This church is located near the Brighton community. I haven’t been able to locate any history, but this is obviously a newer structure. The earliest burial I found in the adjacent cemetery was 1908. The Tabor brothers, who died in the tragic Tift County bus crash of 1959, are also interred here.
The Tift County School Bus Crash of 1959 happened nearly 70 years ago, but is still remembered by many as the county’s worst tragedy. Nine children lost their lives. Becky Taylor’s 2019 Tifton Gazette article about the anniversary of the crash highlighted survivors who still had vivid memories of the day. Two siblings who died that day, Leroy and Billy Tabor, are buried at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.
On the morning of 3 March 1959, a school bus carrying Black students to the segregated Tift County Industrial (now J. T. Reddick) and Wilson High and Elementary schools, plunged into the cold waters of a farm pond on Lower Brookfield Road, which was in the process of being paved at the time. The fact that the bus was overcrowded didn’t cause the wreck, but got significant attention in the press. Estimates ranged from 60-100 students on the bus. No one knows for sure, but it was definitely overcrowded, according to survivors. Driver Doyle Jones, “who had been making the bus route rounds for 23 years, said his bus hit two bumps in succession on the dirt road, causing him to lose control. The bus turned over on its right side and plunged into the water The vehicle was about two-thirds submerged.”
Per the Associated Press: “Fortunately, the bus was not alone on the road. Carl Lowry and Charles Ahrens were in a car behind the vehicle. Jack Withers saw the accident as he drove by. Ambulances and authorities were telephoned…” The driver had kicked out the windshield and with the help of students began pulling people out of the wreckage.
Those whose lives were lost were: Gloria Jean Davis, Age 7; Leroy Tabor, Age 7; Rufus Harrell Greene, Age 8; Henry Edward Johnson, Age 8; Bobby King, Age 8; Billy Tabor, Age 9; Bernice Henderson, Age 14; Artie Lee Simmons, Age 14; and Erlene Wilcox, Age 14.
Near the upper reaches of the Alapaha River, where Tift, Berrien, and Irwin Counties converge, (Ferry Lake Road, Five Bridge Road, and Turner Church Road) Turner Primitive Baptist Church was constituted on 14 June 1890. The present structure was built in 1915 and is lovingly maintained by the congregation. In addition to the vernacular church building, the adjacent cemetery contains quite a few vernacular memorials, some of which I’ve shared here, in no particular order.
Turner Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery
The vernacular memorials at Turner Primitive Baptist church are similar to others throughout the state in that they are highly vulnerable to environmental factors. Because they’re made of cement or concrete, sun, wind, and rain render them less readable over time and therefore, those they memorialize are in danger of being forgotten.
This is perhaps my favorite memorial in the cemetery. The shape is unusual and appears to be upside-down, though this is by design. I’ve seen this pattern before; it was likely set in a mold meant for another use. The name, and part of the birth date, have already become so obscure as to invite confusion.
This stenciled memorial is a common form, and like others, contains misspellings and grammatical issues. This is really what makes these markers interesting and important. Mrs. Rabon, a native of Lowndes County, was the wife of Daniel Jasper Rabon (1866-1939), who came to Georgia from Alabama. She was the daughter of W. A. and Martha Cobb Keel.
Mr. Walker’s memorial is also a typical form, with nice stenciling and a leaf or branch decoration.
Wooden markers were very common in rural cemeteries at one time, as it was often all that families could afford to mark the burial places of their loved ones. Unfortunately, very few can be identified.
There is a small section of these concrete tombs in Turner Primitive Baptist cemetery. Some have been damaged over the years.
This tomb-like memorial has been damaged. James Turner, son of Frank and Anna Turner. He married Anna McClelland in Tattnall County in 1823, and may have come to this area from there. may have come to the area from Tattnall County. At least two of his three sons served in the Civil War. One son, James S. Turner (1829-1904), was a prominent businessman in Jacksonville, who owned the Duval, one of the most prominent hotels in the city at the turn of the 20th century.
Carsia was the daughter of W. W. and Polly Ann Taylor, and died as a toddler.
For the next three days I’ll be sharing Halloween-related images for a change of pace. I don’t think any will be too scary, except perhaps the one coming up on Halloween itself. This is just a harmless medical skeleton inside the historic doctor’s office at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture. Anatomical or medical skeletons were commonly found in doctor’s offices in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The museum website notes of the office: The Doctor’s Office was donated to the Museum by the Boston Marketing Association, and is believed to have been constructed in Boston, Georgia in the 1870s. The initial structure consisted of one room and was used as the office for Daniel Alexander Horn, a farmer and businessman of Boston. Doctor H. A. Vann began using the building as his office in 1898 and continued to do so through 1925, when he retired. A second room was added some time around this date. The exact year of this addition is currently unknown, but research indicates that it was between 1898 and 1902.
Skeletons are actually more accurate symbols for Halloween than Christmas trees are for Christmas, but I digress. Halloween, literally All Hallows’ Eve, is the day before All Saints’ Day, and historically a time for remembering the dead. In the early Christian church, it was tradition to hold vigils the night before major feast days.
The spookier aspects of our modern celebrations surrounding the holiday are thought to have pagan origins, mostly brought to white America by Celtic-adjacent immigrants. A long-held belief that the souls of the dead visit one night each year and therefore must be appeased and guarded against led to many of the stranger traditions. Wearing costumes, or disguises, and and lighting bonfires and lanterns, are but a couple of examples.
This Victorian block may have originally been a wholesale grocery business; a fading mural on the side identifies it as such. It’s right across the street from the historic courthouse.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This has always been a favorite Tifton building of mine. R. L. Brown writes: This building was known as Tiff’s Garage. See photo in the Arcadia Publishing’s book on Tifton. The overhang has been removed.
I have an antique postcard of this structure and there are significant enough differences in the facade to require further investigation. A narrow green Ludowici Tile awning [for lack of a better word] wrapped around the top of the building and decorative medallions on the windows weren’t originally present. Also, the windows themselves appear wider on the postcard. This has to be one of the finest commercial garages, in an architectural sense, surviving in South Georgia, if its identity can be confirmed.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This beautiful house is best known today as the Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals. Their website notes: The Buck House, built in 1905, had an interesting history of its own. When the original owners were all killed in a series of tragic accidents, the property passed to the Mellon family. Eventually, the Buck House became a dilapidated apartment building. Bowen-Donaldson’s building improvement, however, made the quality of the house’s structure and surroundings better than ever.
It has been a bit of a tradition in many small Georgia towns for funeral businesses to move into and restore large historical homes. The Buck House in Tifton is a great example.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Prominent architect T. F. Lockwood designed First Baptist Church in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Henry Miller was the pastor at the time.
There have been numerous expansions to the original church over the years.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This was the first brick church built in Tifton, and served the congregation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for generations. When they moved to a larger facility in 1952, it served numerous congregations over the following years. The Tift County Development Authority purchased it in 1985, to protect it from vandals and deterioration. In 1997, the Tifton Council for the Arts saw an opportunity and renovated the church into a gallery space and cultural museum. It is now known as the Syd Blackmarr Arts Center.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Opened in 1914, this handsome Renaissance Revival structure first served as a post office but has been home for many years to the Tifton-Tift County Public Library. It was designed [or its design overseen by] Oscar Wenderoth, who served as the director of the Office of the Supervising Architect of the United States Treasury Department from 1912-1915. It might be best known for its iconic gargoyle flagpole holders.
Tifton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places