Category Archives: Odum GA

Ritch-Carter-Martin House, Odum

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Residence, Odum GA. Real Photo Postcard, 1910s. Photographer unknown. Collection of Brian Brown.

I acquired this postcard a few years ago because I was familiar with the house from my travels. It still stands along the highway in Odum. The card was mailed in the 1910s to Brunswick, Georgia; the date is not fully readable, but the sender identified it as the home of the Bloodworth family. Though it’s identified today as the Ritch-Carter-Martin House, it must have been built by Mr. Bloodworth. It appears to have been new when this view was made. I believe Bloodworth was J. M. Bloodworth, one of the first aldermen of Odum.

Note: This replaces and updates a post originally published on 28 March 2013.

Godfrey Odum House, 1903, Odum

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Linda Odum Reynolds writes: I thought it might be of some interest to readers to know that the house labeled “Eclectic Vernacular House, Odum”, was built by my great grandfather Godfrey Odum in 1903. My family and I have had the privilege and joy of being the owners and caretakers of this Grand Old Lady for more than 20 years. Mr. Beecher and Mrs. Maggie Overstreet and daughter Shelma called the Old Lady home for more than 40 years before she was handed down to our care. The Overstreet family left evidence of their tender, loving care in every inch of Her.

I’m thrilled to see these old places given recognition. Each one of them hold the memories of the lives of those who have called them home. For me, it is a sacred and blessed opportunity to preserve them and the history they hold whenever possible. And I am deeply grateful to those of you who keep this website online and I so appreciate the hard work you dear “keepers of the memories” do for us.

 

 

Southern Railway Depot, 1905, Odum

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The first depot in Odum was built by the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad in 1888. [The area was first known as Haslam, and for a time as Satilla, for the nearby Little Satilla Creek, and finally came to be known as Odum, for pioneer settler Godfrey Odum, in 1880]. After being destroyed by fire in 1904, it was replaced with this Southern Railway structure in 1905. In 1969, a Southern Railway official bought the depot and moved it to Jesup, where it remained for over 30 years. An effort to relocate it in Odum began in 1992 and with a Transportation Enhancement Grant and lots of community donations and enthusiasm, it was returned to its rightful home in 2002. I’m always amazed by what a little civic pride and love of place can do for a community; nearby Ludowici has recently decided not to save their old depot in any meaningful way, which is a shame. I hope they will find a way. Many others have taken the same path and it speaks to a the larger loss of cultural landmarks everywhere. They can’t be replaced.