Category Archives: –JEFF DAVIS COUNTY GA–

Hazlehurst Landmark Faces Demolition

10 Replies
An abandoned, weathered white house with classical columns and peeling paint, surrounded by grass and trees, with a Western Motel sign visible in the background.

Michael Williams reached out to me last week to let me know that one of Hazlehurst’s most recognizable landmarks, the home and office of Dr. Samuel L. Martin (1876-1966), was soon to be demolished if no one stepped forward to move it before a new fast food restaurant (Taco Bell) would be built on site. I understand that the land has already been sold.

Close-up view of a weathered, abandoned building with peeling paint, showcasing brick steps leading up to a porch with columns.

As our friend Jesse Bookhardt said back in 2024: “Everybody loves Dr. Martin’s old home, but nobody seems to love it so much that they are willing to save it, so it continues to vanish bit by bit.“

Close-up of a weathered wooden wall with peeling paint, featuring a window with a stained glass top and a lace curtain, reflecting the exterior environment.

Dr. Martin was a graduate of the Atlanta School of Medicine (now Emory University), who also dabbled in politics. He was a city alderman and mayor of Hazlehurst, in addition to service in both houses of the state legislature. While serving in the senate, he promoted a bill which provided scholarships for medical students who would practice for four years in small towns who were underserved by health care.

Close-up of a weathered wooden door with peeling paint, featuring decorative fan-shaped carvings and glass panels, flanked by vintage-style lanterns.

Even in its deteriorated state, the house has been a favorite to many who have seen it and photographed it over the years. It has most recently, to my knowledge, been some sort of antique store, but it has been abandoned for quite some time.

View of weathered white columns of a building with peeling paint, overlooking a grassy area and a road with passing cars.

The architecture is quite eclectic, especially the asymmetrical front. I think the front and colonnade may be early additions to the house, which was originally built by Charles Felder Chapman (1879-1951) for his wife, Winnie Mae Roberson Chapman (1890-1931).

Abandoned two-story house with peeling white paint, broken windows, and overgrown vegetation, set against a blue sky.

The carriage house became Dr. Martin’s home office, though he was an old-fashioned country doctor and spent much of his time on the backroads of Jeff Davis County, taking care of rural patients.

An old, weathered building with a gray exterior and wooden accents, featuring broken windows and overgrown grass surrounding it.

It is always sad to share news like this, but I’ve seen so much of it over the years, I can imagine the outcome. The best possible scenario would be for someone to move and save the house, but short of that, it will soon be gone forever.

An abandoned, weathered two-story house with large white columns, peeling paint, and a grassy yard.

Package Store, Jeff Davis County

6 Replies

This simple structure was a landmark in my regular travels on US Highway 341 for many years, and I’m glad I stopped to photograph it one day in 2017, when it was being strangled by wisteria. As of early 2022, it is no more.

Art Reagin notes that it was last open as a package store owned by Willard Davis in the 1970s.

Fraternal Lodge, Tallahassee

2 Replies

The community of Tallahassee is an historic African-American settlement about 5 miles north of Hazlehurst. It likely gets its name from the nearby highway, which was once the Savannah-Tallahassee Road and one of only two roads passing through the county in the early 1870s. This structure, located adjacent to the Tallahassee Missionary Baptist Church, was a fraternal lodge.

Tallahassee Missionary Baptist Church, Jeff Davis County

7 Replies

This congregation was established in 1884. It’s one of the oldest African-American congregations in Jeff Davis County.

Tobacco Barn, Jeff Davis County

2 Replies

These old workhorses get harder to find every day.

Wyley J. Byrd House, Circa 1860, Jeff Davis County

1 Reply

Though its appearance has been altered by the addition of shed rooms and vinyl siding, this is among the oldest houses in Jeff Davis County. The date of construction is unclear but is thought to be just prior to or just after the Civil War.

Wyley J. Byrd Family, Circa 1890s, Courtesy Michael Ellis

Wyley J. Byrd (1825-1908) was a pioneer settler in the section of Coffee County that is now the Snipesville community of Jeff Davis County. He was the patriarch of a huge family [he had 20 children with two wives] who were very involved in the community, donating land for construction of the nearby Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in 1878.

