This was the home of Ernest Rogers. Tina Stephens Barrs notes that Mr. Rogers had a junkyard at the back of this property.
This shop building was used for selling parts. There are a few barns on the property, as well.
Approaching Kite from the east on Highway 57, you cross the Little Ohoopee River. The remains of a very large swimming pool stand between the river and the buildings discussed later in this post. Martha Claxton Hill writes: The swimming pool was called “Beeline Springs”. Earnest Claxton owned all of the land around the pool. It was a special place in its day. In a time when private pools were a domain of the wealthy, public pools such as this were among the most popular recreation spots.
Ernest Claxton’s daughter, Lynn Paul Neal penned the following remembrance in Emanuel County’s 2013 Bicentennial Celebration Book. Thanks to Mary Ann Smith for bringing it to my attention and procuring permission from Mrs. Neal to share it here:
Remember Bee Line Springs?
Earnest Claxton built the Bee Line Springs Swimming Pool and Recreation Park just outside of Kite on the Ohoopee River. It had a skating and dancing pavilion that was also used for reunions and family get-togethers.r
Three artesian wells supplied icy cold water for the swimming pool. One side of the pool had dressing rooms and there were cabins that were rented on the property.
Several nationally known bands of the late 1920s and 1930s played there. Ernest would find a band enroute from Miami to New York City or vice-versa and book them to stop on their way to play for a one-night dance. These occasions drew tremendous crowds.
You can still see the old swimming pool outline thru the trees on the south side of Hwy 57 near the ‘Hoopee River.
Many public pools featured skating rinks, bowling alleys and/or restaurant, but this structure is too small to have been either of those. And Martha Claxton Hill notes that it was not here when the pool was open. Grady C. Riner writes: That block building was built years after the pool was grown over and broken. It was built as a juke joint ( in today’s words a bar). It had the juke box for music and dancing. After it was closed as a juke joint it was used as a house. My aunt lived in it for years with her two young boys.
A shed-sized structure is located just to the left of the larger building.
This appears to be a tenant house and may have been associated with turpentining.
This was once the center of the Moores Chapel community, which gets its name from Moore’s Chapel Methodist Church which stands on a high spot across the highway. Tina Stephens Barrs writes: This was my Great Aunt Idean Webb Rowland and Great Uncle Clifton Rowland’s store. Not sure when it was built but probably in the mid 1900’s. And Mabry Reese McIntyre notes that Mrs. Idean dipped a lot of ice cream cones in that store. Was a good day when the school bus stopped there.
From the highway, several outbuildings can be seen on this farm. Most, like the winged- gable/central hallway house can be saved. It’s a nice looking old farm.
The community of New Home appears on good maps, but it’s hard to find on the internet. This store was obviously the anchor of this small rural community. I believe the community derives its name from the former site of New Home Baptist Church, which has since moved to Wrightsville. Thanks to Deborah Brantley for identifying this as Leon Powell’s store. Lamar Sanders writes: I love this old store. I went in there once and I got an Ice cold coca cola on a really hot summer day around 1968, when I actually had enough money to buy a coke, when running a stream gauging field trip for the US Geological Survey, about 4 years out of Georgia Tech. I was really hot and sweaty, and the air conditioner of the store was cranked up on high. I believe 2 or 3 old men were in there cooling off, too. I go by the store on my trips between Lexington, SC and my home town Edison on a regular basis, and still think about how good that Coke was.
There’s a good concentration of this style in Johnson County. The dormers essentially elevate a plain vernacular structure to an ornamental Victorian. A structure beside the main house appears to be in use as a barn, though it may have had an earlier use.
In this example, a common style takes on a slightly architectural look.
The gable at the center of the porch is an unusual feature on such a house, lending a Neoclassical feel.
The shingled gables give this house a slight Folk Victorian feel. It’s one of myriad variations on the central hallway plan. The attached, off-side kitchen is an unusual surviving feature. Most kitchens were located behind the main house and attached via enclosed hallway later in a house’s history. Houses like this usually date from the 1880s-1920s.
This was built for the Kite Masonic Lodge, but since 1920 has been home to the Kite Homemaker’s Club, a women’s service group. A plaque over the side door honors Grace Harrison Elliot, a charter member. The Kite Homemaker’s Club has worked for nearly a century to preserve the quality of life in Kite.