Johnny Morehead and family run a great country store and restaurant in Irwinville. Stop by for lunch if you’re ever in the area. There’s some nice Irwinville memorabilia in the store, too. Also, Johnny is one of the largest pecan brokers in the area, so if that’s something that interests you, inquire within.
Wisteria has nearly strangled this old farmhouse, which is only visible in winter. Jane Tucker Gentry notes that it was owned by the Troup family but was home for many years to Major & Mary Fuller.
I’ve been told that this store primarily sold candy and food items. The pyramidal form is unusual for this type of establishment.
Thanks to Stephen Dixon for the identification.
Bussell Pond is a well-known local natural landmark and even though I’m related to the Bussell family, I’ve never known much about it. It was once a busy millpond, and the remains of the old mill are still on the property, though inaccessible. Evelyn Stripling Walker noted that the pond was a baptismal site for Mystic Baptist Church and that she was baptized here in 1929.
Mystic, Georgia © Brian Brown, 2005.
Today marks the five-year anniversary of Vanishing South Georgia!
What began as a personal project has grown into something much greater than I would have ever imagined. In traveling thousands of miles through 82 counties and hundreds of towns of varying sizes, I believe I have been privileged to see a Georgia that few people get to experience in such depth. As I branched out from Ben Hill & Irwin Counties, I did search after search for little places with interesting names I’d found on the map. I knew most would be hard to track down, but one after another seemed lost and forgotten. Part of my mission, and one that remains central to this work, was to create a permanent record of these places for researchers and people nostalgic for a glimpse of their roots. As a historian, I was very aware of the need to document them, but what made my work take wings, so to speak, was the early support and feedback from the people I began connecting with as a result of my photographs.
Mrs. Gay’s Place on the Waterloo-Rebecca Road, © Brian Brown, 2007
And I’m not the only one out here, doing work like this. When I began posting my images to the internet I found a small but determined community of people doing the same thing as me, albeit it on a different scale and usually with far more credentials as artists. Too countless to name are all the other Georgians, whether serious or just taking snapshots for the benefit of their own memories, who record history with their cameras. As Mark McDonald of the Georgia Trust for Historic recently said in an interview with GPB regarding the scope of the work, “…in historic preservation, if you can’t save a historic building, the last step is to document it.” Tobacco barns, country stores, and farmhouses truly are vanishing every day and with them the way of life they represented and the stories of the lives built around them. Just this week I’ve heard from several subscribers of the demolition of places I’ve photographed. And I know these are important because people are always so sad to report this kind of news. I’m glad they do, though. As long as the need exists and I’m able, I’ll be out in the country with my camera.
Revival for Body And Soul, Westwood, © Brian Brown, 2008
My work on Vanishing South Georgia saved me, in a way. It came at a time when my own life was in flux and when I seemed to be looking for something as yet unknown. It’s renewed my love for place and for the people whose lives define all the places I visit and photograph. I hope that it brings a little happiness to everyone who sees it. That, as much as the documentary aspect, is worth it.
Seminole Road, Ben Hill County © Brian Brown, 2010
In the meantime, look for me on a road like this…
This Irwinville Farms Health Clinic was built to provide medical care for the people of the Irwinville Farms project. Dr. Herman Dismuke was the administrator at the clinic and was a well-loved area physician for many years thereafter. It has served as a home for many years. The vintage photograph depicts Irwinville Farms clients inside this building.
Thanks to Jane Tucker Gentry for the identification.
This is located between Ocilla and Mystic. I visited Jonnie Willis McCranie (1923-2003) here and saw the inside of her beautiful home around 1998 with Hank Rowe.
Billy Vickers writes: Jonnie McCranie lived with her widowed mother Mrs. John M. Willis as this was the Old Willis Homeplace. Kathy Wilson and her husband Mike now own the home. Kathy writes, in part: I do know the attached room on the far side of the porch is where a Mr. Phillips lived, during Ms. Jonnie’s childhood. She told me they moved him here to help them learn about planting and growing cotton. Later, that room was rented out, to others, by Ms. Jonnie. Ms. Jonnie was born in and passed away in the house; if I’m not mistaken, I believe her son told us she passed away in the very same room she was born in. As Billy Vickers said above, her ashes were scattered in the field, by airplane, right in front of the house.
Nellie D. Harris writes: This house…was rebuilt for the Columbus Davis family when the original burned in 1944 or 1945. They lived with us while it was being rebuilt. We lived just across the woods/creek from them.