William Eason organized Shiloh Methodist Church circa 1810, making it the second oldest congregation in Tattnall County after Mt. Carmel (1808). Tattnall County was established in 1801, from Montgomery County, which begs the question as to why no congregation formed before 1808. Perhaps earlier churches with Montgomery County associations already existed. The original Shiloh Church was a log frame structure located at the site of the Old Shiloh Cemetery, about a mile away from the present church. A newer frame structure was built at this site in 1858 and was replaced by this building in 1899. The windows are replacements but otherwise, it is largely true to its original appearance. Though Shiloh is no longer active, it is still used for special events.
Reidsville High School was built circa 1926 to replace an earlier facility (pictured below), which was lost to fire in 1925.
Reidsville High School, from Educational Survey of Tattnall County, Georgia, M. L. Duggan, Atlanta. 1918. Public domain.
The earlier school was a 6-teacher school and was considered the best such facility in Tattnall County. The educational survey noted that it was valued at $16,000, was surrounded by five acres and school gardens, and featured indoor “sanitary toilets”. In addition to classrooms, there was an auditorium, a domestic science room, and a music room. Though the Reidsville school was lost to fire, the Glennville High School, of the same era, still survives.
Reidsville High School was quite typical of schools built from the late 1910s until World War II. The original brick siding was covered with stucco during a restoration. [Stuccoing was seen as an affordable way to “modernize” buildings at one time, but is actually an unfortunate choice. The stucco is non-historic and greatly detracts from the intended architectural presence.] The facility remains in use, though not as a high school.
Recent divisions within the United Methodist Church have made it difficult to locate the histories for many congregations, including the Collins church, but Judy and Jimmy Duke shared the following history: “From History of the South Georgia Conference, 1866-1984, p.303:: Collins Methodist Church, Organized by 8 people in 1902 in Baptist Church which was used until new church built. Rev. Thomas Williams of the Quince (Cobbtown) Circuit preached. First Building frame, gift from ‘Uncle Luda” Walling, Collins lumber man. Extensive repairs, 1950. 1956-7, 2 story educational building constructed. Sanctuary remodeled, 1964-65.”
The name of a recent occupant of this building suggests that it is best remembered as a mercantile or general store. The Mercantile Inn was located here during the 2010s, if my notes are correct. As was often the case with buildings like this, the owners may have lived upstairs, or it could have been a general commercial block with a fraternal lodge upstairs. It is the most architecturally significant commercial structure remaining in Collins, in my opinion.
Frank Morris writes: “No idea of who built it or exactly when, but it was owned/operated in the late 1800’s to 1900’s (?) as a General Store by my Grandfather W.L. Morris who lived at 302 Morris St NW in Collins until his death. He and his wife Lila are buried in the Baptist Church cemetery in Collins. I still have some of the ledgers from transactions made at the store.“
When I photographed this circa 1890-1900 winged-gable Queen Anne house in 2013 it was an antique and salvage store, if the assortment of items on the porch is any indication. I never stopped, but I believe it served this purpose for several years. As far as I know, it’s still standing.
I was complaining about the heat the other day and my father reminded me of how hot it was working in the tobacco barns on the farm. He recalled that before the tobacco was flue-cured, someone had to be in the barn at night to tend the fire. And this was in the days before most people had air-conditioning to retreat to in their homes. The average rate of pay in the 1950s, for tobacco workers wouldn’t even get people out of the house today. Those who worked in the barns made $4/day, while field workers (croppers) made $5/day.
Janisse Ray welcomes patrons and friends to Cedar Grove. Paintings by her husband, Raven Waters, line the walls of the church.
Janisse Ray is known for her thoughtful books that seamlessly weave narrative with an appreciation for our fragile natural environment and over the years she’s been a fearless advocate for fostering community involvement in her beloved South Georgia.
Cedar Grove Methodist Church
One of her causes has been the restoration of Cedar Grove Methodist Church, which she now owns with her husband, Raven Waters. It has been a labor of love for Janisse, who has devoted many hours raising money and locating carpenters and artisans to complete the project. I’ve proudly served on the board with her, though Janisse has made it all happen.
Lindsey Levine, Alec Bruns, and Lucki Wilkerson accompanied Janisse as she read a poem dedicated to Cedar Grove
When Hurricane Helene roared through Tattnall County this past September, the work was nearly complete. Javier Ramos had just put the finishing touches on exterior repairs when the storm came.
