This was probably a busy place back in its heyday. The owners have spruced it up a bit with the mural and paintings on the windows.
Grocery Store, Durand
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Category Archives: –MERIWETHER COUNTY GA–
Harris City Baptist Church, Meriwether County
Much of this structure has obviously been modified, but the pilasters on the facade appear to be original. If so, this is probably a very old church
Herman Phillips Grocery, Harris City
Mary Ellen McDuffie writes: This was a grocery store operated by my “uncle” Herman Phillips. Later, in the mid-1960’s, it was converted to a machine shop operated by my late husband and his step-father. The mural appears to date from the 1970s or 1980s.
Historic Storefront, Harris City
This was likely a grocery store, mid-20th century. But that’s just a guess.
Ruins of Jenkins General Store, 1906, Harris City
George W. Jenkins, Sr., built Jenkins General Store with hand-cut rock to replace its wood frame predecessor. Jenkins was a successful merchant, drawing shoppers from all over the area to Harris City. The business thrived until the early 1920s, when the boll weevil signaled a collapse of the cotton-based agricultural economy. George, Sr, moved to Atlanta and established a small grocery store, less susceptible to the ups-and-downs of the agricultural economy. In the meantime, his son, George, Jr., graduated from Greenville High School and moved to Florida in 1925 to seek his fortune in real estate. He took a job with Piggly Wiggly, however, and after just a couple of months as a clerk he was promoted to manager. In 1930 he left Piggly Wiggly and opened the first Publix store in Winter Haven. Today, Publix is one of the largest grocery store chains in the nation. I like to think that lessons Mr. Jenkins learned here in Harris City, at his father’s side, helped make him into the successful entrepreneur that he became.
James Render House, Circa 1832, Greenville
This house, begun on a much smaller scale in the Plantation Plain (I-House) style, is the focal point of the Render Homestead National Register property. James Render (1777-1854) came to Meriwether County in 1832 and established a large cotton plantation from this house. He served as a justice of the Inferior Court of Meriwether County. He migrated from Wilkes County, where he had served several terms in the General Assembly. By 1850, he owned 1900 acres, cultivated by the 76 men, women, and children he enslaved. One reason for his success was his diversification. Besides cotton he raised potatoes, sweet potatoes, Indian corn, wheat, rye and oats. He had eleven children and among his descendants were Governor James M. Terrell of Georgia and Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice James Render Dowdell. Render’s son, Joshua (1818-1867) inherited the house and continued the successful farming operations of his father. Forty-two of the plantation’s freedmen remained as contract laborers after the Civil War. Upon the death of Mrs. Joshua Render in 1902, James L. Render (1863-1932) became the owner of the property. It was during James L. Render’s ownership that the house was expanded to its present Neoclassical appearance, thought to have been the work of prominent Georgia architect T. F. Lockwood. There have been at least four owners since the death of Sarah McGehee Render in 1960. It is beautifully maintained to this day but not open to the public.
National Register of Historic Places
Greenville Presbyterian Church, 1836, Meriwether County
This historic congregation was formed by Reverend Edward Lanier and Reverend Jesse Sratton on 27 March 1829. The Presbyterians of Greenville were granted a lot in town for the building of a house of worship but sold it and built this one-room church a few miles from town in 1836, preferring a rural setting. Though it never boasted a large congregation, Greenville Presbyterian was quite active in the community. Dwindling membership and a newer church in Greenville, Stacy Presbyterian, led to the closure of the church in 1963 but it reopened in 1972. A small but determined congregation still holds services here. Greenville Presbyterian is significant as one of just a few antebellum Presbyterian churches in Georgia.
The cemetery is one of the most historic in the area. Perhaps the most fascinating interment is John Gaston, who was famously known as “The Giant”, for his 7’6″, 340-pound stature at a time when the average height was about 5’7″. Gaston was born in Chester County, South Carolina in 1821 and died in Woodbury in 1866. His slab has been damaged over the years, and a smaller adjacent slab corrects previous statistics, which stated his height as 7′ and his weight at 430 pounds.
Lone Oak Academy, Circa 1870, Meriwether County
This one-room schoolhouse served as the only educational resource for this tiny community in northern Meriwether County until 1944. It was built as Prospect Academy on land given by John Powledge in November 1870. With this in mind, it’s likely that the school wasn’t built until early 1871. In 1894, its name was changed to Lone Oak Academy. It became the community house in 1951 and continues to serve area citizens to this day.
National Register of Historic Places
Allen-Lee Memorial Methodist Church, 1939, Lone Oak
From the historic marker placed in 1957 by the Georgia Historical Commission: When a new building was completed in 1939, the name of this church, established in 1844 as Prospect Methodist Church, was changed to Allen-Lee Memorial Methodist Church to honor two of its illustrious members, Dr. Young J. Allen and Dr. J. W. Lee. Dr. Young John Allen, born in Burke County, Jan. 3, 1836, was reared by an aunt, Nancy (Wooten) Hutchins, near Lone Oak. In 1851, during a sermon by Rev. John W. Yarbrough, first pastor at old Prospect, Dr. Allen was so deeply convicted of sin and the need for salvation that he jumped from the window and fled into the woods. Returning to the church, he was converted and, in 1859, sailed to China as a missionary and teacher. Bishop Warren A. Candler, in his book, “Young John Allen – The Man Who Seeded China”, said: “His great work opened the way for the Gospel in China and made easier the task of every missionary in that vast Empire”. Dr. Allen died in 1907. Dr. James Wideman Lee, native of Lone Oak, was outstanding in the North Georgia Methodist Conference. He later became a renowned minister in a leading church in St. Louis, Mo., and was influential in founding the Barnes Hospital there. His uncle, William Owen Lee, gave the land for this church.
Historic Storefront, Luthersville
