This central hallway (later, gabled-ell) farmhouse is located near Nevils off Daisy-Nevils Road.
Martin Farmhouse, Nevils
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Category Archives: –BULLOCH COUNTY GA–
Gable Front Tenant House, Nevils
This house appears to have been vacant for some time.
Portal, Georgia
Portal was established two miles north of its present location on the Old Portal Road. There is no consensus as to the source of the name, which was approved by the post office department in 1894. The village, in northwestern Bulloch County, was near the end of a private railroad built by the E. E. Foy Company to service its sawmill at nearby Rocky Ford. Foy also built a mercantile to supply the needs of residents. Within ten years, nearly all timber in the area had been cut and Foy closed the mercantile and sold lots to those who wanted to remain in the area. When the Savannah, Augusta & Northern Railway laid a public line through the area in 1907, those who remained in Old Portal moved to the current location and it was officially incorporated in 1914. It is known today for its historic association with the turpentine industry.
Stewart Drug Company, 1908, Portal
This is one of four identical structures which once faced Railroad Street. It’s the only one that remains and served as the office and pharmacy of Dr. J. A. Stewart. Two additional structures of identical construction were built by Dr. Stewart’s cousin, C. W. Caldwell. Stewart (1880-1952), a native of Crawfordville, came to Bulloch County upon graduating from the Medical College of Georgia in 1906 and quickly became involved in nearly every aspect of its civic life. While boarding with the Kitchings family, in 1907, he met and married their daughter, Sarah. He served on the first city council in Portal and remained one of the town’s biggest boosters for the remainder of his life. A much more detailed biography of Dr. Stewart can be found on the National Register Nomination Form.
In their nomination of the pharmacy to their 2015 Places in Peril list, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation noted: (This) small wooden building served as a pharmacy, doctor’s office and soda fountain over the years, and Dr. Stewart was known to do surgery in the back of the drugstore while his wife tended the soda fountain in the front. Though the drugstore closed in 1950, its interior remains largely intact. With medical books and instruments, stocked shelves and the soda fountain still inside, this is perhaps the most thorough and authentic example of an early community pharmacy in the entire state.
On 8 August 2011, Joe Brack wrote: My father’s family was from Portal, the Bracks. Dr.Stewart was my uncle’s father and in the mid to late 40’s and early 50’s he still traveled around the county by horse and buggy and many times paid with either produce or live stock when he was paid at all. Uncle Punk ran a beer and fish market next door and of course being the 40’s it had separate entrances for blacks and whites. We would visit Uncle Punk and get a Nee High soda… fond memories.
National Register of Historic Places
Stone Veneer Storefront, 1910, Portal
I haven’t been able to identify this structure, but it likely housed a grocery or general store. It appears to be well-preserved.
Carter Turpentine Still, 1930, Portal
This turpentine still was established by F. N. Carter, Sr., in 1930. Today, it’s maintained by the Portal Heritage Society and is the centerpiece of the annual Turpentine Festival.
Cotton Gins, Portal
The three gins at Portal represent one of the largest intact ginning sites I’ve found in my travels. Two are Lummus gins and one is a Centennial. This Lummus gin, with the International truck in front, belonged to F. N. Carter & Son [Freeman Noah Carter, Sr. (1887-1974)], which became E. C. Carter Farms [Ernest Cicero Carter, Sr. (1910-2000)]. This complex, handling everything from turpentine to general agriculture, was central to life in Portal for many years.
The Lummus system originated in New York during the Civil War, but relocated to Juniper, then Columbus, Georgia, during Reconstruction. Donna Bird Williams notes that one of the gins and the nearby storage buildings are owned by LeRoy T. Bird [Leroy Thelma Bird (1897-1982)] and Son. Donna is the granddaughter of LeRoy and the daughter of Richard E. Bird [Richard Erastus Bird (1930-2009)]. The Bird family ginning business dates to circa 1845.
This structure is smaller than the two Lummus gins contained in the same complex. It was built for F. N. Carter & Son by Centennial Cotton Gin Company of Columbus, Georgia. A local name for the street, Mullet Roe, can be seen on the sign above. Mullet Roe, of course, is really a form of Southern caviar but I like the tongue-in-cheek usage on the sign.
The actual name for this once-busy thoroughfare is Railroad Street.
This view looks toward the gins from the old freight warehouse.
One of several antique work trucks is parked under the shed beside the gin.
This is a close-up of the International R-190 seen in the first photograph. This line of classic work trucks was manufactured during the 1950s-1960s. I believe this is an early model.
Various storage buildings remain on the property, as well. A small office building (not pictured) also survives.
I can’t over-emphasize how important it is to see all these structures intact. They are a veritable living museum and symbolize a time when agriculture was dominant, and often the only industry, in rural Georgia.
Bulloch County Courthouse, 1894, Statesboro
Built in 1894 by the firm of Bruce & Morgan this iconic courthouse was renovated, with the addition of the columns in 1914, by Savannah architect Julian de Bruyn Kops.
National Register of Historic Places
Register, Georgia
Before it was known as Register, this village in western Bulloch County is said to have been first known as Bengal, in 1855, and at some point, Herschel. I believe Bengal was actually a few miles away, however, as the Bengal post office remained open until 1904, whereas the Herschel post office was only open from 1894-1899. When the Herschel post office closed, it was renamed Register, for its first postmaster, Franklin Pierce Register (1853-1914), who moved to the area in 1894. Originally from White Oak, North Carolina, Register was an entrepreneur. With his nephew, J. L. Johnson, he soon had thriving naval stores and mercantile businesses. Bulloch County was full of virgin pine forests. What wasn’t used for turpentine was cleared for timber, which gave rise to farming and the dominance of agriculture. Saw mills and grist mills boomed. In 1901 a branch of the Central of Georgia Railroad intersected with the local Register & Glennville Railroad, and the town thrived for a time. The Register School opened in 1904 and Register High School in 1917. Before they were built, students took the train to classes in Statesboro.
Pittsburgh Paints Sign, Nevils
