Though sided with asbestos today, the exterior of this church would have originally looked just like the interior, as seen below. The congregation dates to 28 September 1887, though I’m not sure when the church was built.
It’s set on fieldstone pillars.
Update: Chloe Evans Holloway notes, as of February 2023: It has been torn down and nothing is there but a sign and the graveyard. I have 3 or 4 generations of my family in the graveyard. My grandfather built the wooden caskets for many of the families who are buried there.
This is quite small, even for a shotgun house, so I initially thought it might be an old office building, but there’s another one on the property [which I was unable to photograph due to vegetation] which led me to believe it might be a tenant house. Pete Tyson clarifies: That was the first aid/hospital of Cedar Springs that Mrs. S. A. Wright told me about. It was moved there in the 1960’s from the little dirt road behind Johnny Golden’s store. It was a barber shop (drinking spot) that was run by Bill Adams and he later moved his shop to Columbia, Alabama, to the old Orr’s Gun Shop on Highway 52. The other was a beauty shop run by May Megahee.
William C. Evans notes: The building was moved twice. Originally it was a dispensary and band room at the Cedar Springs Academy. The first time it was moved, it was used as a post office. It was later moved again to its current location and was used as a barbershop. Dr. Crozier’s house was the medical facility of Cedar Springs.
Janet Megahee Hudson writes: This was once the First United Methodist Church of Cedar Springs. My grandparents attended: George Earle and Edna Clare Sheffield Megahee.
Pete Tyson writes that this was Claude Golden’s grocery store. He also sold gasoline as there’s a nearly-gone Shell sign in front of the building. Bill Evans writes that it was built by Bill Evans, a large landowner and timber man.
There are many significant aspects to this house, not least of which is its original ownership by a woman, independent of her husband’s assets. It’s a wonderful example of a Plantation Plain converted to the vernacular Greek Revival. In consideration of resources available to me, there is some confusion as to the date of construction. While a sign on the property dates the house to 1840 and names it Echodell, the National Register nomination form [which was written over 30 years ago] states that the property wasn’t even purchased until 1842, by Jane Donalson Harrell’s brother, Ruben Donalson. The majority of the property was later secured by his brother but four acres on the southwest section were set aside for his sister, Jane, in 1855. She and her husband, Dempsey Harrell, operated a cotton plantation here. Jane’s marriage contract stipulated that she would retain ownership of this property, a relatively uncommon arrangement in antebellum Georgia.
Around 1870 the house was inherited by a daughter’s husband, Dr. Augustus D. Shewmake. Dr. Shewmake kept a medical office and infirmary in a wing he added to the house (since removed). Also significant, he hired a governess to teach both black and white children on the plantation. This was relatively uncommon in the years following the Civil War. I hope to clarify the history as this is one of the nicest antebellum homes in this section of Georgia.
Update: Through communication with the owners I’ve learned that the house was badly damaged by Hurricane Michael in October 2018. They are presently working through red tape to properly restore it.
The right side of this building served as the Mosely Drug Company from 1910-1927. The left side was a general store, judging by the sign advertising Peters Shoes.
Lillian Gallatin recalls: You’re right – this was a General Store owned and operated by Harry Mosely. ‘Mr. Harry’ kept a box full of penny candy in his store and gave a piece to all the little kids that came into the store. His sister ‘Miss Willie’ Mosely was the first grade school teacher at Jakin School and his brother Clark was a banker in Donalsonville. My dad was a sharecropper on Mr. Clark’s farm. They were all good people but Mr. Harry was my favorite.
This was likely a general store at one time. Dorothy George Taylor writes: If memory serves me right, I believe this was the store of Joe and Daisy Nunnery. I don’t really remember Mr. Joe, but I will NEVER forget Miss Daisy! My daddy was raised in & around Jakin. We were not able to visit much as daddy was in the military, but whenever we did, Miss Daisy ALWAYS handed me, then later me and my brother, a sack full of “penny candy” and gave us a 6oz bottled Coca-Cola. She always had a hug for us, always remarked how much we had grown or changed since the last time she had seen us and always, always made us feel welcomed. She and Mr. Joe are buried in the Jakin City Cemetery.