Walter Parks
Janisse shared the following on her Substack account: “Surveying the damage after a hurricane is like waking up after surgery. You’re bleary-eyed and half crazed, but you’ve got to see what’s forever gone…I found that the damage was relatively minor. A few trees down, a few holes in roof…Thanks to a lot of generous people, the church got a roof for 12K. Then it got handmade windows, built by an 80-year-old carpenter. Then a new pulpit. Then all the repairs inside were finished. Every one of those jobs has a story. The roof story was told in “A Roof for Cedar Grove” a segment of Saving Grace, which aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting…”
Walter Parks and Swamp Cabbage
Undaunted, Janisse acted quickly to raise more funds to remove fallen trees and put the finishing touches on Cedar Grove. On 14 December 2024, she hosted a lunch at Red Earth Farm and then treated patrons to a concert inside the church, featuring Walter Parks, who once toured the world with Woodstock opening act and musician extraordinaire Richie Havens. Walter’s band Swamp Cabbage accompanied him.
Author Janisse Ray has led the effort to save historic Cedar Grove Methodist Church
Janisse first learned of Walter’s work in a New York Times article detailing his use of historic hollers from the Okefenokee Swamp in his music. This wasn’t lost on Janisse, who has long championed the swamp and its folklife. And it somehow seemed appropriate for celebrating an historic country church. I’m constantly inspired by Janisse Ray and am grateful for the community she’s created in her corner of Tattnall County.
The Georgia State Prison at Reidsville was open from 1937 until 2022. The main building, seen above, was the work of the Atlanta architectural firm of Tucker & Howell in the Stripped Classical style and was completed in late 1936 but not occupied until 1937. It cost $1.5 million and was funded by the Public Works Administration, a New Deal agency. One wall of the structure features an idealistic frieze with sculptures of various men at work by famed sculptor Julian Harris entitled “Rehabilitation”. The prison was built at a time when Southern prisons and chain gangs were coming under serious criticism in the national press and by Congress for their poor conditions. Robert Elliott Burns’s bestselling book I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!, published in 1932, put a particularly unwelcome focus on Georgia. The reforms that followed were an ongoing process, and were fully embraced by Governor Ellis Arnall in 1942. As the state’s crime rate grew rapidly along with the population, more structures were added. The Rogers State Prison is located near the closed Georgia State Prison, as is the prison cemetery.
According to Tattnall County: “The Georgia General Assembly passed a law on August 16, 1924 that abolished hanging for all capital crimes. From that point forward, instead of being hanged by the sheriff of the county or judicial circuit where their crimes had occurred, the condemned were to be electrocuted at the Georgia State Prison at Milledgeville. During that year an electric chair was installed in the prison, and the first execution in that method occurred on September 13, 1924.“
“On January 1, 1938 the execution chamber was relocated to the new Georgia State Prison at Reidsville. In the 1940s and 1950s, volunteers were offered $25 to flip the switches which would start the flow of electricity and eventually lead to the death of the prisoner. Executions were moved to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison near Jackson, in Butts County, in June 1980. The state’s old electric chair can still be found in the museum on the upper floors of the main building, as well as prison documents containing names, authorizations and last statements of the prisoners.“
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was transferred from the DeKalb County Jail in Decatur, Georgia, to Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Georgia. He was released on October 27, 1960 on a $2,000 bond [after intervention by John F. Kennedy]. GSP also housed radical activist H. Rap Brown, now known as Jamil Al-Amin. Al-Amin was the chairman of SNCC in the late 1960s. In 2007, he was transferred to a federal facility where he now resides. The facility also housed notorious Atlanta killer Wayne Williams.”
Georgia State Prison was also the site of the execution of Lena Barker, the only woman to face the death penalty in the state in the modern era. Baker was later exonerated.
The Longest Yard, a popular movie starring Burt Reynolds and Eddie Albert, was filmed at the prison.
In October I visited Sweet Georgia Fuyu in Glennville. This may be Georgia’s largest commercial persimmon operation and if not, it certainly looked like it. All that bright orange is an amazing sight.
The weekend before, I was at the Forsyth Farmer’s Market in Savannah and bought some persimmon-ginger jam from owner Laura Potts-Wirht, who invited me to come and photograph the orchards.
I had met Laura a few years earlier at a locavore potluck at Janisse Ray and Raven Waters’s Red Earth Farm and she was very enthusiastic about the persimmons.
Presently, there are 20 acres of persimmons with ten more acres being developed. Fuyu Persimmons are a bit firmer and definitely sweeter than the old varities we’re used to in Georgia.
While I’m not personally a fan of the raw fruit, I always loved my grandmother’s persimmon cakes and breads made from the fruit of an old tree at the farm.
I enjoyed talking to the two men who were on-site, grading and preparing the persimmons for shipment. They noted that the harvest was nearly over but that they had been busy throughout the season.
If you’re ever near Glennville, check out the orchards in the early fall. I believe they ship, too.
