For those not familiar, Gough is pronounced GOFF. The white building in the foreground is the Gough Lodge of the Prince Hall Masons, an African-American fraternal association. Agricultural warehouses can be seen in the distance.
Gough was named for J. P. Gough and the first post office opened in 1905.
Bob & Bob’s Grocery is a step back in time, with its old Coca-Cola sign and gas pumps right at the front door. There’s also a restaurant next door, though I’m not sure if it’s open. Locals usually gather on the benches out front and shoot the breeze. Dr. Joe Kitchens, a Gough native, writes: The building was owned by my grandfather, Cyrus White Kitchens who had it constructed to house his bank (the Bank of Gough). The grocery store has obviously been here for a long time, judging by the age of the sign.
The owner of this property related that the house was built in the 1800s and is still in use today.
This old vernacular church. likely from the turn of the last century, is located on private property but can be seen from the road.
The owner of the adjacent properties told me this was a funeral home for as long has he could remember. Mary Stokes Johnson writes: It was a funeral home owned by Mr. Marion Carter. Major L. Simpson adds: …It was owned by Mr. Marion Carter, who was also part owner of Brown & Carter’s Funeral Home in Waynesboro, GA. I believe he passed away in the early 2000’s.
Update: As of 2019, this structure has been razed.
Like many older African-American congregations, St. Clair Missionary Baptist utilizes a new church building but retains an older facility on the property [below].
There’s another structure which appears to be a social hall.
This is one of the best maintained and neatest little country churches I’ve ever seen in Georgia. It was built by Charles Clark as a plantation church to serve the spiritual needs of his large family. He was married twice and had 25 children. The Methodist Episcopal affiliation came in 1878, as the family spread out and left the plantation, but they resumed care for it in the late 1970s, after membership dwindled.
Charles Clark came to Savannah from Westfield, New Jersey in 1802 and married his first wife, Eleanor Carswell, there. As his interests in agriculture grew, he acquired plantation lands in Burke County and resettled here. Upon Eleanor’s death in 1826, Clark married Sarah Murphey. A memorial outside the church reads: In Memory of Charles Clark (Jan. 30, 1782 – Feb. 2, 1852) Who in 1847 built Clark’s Chapel Church upon these rocks. He now lies buried in the family cemetery 1 1/2 miles away.
National Register of Historic Places
It’s thought that this church was built by David Demarest, the architect of Old Mercer Chapel in Penfield and the Greene County Courthouse in Greensboro. It certainly hearkens to his mastery of Greek Revival architecture. The congregation of Hopeful Baptist dates to 1815, when a church was organized on the lands of Alexander Carswell’s plantation. Three smaller, less formal churches predate this structure. The pulpit is at the entrance to the church, in contrast to the layout of most houses of worship. A member told me that this was to insure that every congregant would interact with the preacher. A small section at the rear was used as seating for enslaved people.
National Register of Historic Places