Thanks to Michael Ellis for sharing the location and the vintage photograph of Mr. Byrd and some of his children. The photo probably dates to the 1890s and shows Victorian porch posts, a common “improvement” to Plantation Plain houses in that era. Mr. Ellis writes: ...this was “The Home Place” in my early childhood. My maternal grandparents lived there from sometime in the late 1930s until 1956-1957. I had a ball around there as a young child, until we relocated to Opa Locka, Florida.

Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Jeff Davis County

2 Replies

Mount Pleasant was organized in 1820 and is among the oldest congregations in Jeff Davis County. This structure, built on land given by the Byrd family circa 1878, was used until a newer structure was built next door in 1989. It is sometimes referred to as Byrd Church.

Burkett’s Ferry Landing, Ocmulgee River

6 Replies

The site of a historic ferry on the Ocmulgee, this landing now provides public access to the river. It’s truly one of the most appealing areas on the river, just upstream from the confluence with the Oconee and the beginning of the Altamaha River.

Rock outcrops common to the Altamaha Formation are found here as they are in other parts of the county.

Jesse M. Bookhardt recently shared this about Burkett’s Ferry: Burkett’s Ferry is a wonderful place and occupies a special place in my memory. Located in Jeff Davis County just off the old Pioneer Tallahassee Trail, it represents one of several ferries that provided river crossing services. Though not in operation during my time, I remember the site well. Folks from the neighboring communities such as Snipesville often went there fishing, boating, and picnicking. There existed a small spring of cool clear water that seeped from a bank just up stream from the landing. From this pool of fresh water, many fishermen and visitors to the river stopped to drink. It is unknown to me whether the spring still runs or has succumbed to the dynamic forces of nature. Burkett’s Ferry was one of two closely geographically connect fishing spots. Nearby is Pike Creek recorded as Pipe Creek in the original land survey of the area. Both places provided rich fishing waters. Perhaps the “Pipe” referred to a site for making Native American tobacco medicine pipes. Obviously Native Americans once occupied the Burkett’s Ferry site, for in the 1950s when I was a kid, I found pottery and stone artifacts. During the pioneer period, the ferry connected Telfair with Ocmulgeeville, and further to the east Holmesville, the county seat of Appling. When the original plan was made for the old Macon and Brunswick Railroad, it called for the route to cross the Ocmulgee near Burkett’s Ferry. Later the plan was changed and the railroad was scheduled to be built across the Ocmulgee at Lumber City further down stream. Burkett’s Ferry is historically significant to the Ocmulgee and Wiregrass region for it provided much needed access to the hinterland of South Georgia.

 

Altamaha Formation Outcrop, Jeff Davis County

10 Replies

If you’ve ever traveled Georgia Highway 107 between Jacksonville and Snipesville, you’ve undoubtedly noticed these large outcrops near the Coffee/Jeff Davis County line. They’re an extension of the better-known Broxton Rocks, a natural area protected by the Nature Conservancy of Georgia. The area, known as Flat Tub,  is accessible as a Georgia Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and recent covenants have led to further protections of this fascinating resource.

Long thought to be Altamaha Grit, different hypotheses suggest that it could be of Altamaha Formation, but not as “gritty” as other such areas previously identified. Another thesis suggests this may be a more specific “Ocmulgee Formation”, the result of a meteorite impact which may have created the Big Bend of the Ocmulgee.

Whatever the specific geology, it’s certainly an amazing environment, almost alien in comparison to adjacent lands.

 

Dr. Samuel Martin House, 1911, Hazlehurst

26 Replies

Anyone who’s ever passed through Hazlehurst on U.S. Highway 341 has undoubtedly seen this house and likely wondered about its history. Luckily, Jesse Bookhardt, a native of Jeff Davis County, shared it with me recently: “Dr Samuel Wright Martin (22 December 1876 – 5 February 1966) was a beloved country physician. He practiced his medicine in the homes of his patients way out in the country. He also maintained a two-story office behind his beautiful home at the intersection of Jarman and Tallahassee Streets in Hazlehurst for many decades. His fees were reasonable and if you could not pay, he allowed credit. He took a personal interest in his patients.” [Jesse notes that all seven of Eddie & Eva Lou Bookhardt’s children were delivered by Dr. Martin and he was so well-regarded that they gave his last name to their eldest son, Jesse Martin Bookhardt].