Multi-directional signposts like this one are usually found in tourist locations, so I was surprised to see this one in a yard in Oglethorpe.
Sandwiched between the far-flung locations of Kennebunkport, Maine, and Key West, Florida, is the Piggly Wiggly, 3/10ths of a mile distant.
I made this photo a few years ago. I think it was near the old New York Store just outside Oglethorpe. I’m identifying it as a general store, thought it looks like it may have been something else more recently. Some of my Brown relatives in Macon County (maiden name in this case) once owned a store in the country, according my father and aunt, and I’ve been looking through a lot of photographs trying to find out if it’s still standing. I have no idea of the name, or even a precise location. Places like this were once landmarks in the areas they served, so no matter how simple they are I try to document them when I see them.
The first time I photographed this building, about 15 years ago, it was painted yellow and known as the Court House Deli. It’s located across the street from the Macon County Courthouse. It’s now known as the Bowlegged Grill and was still open the last time I was in the area. I believe it was a originally a store or office and is typical of the shotgun form buildings that were once common as commercial and office spaces.
This building has always intrigued me. Tax records date it to 1900, but its Greek Revival design suggests it’s likely older than that. It’s definitely older than other commercial buildings in Oglethorpe. The floor plan appears from the exterior to be a double-shotgun form, but this may have been a modification. The left side has a window flanked by two doors, and the right side has the more typical configuration of a door flanked by two windows. The building is five bays deep, with narrowly spaced 9 over 9 windows. At the time of this photograph (2009), the commercial spaces were occupied by Tyson’s Wings, and Haddock Sister Designer Hats. I hope to learn the history.
This historic general store likely derived its name from an assertion that anything you could get anything here that you could get in New York. Though the name seems out of place in Oglethorpe, such names were a common marketing angle at one time. This store likely dates to the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century.
The structure at left (above) was once a livery stable. I’m not sure as to the functions of the others, but they likely date to the late-19th or early-20th century.
Though best remembered as Taylor’s Pharmacy, this is said to have been the first courthouse constructed in Oglethorpe. The long lost town of Lanier was the county seat when Macon County was created in 1837 and the courthouse there burned in 1857. Oglethorpe was assuming the status of new county seat at this time and that is when this structure is believed to have been constructed. Colonel George W. Fish was murdered on the west side of the building in 1871 after returning home from business in Macon. The first floor presently serves as the law office of Jon Coogle. [This information needs further documentation, but I believe it to be accurate at this time].
This was originally a Baptist church and was moved from Oglethorpe to its present location.
James Duke, Jr., notes that the church was organized in 1852. A memorial to the Reverend James Bradford Smith, placed in the churchyard in 1853, indicates that the congregation worshiped on this same property from its formation.
This historic congregation is older than Macon County. From 1827 until the Civil War, Mt. Zion Church built at least three churches, with the first being built about nine miles west of present-day Oglethorpe in the Saint John’s community (known locally today as Cut-Off). By the early 20th century, there were more Lutherans in Oglethorpe than in the rural section of the county and St. Luke was organized to better serve them. Martin Luther (Luke) Shealy gave the land on which the present church was built and out of respect, the members chose St. Luke as the new name of their congregation. The two congregations merged in 1953.