Category Archives: –TALBOT COUNTY GA–

Moore-Morgan House, 1919, Junction City

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This Neoclassical Cottage, christened “Joy in My Heart” by Reverend Dr. R. H. Harris on 14 December 1919, was built by Charles Warren “Charlie” Moore. In A Rockaway in Talbot: Travels in an Old Georgia County, Vol. II, William H. Davidson notes that Mr. Moore was the principal developer of Junction City.

Davidson further notes, of Moore’s involvement in the settlement of the town: Two railroads crossed and a third had its terminus at a place in Talbot County incorporated as Junction City in 1906. The railroads were Atlantic, Birmingham & Coast, the Central of Georgia, and a local short line, Talbotton Railroad. The latter terminated with the Central at nearby Paschal. Perkins Company [which operated a large timber and sawmill operation in the area]…made an indenture…May 17, 1906, conveying to Charlie Moore…the heart of what became Junction City. It was hoped that the place would become a promising railroad town.

Moore established a bank, timber and milling operations, a coffin factory, and the mining operations that continue today at Brownsand. The leading citizen of Junction City, Charlie Moore, died on 10 October 1944 in a car crash near Upatoi while enroute to take his grandchildren to the Chattahoochee Valley Fair in Columbus. His wife died from her injuries four days later.

James Leonard Morgan purchased the Moore House in 1948. During restoration, two of the original four columns on the front portico were damaged and not replaced. Sidelights at the front doors were also damaged and not replaced. The house, though slightly changed over the years, is an important connection to Junction City’s origins.

Update: Lisa Addison notes, as of December 2023: ...the front portico collapsed and has since been removed. The front is covered in plastic and windows boarded up. The property was also sold in a recent tax auction. It’s really a shame what this house is left to go through.

Farmers & Merchants Bank, Circa 1907, Junction City

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This structure, which now serves as the city hall for Junction City, was built circa 1907 as the Farmers & Merchants Bank. It is a brick structure which at some point was sided with stucco. Junction City was incorporated in 1906.

Restoration of a Greek Revival Cottage, Talbot County

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Rising above the pristine countryside of Talbot County, this house first caught my attention a couple of years ago. At the time, work was at an earlier phase and it didn’t look as grand as it does today. I made a mental note to check on it when I could but was still not prepared for the awesome presence of the house, viewed from the incline of the clay and gravel driveway.

I recently learned that my family’s longtime friend Mike Buckner owned the house and was restoring it. I was in the area and dropped by to purchase some books and get some of his wonderful stone-ground grits and he offered to take me on a tour. Though he wouldn’t say so, Mike is an all-around Renaissance man and serious guardian of Talbot County’s history and architecture. He has personally saved and salvaged numerous endangered structures over the years.

Mike moved this 1840s Greek Revival Cottage, which once stood near Zion Episcopal Church in Talbotton, to his property and decided to transform it into a raised cottage. The brick piers supporting the cottage were salvaged from the old Talbotton depot, proof that Mike doesn’t believe in wasting anything. The Doric columns were made to order.

The lower floor will be somewhat modern, while keeping with the style of the house, and the original section of the cottage will be sensitively restored. Historic mantels will be put back in place and the floors will be spiffed up. Plaster walls will be replaced. A widow’s walk has already been placed on top of the structure. I will definitely be visiting when all the work is done.

On the back side of the house Mike is building a porch, which will afford some of the most beautiful views from one of the highest elevations in this part of Talbot County.

It’s an amazing sight and the entire project is a testament to the value of the renewal of historic resources.

Hiram Knowlton House, Circa 1838, Talbot County

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This exceptional Greek Revival cottage was built circa 1838 by Hiram Knowlton (c.1805-1875). Knowlton was a master carpenter and millwright who came to Talbot County from New York in 1836; he purchased the property on which the home is located from Chestley Pearson in 1838. The distinctive diamond panes in the transom and sidelights, as well as the diminutive dormers, are notable decorative features of the one-and-a-half story dwelling. A hand-carved molded stairway with delicate banisters dominates the main hall. William H. Davidson, in A Rockaway in Talbot: Travels in an Old Georgia County Vol. II notes that it is “..a triumph of carpentry…it is a much more sophisticated stair than usually found in Talbot County early houses…”. A second narrow stairway in the rear of the house leads to the upper floor, which may have originally housed servants. *[Due to ongoing work in the house, I was unable to get many interior shots, but I’ll be sharing more views in a future update].

After Knowlton’s death, the property passed to Luke A. Crawford, of Upson County, a son-in-law of Hiram Knowlton’s second wife. It was sold to Henry Butler in 1905. It remained in the Butler family for well over a century and was known to many as the Butler Plantation.

