This small home is a survivor of the days when Scarboro was a prominent settlement, its economy dependent on the Ogeechee River.
Hall-and-Parlor Cottage, Scarboro
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Category Archives: Scarboro GA
Warehouse, Scarboro
This photograph was made in 2013, so I’m unsure if this structure is still standing. It was located on the right side of the boat ramp as it descends to the Ogeechee River. It has the appearance of a storage barn or warehouse, but its proximity to the water is interesting. Perhaps it was a pump house. I hope to learn more.
Hunting Cabin, Scarboro
This was probably an old farmhouse at one time but appears to have served more recently as a hunting cabin.
Central of Georgia Railway Foreman’s House, Scarboro
I’m unsure as to the date of this structure, but I believe it’s late 19th-century. Rick Becton writes: My father told me this was the Section House for the Central of Ga Railway. My great-grandfather was a Section Foreman and this was his company owned house-so I was told. My grandfather, M. Ross Becton, was supposedly born in this house. Clayton Rhodes also notes: My grandmother, Bessie Parker Clayton, lived in this house for a few years around 1950. We called it the old conductor’s house which implied a connection to the railroad…
Frawley’s General Store, Scarboro
The rugged old store where Jack Leigh made one of his most iconic photographs [“Mr. Hazel and His Dog Buster”] still stands. Hazel Frawley and Jack Leigh are both gone now, but many photographers still make the trip to Scarboro to see this old place.
In his classic work, The Ogeechee: A River & Its People [UGA Press, Athens, 1986], Leigh writes evocatively of Scarboro: On an old logging road, cracked and broken from years of neglect, where the red clay is slowly covering what’s left of the pavement, Hazel Frawley’s general store still stands. A short distance down the road, the skeletal remains of a wooden bridge stretch across the Ogeechee like ancient crosses in a forgotten graveyard…Nothing much comes this way any more, but the little clapboard store remains open. Mr. Hazel has run this store for over forty years, and he can remember when he sold everything from coffins to candy. The shelves are virtually bare now, except for a few canned goods and several different sizes of wash tubs that hang form the overhead rafters. Those who travel the Ogeechee River have been stopping by the store for as long as anyone can remember, stopping by for a Moon Pie and an RC Cola.
C. J. Bremer wrote to say that his great-grandfather, G. E. Burns, owned this store in the early 1900s.
Bob Dailey recalled: My grandparents lived about 300 yards from Mr. Hazel’s store. I spent the better part of my childhood summers on the front porch of that old store. I had a sack full of penny candy in one hand and the other scratching the ears of Buster or one of the other dogs hanging around. This old building holds a special place in my heart.
Lamar Sanders, a good friend of Vanishing South Georgia, recently shared these archival images from a visit he made to Frawley’s Store in 1984. They offer a glimpse of what makes this place so special and I’m very honored that Lamar shared them with me. Please credit Mr. Sanders if sharing the archival images.
Mr. Hazel Frawley in front of his store, Scarboro, Georgia, 1984. Courtesy Lamar Sanders.
Lamar notes: Mr. Frawley did not approve of women going down to the river wearing pants instead of dresses, because he thought pants were a sign of sinfulness.
Scarboro Landing, Jenkins County
Bob Dailey writes: In winter, my father and other local fishermen sank their wooden paddle boats next to these two trees. My how things have changed.
Lamar Sanders shared the image below. In the 1960s, he worked for the U. S. Geological Survey and regularly took readings of the river levels. Please credit Mr. Sanders if sharing the archival image.
Frawley House, Scarboro
This Victorian house was owned by the Frawley family. Kate Clifton Brazell writes: My Father’s family, The Cliftons, owned over 800 acres about 2 miles from this store. My Grandfather, who I called “Boy”, said that that house was once a finishing school for girls. He said young girls would come from all over the state to attend this finishing school.
It is the most visible residential landmark remaining in Scarboro.
The archival photo above shows the side of the house, when it was in much worse repair. It was made by our friend, Lamar Sanders. Mr. Hazel Frawley lived here at the time and walked across the lane to his store for many years. He spent most of his life on the Ogeechee. Please credit Mr. Sanders if sharing the archival image.
Scarboro Baptist Church, 1854, Jenkins County
There is scant information to be found on the history of Scarboro or the Scarboro Baptist Church, but considering its early date, the church has been integral to the life of the community. I have not been able to confirm a construction date for the church but the congregation was organized in 1854.
As to Scarboro, the Georgia Historical Society noted on the historic marker it placed in 1951: This is one of the older settlements in this part of Georgia having been established sometime prior to 1840 and receiving its name from Enoch or Hardy Scarborough of Screven County. In 1839 it became Station No. 7 on the Central Rail Road and served this one of the very oldest rail roads in the United States as a refueling station for over 30 years. During the War Between the States, Gen. Sherman’s Army [USA] camped alongside the railroad here on the night of Dec. 3, 1864. The Scarboro Baptist Church was organized in 1854. About 1/2 mile east of here stands the old Woods’ house constructed in part about ten years before the War Between the States.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 