This house has been repainted since I made this photograph, and I think some restoration work has been done. There are several Victorian residences in this neighborhood and at least a few of them are based on Barber pattern book designs. I’m not familiar enough with those works to know if this is a Barber, but I wouldn’t be surprised. The octagonal turret really adds to the character of this fine home.
I first published this photograph on 15 June 2010 under the title “Wisenbaker’s Grocery & Market”, but I’m replacing it with a new post to update what I’ve learned, and to share a little about Dasher, thanks to an excellent brief history of the community by Faye Cook Wisenbaker. I believe this sign came from another building and was saved for its local importance.
Faye writes that all of the area south of Valdosta in present-day Lowndes County has connections to the Dasher and Wisenbaker families, who had their Georgia origins with the Ebenezer Salzburgers of Effingham County. James Wisenbaker and Christian Herman Dasher are the earliest known members of their families to have arrived in this frontier area of the Wiregrass Region. Dasher is believed to have arrived circa 1832. James Wisenbaker was his son-in-law and they had left the Lutheran faith in 1819 and began having services in their homes.
The area around Dasher was first settled circa 1842. Richard Herman Wisenbaker was also living in the area around this time, as he established “a congregation of New Testament Christianity” which would eventually be known as the Corinth Church of Christ, and today, Corinth Baptist Church. Faye notes that sometime before 1861, Wisenbaker “constructed a home using slave labor”.
The town was formally established as a station of the Georgia Southern & Florida Railway in 1889 at the residence of Virgil Franklin Dasher. By 1916, thanks to the timber and turpentine business, and the presence of the railroad, Dasher was a thriving place. The Dasher Bible School was established during that year and met in the Church of Christ until building a larger campus in 1928.
Eliza Peeples must not have been too bothered by the sharp pine needles that made up the bulk of her bathing suit, but she was wearing the outfit to help promote turpentine. As part of its promotional push, the American Turpentine Farmers Association (ATFA) began holding an annual Miss Spirits of Turpentine beauty pageant in 1940, where this costume, as well as a pine needle tiara, were part of the show. This photograph is scanned from a newspaper article published in one of the Atlanta papers soon after the association was formed, so I think Eliza was more of a mascot than an official “queen”. I can’t locate the paper in my archives at the moment, so I don’t have an exact date. I don’t know when the pageant was phased out, but the last “turpentine queen” was crowned in 1995, long after the disbanding of the group.
Harley Langdale of Valdosta formed ATFA as a cooperative of naval stores producers in 1936. They came from the “Turpentine Belt” states of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. And Georgia was usually the leading producer. Judge Langdale led the organization for 29 years, but the industry, which boomed during World War II, reached its peak by the late 1940s. Innovations such as fire breaks and controlled burns were adopted early by ATFA members, and their benefits are still integral to forestry today. For a time, turpentine was one of the biggest employers in the rural South. Numerous factors, primarily modernization and competition from the chemicals industry, as well as the loss of labor due to the Great Migration, spelled the end of ATFA, and broad scale production, by 1975. Memories of the industry are fading from the collective consciousness but a few of the old turpentine shacks, commissaries, and stills can be found scattered throughout Georgia.
*- I was able to learn that Eliza Peeples McLemore (1920-2011) lived in Griffin, Georgia, for most of her adult life, and that she had a twin sister, Louie Peeples White (1920-2009). They were the daughters of Russell Alexander Peeples and Ethel Orr Peeples.
No one knows exactly where Hahira [pronounced hay-HI-ra] got its name, but it was incorporated in 1891. One source states that it was named for a plantation, which the owner named for Hairaairee, a village in West Africa. No such place name can be found in Africa today, but it is very close to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, actually located in eastern Africa. Another legend maintains Hahira derived its unusual name from Hahiroth, a biblical place name.
Whatever its origin, the small city at the northern end of Lowndes County is growing, along with the rest of the county. New housing developments are popping up everywhere.
This historic home, located along the railroad tracks, has recently been restored, perhaps for commercial use.
Hahira’s historic depot was lost in the late 1970s, but local officials decided to reconstruct a new one. Though it no longer serves a railroad purpose, it has become a community center and an impetus for historic revitalization. Altman + Barrett Architects did a wonderful job of recreating this landmark.
This structure was built in 1914 and I’m unsure as to its original use. By the 1940s, it was home to the local Suwannee Store, a grocery and dry goods store. It was misidentified as the “Swifty Mart” by a local source but Debbie Mosier writes: The storefront that was identified as the Swifty Mart was actually named the Suwannee Store. It was owned by the South Georgia Grocery Company, out of Quitman. They later developed the Suwannee Swifty Convenience Stores. The Tyson Family managed the store for many years, Ethridge and Dolly Belle. A Mr. Futch was the meat cutter, and I believe his wife was also a cashier. My Daddy, James Frazier, worked for South Georgia Grocery Co. for more than 47 years. Other than his 3 year stint in the Army, it was his only job. He started as a bag boy and retired as Vice President of Operations. The once closely-held family company sold out after all of the older family members passed away, and the company went bankrupt shortly thereafter. There was also a Suwannee Swifty located in Hahira, across the railroad tracks, on the right. I can’t recall the exact location. My family lives in nearby Lakeland, where my Daddy began his career with South Georgia Grocery Company, working under D.L.B. Jones, manager of our Suwannee Store at the time. Now deceased, he and my Mama lived here their entire marriage.
(The name for Suwannee Swifty Stores actually came about one day at our dining table when Mama had prepared lunch for visiting executives of the company, Olan Benton, Executive Supervisor, and Victor Alcock, part owner. They were trying to come up with a name after the concept had been discussed and my Mama suggested Suwannee Swifty, related to the convenience aspect, yet keeping the original name involved. It’s history from there. That’s why they said that children should be seen and not heard…I was listening intently!)
Mickey’s Food Store moved into the building in the late 1980s and remained until at least 2009. It has been renovated and now serves another business.
As recently as 2015, there were plans to renovate these historic storefronts but it appears that the work has stalled. Though identification of the buildings has proven difficult, the three-story example is known as the Stanfill Building and dates to 1911. My understanding is that it was first used as a department store.
In 2011, Tom Lavender wrote: In 1957, I worked at Taylor’s Grocery the corner building. if my memory serves me right next to it was Choen’s dry goods. One of the upstairs offices was a Doctors office.
This commercial block, the most substantial remaining historic retail structure in Hahira, was built in the 1890s by R. Y. Scruggs. Numerous business, including a department store, Hahira Hardware and the City Cafe, have occupied the building over the years. It was also home to the Hahira Post Office at one time.
Hezekiah Rugh Boggs (1928-2020), was the ninth of ten children born to Rand and Bessie Boggs of Breathitt County, Kentucky. His musical interests were developed and encouraged at an early age; he entered and won his first contest at the age of 9 and learned guitar while in his 20s. After service in the Korean War, he worked for General Motors Delco Products, playing gigs in nightclubs around Dayton, Ohio, on the side. He moved to Hahira in 1977 and married Karen Wolff Norris in 1980. Karen, an Ohioan by birth, was a classically trained pianist. By all accounts the couple made beautiful music together and loved sharing their musical gifts with the Hahira community; Rugh had a working knowledge of around 3000 songs. In 2003, Rugh converted the old garage behind his home into a music hall, where he and Karen played three weekends a month.
