Southeast of Covington near Mansfield is the nearly vanished settlement of Hayston. Marshall McCart, who gives the history of Newton County a digital presence with The Piedmont Chronicles, notes that the community was first settled by Robert Luther Hays, one of 25 children of George Newton Hayes [who later dropped the ‘e’ from his surname], a pioneer settler of Newton County. Robert Luther [who had 18 children himself] and several of his siblings settled in the area that would become Hayston. As McCart notes, the community was largely made up of immediate family.

Nonetheless, it supported stores, industry, and had schools and churches. A Central of Georgia depot once stood in the heart of the community. Robert Luther’s son, Alexander Hays, owned the store pictured in this post, and it later passed to his son, H. S. “Stoney” Hays. It was established in 1883. A post office served the community from 1893-1957. Alexander, and later Stoney, also served as Hayston’s only postmasters.

The Hays Store was restored in the 2000s by one the Hays descendants, Freddie Greer.