep down a row of planted pines. Few headstones remain, though there are five or six, likely of local people somehow connected to the tribe. Sadly, they were so overgrown when I visited that photographs were not possible. I believe descendants have made pilgrimages to maintain it over the years, but they are quite distant and can’t come very often.
Text of the Marker: In memory of Lucinda Locklear, Pink Locklear, Hezie Emanuel and Margaret Adline Locklear, and the other dauntless Indians from Robeson County, North Carolina, who settled, lived, and died here sometime between the close of the Civil War and the 1920s and whose graves are unmarked. Dedicated June 4, 1989.
Jason Franklin House, Circa 1868, Adabelle
This classic Plantation Plain farmhouse was built by Jason Franklin (1845-1917) in the late 1860s, soon after his marriage to America Rountree (1845-1922). It was actually built around a much smaller log house attributed to Benjamin Turner, with some sources dating its construction to the late 1700s. I cannot confirm that date; however, the expansion of pre-existing dwellings was a common practice among yeoman farmers and planters in the 19th century.
Jason Franklin was a successful farmer and prominent in local politics. He and America had 11 children. Three of their sons were doctors: Dr. Virgil Eugene Franklin (1870-1940); Dr. John Russell Franklin, dentist (1874-1937); and Dr. Rufus Cecil Franklin (1881-1942). They provided care to neighbors in the upstairs portion of the house before establishing their own offices.
In 1906, the Jason and America moved to Statesboro, but kept the farmhouse. The house was essentially abandoned after their deaths, but was restored in 1949 by their daughter-in-law, Pearl Dekle Franklin (1882-1978). Anthony Wayne Franklin writes: “I lived in the old Jason Franklin house from just after my birth in 1955 until I was 13 years of age in 1968. My father was H.V. Franklin Jr. The house is much older than 1900. My great grandfather Jason bought a log cabin from a Mr. Turner in 1868. He built over the log cabin to the structure that it is today. It is a shame no one has the money to bring it back to life!“
Thanks to Burney C. Marsh for the identification.
Tenant Farmhouse Ruins, Adabelle
This board-and-batten single-pen tenant house is in its last days. The shed room has already been taken down and most of the tin is gone from the roof, leaving what remains exposed to the elements.
Abandoned Cabin, Adabelle
I’m not sure if this is an old farmhouse or a hunting cabin.
Oliff Farm Tenant House, Bulloch County
This was one of the most common house styles in rural Georgia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s a central hallway cottage with a rear shed room and and a detached kitchen. Examples with the kitchen intact are increasingly rare today.
Dwight Oliff writes: This old tenant house is located on my family’s farm on the Bulloch-Evans County line. Best I can tell, it was built in late 1800’s or early 1900’s as a 1917 plat shows a homestead at this location. The homestead originally included a livestock barn, stockyard, and two storage barns across Settlement Road from the dwelling. These buildings were lost to arsonist in the 1970’s. I had a contractor inspect the building about five years ago in hopes of restoring it; however, we determined it was too dilapidated. This farm had three other tenant houses as recent as 40 years ago. However, all have been lost to fire and wind.
Upper Lotts Creek Primitive Baptist Church, 1881, Bulloch County
The historic marker at the church states: Organized circa 1829, the church was originally located at the home of Absolom Parrish and called Parrish Meeting House. Following a fire of the log structure on the Parrish farm, the congregation built a second log structure one-and-a-half miles west on the bank of Big Lotts Creek. The name was changed to Upper Lotts Creek Primitive Baptist Church. The current church building was constructed in 1881.
The cemetery contains remains of Revolutionary War Soldiers Henry Parrish, John Tillman and Civil War Soldiers Theadore H. Griffin, Zacariah Taylor Deloach and Robert William Deloach.
National Register of Historic Places
Moore Trading Company + Billiard Hall, Register
Though not evident in these photographs, Register is actually showing signs of revival, especially in the well-repaired and maintained historic houses that make up the small core of the town. Almost two years ago, a man out riding around with his young son told me about the history of the town and suggested that he had moved here with his family to get away from the sprawl of Statesboro. He maintained that it’s a close-knit community.
Update: As of 2018, these structures have been demolished.