I photographed this partly deconstructed farmhouse with Mike McCall in 2010. I’m unsure as to its fate, but it was a nice example of a common type of rural housing in this area. The gable vents are of a style I call “vernacular Gothic” for lack of a better term. I guess “church window” vents would also apply. Whatever their correct terminology, they were once widespread in this part of Southeast Georgia.
This is one of a few remaining rural homes in Long County featuring Ludowici tile.
“Double shotgun” refers to a gable front house with two residences divided by a central wall. They were sometimes modified after tenant usage into single-family dwellings. It’s considered one of the rarest vernacular forms today.
This was the country home of James Charles “J.C” and Madeline Chapman Huckleby.
Elim and Jones Creek are the two oldest churches in Long County, and after the Civil War, freedmen from both congregations formed their own churches. St. Thomas Missionary Baptist grew out of Jones Creek and I understand that the Greater Elem Historical Missionary Baptist Church was connected to Elim Baptist. It was established in 1873.
The house pictured below is thought to be one of the last surviving* employee cottages built by the Ludowici Celadon Company when they operated a factory in the community that took its name. There was likely a row or two of these houses near the Celadon plant, and some have referred to this area as the “White Line” because the segregated housing of the time had its boundaries nearby.
Though it appears to be of the saddlebag form, it is actually a hall-and-parlor cottage, with two rooms, a shed room, and preacher room, and is typical of factory housing of the era.
*- The location of the house is the primary reason for the identification as factory housing. It is possible that another of the factory structures survives on a nearby property not visible from the street. The postcard, mailed on 18 March 1915 to Ruth Potter of Lawton Station, New York, also contains a message that “…This is the roofing plant at lower end of this town. There is housing for workers…”
The Rimes Brothers Department Store building is the last surviving historic commercial retail structure in Ludowici, and was once the anchor of the town’s commercial row on McQueen Street, across from the depot. Neighboring buildings were destroyed by fire in 1970 and never rebuilt. They included the old Ludowici Hotel, Smiley’s General Merchandise, Branch’s Pharmacy, the Suwannee Store, and Collette’s Beauty Shop, among others.
The Rimes brothers [Henry P. (1872-1940), Eugene Booth (1868-1953), and Morgan T. (1856-1914)] came to Ludowici (then known as Johnston Station) in the 1880s from nearby Willie, Georgia, and began a mercantile business. The department store was a culmination of their earlier success and opened circa 1911. It was advertised as the largest store between Savannah and Waycross at the time, and, like many department stores of the era which sold everything from cribs to caskets, was true to its slogan: “We feed you, clothe you, and bury you.”
This was the home of Henry P. Rimes (1872-1940) and Helen Weaver Rimes (1882-1968). Mr. Rimes was a native of Willie, a vanished town located on what is today Fort Stewart Army Base. He and two of his brothers began a mercantile business in Johnston Station and were already well-established when the community was renamed Ludowici. He also served on the city council and was a steward of the Ludowici Methodist Church.
At one time, this was the home of Ludowici High School principal J. C. Cato. It is a typical central hallway cottage with an added shed room and features a Ludowici tile roof. Dates for the house vary in different sources, most landing between 1945-1952. The house is much older than that, likely circa 1910-1920.
This home at Wefanie was the center of a bustling turpentine camp owned by the James Edgar “Jim” Parker, Jr., (1900-1973) family. Mr. Parker’s son, Jimmy Parker, told Mike McCall and me in 2018 that he spent more money restoring this house than all the other buildings on the former turpentine camp were worth combined. He noted that he and his two sisters were born and raised here until the family built something more substantial. These photos were made between 2010-2018
As to Wefanie, I have talked to several locals, including Mr. Parker, and no one seems to know the origins of the name. It’s located within the larger boundaries of the Jones Creek community. And it’s pronounced “WE-fanny”.
An article by Clinton Oliver in the 2 May 2002 issue of The Glennville Sentinel saluting the 100th birthday of Mrs. Lemma Wells Parker (1902-2002) details life at the turpentine camp.
“The [Parker] girls had fond memories of visiting and playing with the girls of the tenant families living in shanties Mr. Parker [Jim, Jr.] had erected to house the families of his turpentine workers. They ate many meals of “soul food” prepared by the gentle and hardworking black mothers of the “turpentine quarters”. “
Mary Ida and Jo Anna [Parker] told of the spotlessly clean floors in the tenant houses. “The women scrubbed the floors with water and lye until the boards were white. Then the mothers would spread croaker [sic] sacks (burlap bags) on the floor for us to sit on and play.”
Jimmy recalled that the shanties were completely covered with Kudzu vines to keep the houses cool inside. “They had to keep the runners clipped to keep them from blocking the doors.”
As the use of drink cartons as insulation in this photo suggests, these structures were often used as rental properties much later their use in the turpentine industry.
Though most of these structures won’t be around too much longer, they represent an important intact example of a vanished way of life.
It’s notable that Jimmy Parker left these buildings standing, as many such places have long been demolished or fallen to ruin.
This well-preserved building served as a commissary for turpentine workers.
Note: This is a consolidation of several older posts related to this property. As of 2025, the Parker House and commissary are in good condition, but the woods have grown back up around the worker housing and they are highly endangered, at best.