Original mantel in the upper floor

I am grateful to the present owners, Jim & Deborah Bruce, for welcoming me into their home, and to Mike Buckner for taking me for a visit. Jim’s extensive collection of vernacular African-American art is a wonderful complement to the interior.

Rose Hill Seminary Headmaster’s House, 1850s, Talbotton

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If the resource I’ve used is correct, this structure was known as the Johnson cabin and expanded circa 1855 into the present Greek Revival form for use as the headmaster’s home. It is the last surviving significant structure of the Rose Hill Seminary, established by Zion Episcopal Church founder Reverend Richard Johnson, who came to Talbotton in 1846. The expansion of the house may have taken place at the direction of Reverend Wesley Gahagan, who came to Talbotton in 1852 to manage the school. Reverend Gahagan died in 1857 and the school closed soon thereafter. [Thanks to Jim Bruce for further confirming some of this history].

Trae Ingram notes that the house suffered serious damage during a tornado a few years ago.

Horeb Primitive Baptist Church, Talbot County

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Horeb was constituted in 1835 and built a house of worship before 1841. It’s possible that this structure dates to that time, but my resources aren’t sufficient to confirm at this time.

Governor George W. Towns House, 1828, Talbotton

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According to the 1973 nomination form which added this property to the National Register of Historic Places: Construction of the house began in 1828. It is an amalgamation of two two-story…houses to which was added a mid-19th century portico and several 20th century rooms…[the house] is an example of what happened to vernacular architecture in Georgia as a family and its needs and stylistic wants grew and changed…

George Washington Bonaparte Towns (1801-1854) was born in Wilkes County, though his family soon moved to Greene County, and then on to Morgan County. He moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1821, and operated a pub while studying law. He was admitted to the bar in 1824. He also briefly owned a newspaper, the Alabama Journal. His first marriage, to Margaret Jane Campbell in 1826, ended tragically. His bride, who had been in poor health, died just a few days after the ceremony. [He married Margaret Winston Jones of Virginia in 1838].

Towns moved to Talbotton in 1828 and served as one of its first commissioners. He was also one of the first attorneys in the new town, owning a very successful practice. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1829 and 1830. He served in the state senate from 1832-1834. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1835 but resigned in 1836 over concerns that the legislature might be forced to pick a Whig as President in the upcoming election. Instead, a Whig won Towns’s seat, but he successfully won re-election to the seat in 1837 and served until 1839. He continued to practice law and served one more term in Congress, in 1846, but lost re-election to John W. Jones, a Whig.

In 1847, Towns was elected governor of Georgia in a highly contested race against the Whig candidate, Duncan L. Clinch. He served until 1851 and died in Macon in 1854.

The house is also known as the Towns-Persons-Page House. After Towns left the governorship and moved to Macon [circa 1852], the house was sold to the Persons family, who occupied it until 1968, when it was purchased by the Gary Page family.

National Register of Historic Places

Thomas Lumsden House, Circa 1854, Talbot County

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The Greek Revival plantation home of Thomas Reid Lumsden is truly exceptional, featuring carved columns and 12-over-12 windows. It has remained in the same family throughout its history.

In his monumental history A Rockaway in Talbot: Travels in an Old Georgia County [Hester Printing, 1985], William H. Davidson notes that Lumsden made his way to Talbot County when he married his second wife, Virginia Pierce Leonard in 1853. They lived for a time in Floyd County but were back in Talbot, building this house circa 1853-1854.

Davidson also points out the influence of Andrew Jackson Downing’s 1850 pattern book The Architecture of Country Houses. He notes The verandah of the Lumsden house was very likely adapted therefrom by Urban Cooper Tigner, contractor and builder of the house, his own nearby plantation house, and the Collinsworth United Methodist Church. Thanks to Jim Bruce for sharing scans from Davidson’s book.

Thanks to Trae Ingram for the identification.

Noel House & Well House, Talbot County

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This simple vernacular form probably dates to the 19th century. The well house is later, but a notable survivor.

Joe Mike House, Talbot County

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Though it’s owned by the Hill family, this tenant house near Junction City is best known as the home of Joe Mike. Thanks to Sherry Rigsby for the identification.

She recalls: I knew the couple that lived there years ago. They always helped my daddy kill hogs or whatever he needed done. A lot of memories. Joe Mike’s wife had a blind brother who lived with them.

Joe Mike, Talbot County. Photo Courtesy Ken Hamil. [retouched]

Thanks to Ken Hamil for this wonderful image of Joe Mike.

A barn also survives on the property. Ken Hamil notes that it was a smokehouse and there was once a hog pen located adjacent to it.