Category Archives: Stilson GA

Lee House, 1890, Stilson

A weathered old house with a rusty metal roof, surrounded by trees and overgrown shrubs.

This house has an overall Queen Anne appearance, but is more properly a Folk Victorian. The style is relatively uncommon but I’ve found several examples throughout Southeast Georgia.

An old, weathered house with a rusty metal roof, surrounded by overgrown trees and vegetation, set against a clear blue sky.

This example retains its large original kitchen, attached at some point by a hallway.

An abandoned house with a rusty metal roof, surrounded by overgrown trees and foliage.

Update: Edwin Akins writes: “It is sad to report that this house is no more. Today, April 22, 2023, it was a controlled burn by the Bulloch County fire department to remove it. Just another example of the old historic homes being neglected and having to be destroyed. Always sad to see it happening all over the county and Georgia. But the reality of life is that they are so expensive to renovate then the continuing upkeep.

False Front Store, Stilson

A rundown, abandoned store with a partially collapsed roof, surrounded by overgrown vegetation and debris, including old tools and rusted containers.

Brown’s Sinclair Station, 1937, Stilson

An abandoned gas station with a faded white exterior and red door, surrounded by overgrown vegetation and a grassy area.

This long abandoned filling station on the edge of Stilson last served as an antique store, I believe.

Historic image of a Sinclair gas station with two men standing outside in front of the building.

John A. Brown shared this circa 1950 photograph. The station was built in 1936-37 by his grandfather, John Franklin Brown (1880-1960).

Stilson Community Center

Exterior view of a small white building with a sloped roof, surrounded by grass and trees, featuring a handicap accessibility sign.

This is the community center and voting precinct for the Stilson area. An historical marker placed here by the Bulloch County Historical Society in 2014 notes: When the Savannah & Statesboro Railway was completed in 1899, some of the stations along the track began to grow into villages. One of these was Stilson, named for Stilson Hutchinson who was instrumental in getting the Railway to pass  through this area. The first postmaster was William Strickland in 1899 and the last was Edith Hutchinson in 1966. In 1900, Stilson had a population of 138. Businesses in 1909 traded in naval stores, melons, cotton, timber and turpentine. The town was surrounded by prosperous farmers.

Dr. Frank Forest Floyd was the first doctor in Stilson. When he moved to Statesboro, Dr. Dan L. Deal began his practice in 1910. In 1901 the new town built a two story school called Stilson Academy. The advertisement announcing the school read, “All Branches Taught. Board moderate. Tuition reasonable.” Professor Ingraham was the first teacher. In 1952, Stilson High School won both the Boys and Girls State Basketball Championships..

In 1903, the Presbyterian minister in Statesboro, S.W. DuBose, established a Presbyterian Mission in Stilson. In 1952 a chapel was dedicated. The mission closed in the early 1970s. With the demise of the railroad and the growth of US Hwy 80 west of town, Stilson began to decline. By 1955, Stilson High had closed and students were sent to Southeast Bulloch High School in nearby Brooklet, Ga.

Notables from Stilson are Bette Beasley Anderson, Under Secretary of the Treasury; B. Avant Edenfield, Senior Judge U.S. Court Southern District; and Faye Sanders Martin, first woman Chief Judge Superior Courts, Ogeechee Judicial Circuit. 

Stilson, Georgia

Abandoned storefronts in Stilson, Georgia, with a red metal roof and brick facade, featuring boarded windows and a broken pathway, surrounded by trees.

Stilson was one of numerous villages that grew up along the Savannah & Statesboro Railway in the late 1890s. Formally established in 1899, it was named for Stilson Hutchinson for his work in bringing the railroad to the area. Like many such villages in the region, it was surrounded by prosperous farms and had a role in the naval stores and turpentine industries. A school, the Stilson Academy, opened in 1901 and was later replaced by Stilson High School, which, before closing in 1955, won both the Boys and Girls State Basketball Championships (1952).

An old, rustic store building in Stilson, Georgia, featuring a large Coca-Cola advertisement on its side, surrounded by trees under a blue sky.

A few landmarks of the town remain, but with the expansive growth of Savannah, they are highly vulnerable.