This wonderful landmark is located just at the edge of town. It’s a Queen Anne with unusually high-pitched ornamental cross gables. Thanks to Jeffrey Horne for the identification; he notes it’s sometimes referred to as “the Big House”. Becki Horton also notes that the Rogers family lived here after the Hornes.
Thanks to Meredith Kelley Zidek, I finally know the identity of the house pictured above. She writes: It’s my understanding that one house was Vernon Franklin Norman’s (25 October 1869-30 December 1920), and the other was Marion Davis Norman’s (28 June 1862-30 January 1928). Their sister was Sarah Ann Norman, my great grandmother. (Meredith notes that this is how she understands it). If it was built after M. D. Norman’s house, it probably dates to around 1908-10 or thereabouts. The Normans were members of the founding family of Norman Park and the Norman Institute. The house was obscured for many years by pines. After clearing them and vastly improving the landscape, the present owners have given new life to what many readers and contacts have called the “Twin Houses of Norman Park” or “The Norman Park Twins”. The M. D. Norman House (below), across US319, has been one of my most popular photographs but since I got new photographs, I thought I’d share.
This Space Age chapel is the focal point of the Mr. & Mrs. Warren T. Baker Center, a multipurpose facility built in the last decade of the Norman College era. I hope to learn the identity of the architect. It was a very progressive design for a small Baptist college in South Georgia, or anywhere for that matter.
This originally served as the administration building for Norman College. A granite marker commemorates the history of the college, with the First Baptist Church in the background. Jim Howard notes: This building replaced the building destroyed by fire in 1945, completed and occupied in January 1949. The public high school used the premises along with junior college students
Though most recently known as the Georgia Baptist Conference Center, the Norman Park campus began in 1900 as the Norman Institute, a school for first grade through high school. It was named for the Norman family, who had been among its largest benefactors and organizers. In the 1920s a junior college curriculum was added and in 1928 the name was changed to Norman Junior College. With an expanded curriculum, it became Norman College in 1951. Due to declining enrollment, the institution was closed in 1971. The Georgia Baptist Convention assumed the assets and liabilities of the college and the Norman Baptist Assembly opened in summer 1971. As of 2016, the property has been transferred to Shorter College, based in Rome.
Brand Hall is the oldest structure associated with the Norman Park Institute, having originally served as a dormitory.
Though its downtown is very small, Norman Park has made an effort in recent years to revitalize historic storefronts. The building on the left was built after the demolition of the old Doc Megahee pharmacy around 2012.
The building below is empty and appears to be in real danger of being lost. This (side) view was made from Horne Street.
In many South Georgia towns, historic storefronts are finding new life as restaurants. Jim Howard writes: This building was built as a bank. When the bank failed the property was purchased by my mother and stepfather. Hazel & Frank Griffin. And they started the cafe. The Suwannee store was on the other end of the block. In between was the picture show, Sat. Mon & Wed nites
Norman Park (known as Obe until its incorporation in 1902) was home to an early Methodist congregation known as Old Shiloh. Norman Park Methodist was an outgrowth of Old Shiloh and was built with timbers cut by members on land donated by Mr. & Mrs. R. L. Norman.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 