I photographed this circa 1930s-1940s service station, which is located near the post office in Lyons, in 2011. I believe the property has been cleaned up a bit since then and the station has been renovated, or at least repainted.
This central hallway form exhibits the common additions made to these types of houses as families grew and the need for more space arose.
This nicely proportioned vernacular Greek Revival structure appears to be a church, based on the floor plan, but I can’t find any history or information regarding it in any available sources. I will update if I learn more.
The Lyons Woman’s Club was organized in 1928 and like other woman’s clubs throughout the state was involved in community improvements, from parks and beautification to literacy and leash laws. After meeting for several years at City Hall, the club was given a city lot by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and commissioned architect William Walter Simmons to design a permanent meeting place. The clubhouse was completed in 1932 and immediately became a center of social activity in Lyons. When the Woman’s Club disbanded in 1945, it became home to the Lyons Garden Club, which still maintains it today.
National Register of Historic Places
I think this block of buildings has been abandoned for a long time.
I think the art was added to represent businesses which were once located here.
This rare postcard from my collection is postmarked 1955 from Lyons. I don’t know that the photograph was local to that area; it may have been a stock image sold in different parts of the South, but it’s one of my favorites.
I love what our friend Jesse Bookhardt wrote: Thanks for posting this postcard of tobacco culture. I have a card in my small collection of South Georgia farmers planting tobacco by hand in 1948 at Santa Claus, Georgia. I remember the planting events well. The whole family participated and it usually lasted all day depending upon the amount of acreage to be planted. Prior to planting in April, farmers grew their own plants in long rectangular beds that they sewed in late February or March. A hand planter that could also plant peppers or tomatoes was used. Its operation required a planter, a plant dropper, and someone to keep water available when needed. That way of life has long passed but not the memories of this old South Georgia boy.
This home, designed for Robert and Missouri Garbutt by Ivey P. Crutchfield, is the grandest in Lyons. It is also known as “Twenty Columns”. Robert Musgrove Garbutt made a fortune in the timber business as the partner of H. M. Rountree in the late 19th century and served for a time as mayor of Swainsboro. Garbutt was first married to Missouri Coleman and upon her death married her sister, Sophronia Coleman. He moved to Lyons around 1894. In addition to his ongoing interest in the Rountree-Garbutt Lumber Company in Emanuel County, Garbutt owned or held interest in the Garbutt-Donovan Lumber Company in Lyons, Hartfelder-Garbutt Company of Savannah, Garbutt-Donovan Real Estate Company of Fitzgerald, and the Southern Foundry & Fitting Company of Savannah. He was also a major stockholder in the First National Bank of Fitzgerald and the First National Bank of Lyons. One of Fitzgerald’s most important commercial landmarks, the five-story Garbutt-Donovan Building, was also a venture.
Bobby Thomas Akins recalls: …when I was a boy, it had a second floor balcony around the three fourths of the house. My sister-in-law Ellen Akins and I were taken through the house by Mrs. Garbutt, a real southern aristocrat, but very friendly and kind. The little room on top of the house contained a copy of every newspaper ever produced by the Lyons Progress tied up neatly with string, stacked up around the walls of the room. [The house] had the most beautiful furniture I have ever seen.
National Register of Historic Places
This mural highlights the historical play, Tales from the Altamaha, which has become a popular local event. It’s based on the stories of folklore and cultural history collected by Thomas Ross Sharpe. A native of the part of Tattnall County which became Toombs County in 1905, Sharpe (1893 – 1968) served Toombs County as a State Representative, and helped organize the Altamaha EMC.
The social center of Toombs County for many years, the Elberta Hotel once hosted such notables as Margaret Mitchell and Al Capone. It has been nicely restored and is used as a retail location today.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 