Wynn’s Garage was a Sycamore landmark for many years. Joy Jones Gregory writes: I remember going to Mr. Julius Wynn’s garage as a young child, with my father. The oil smell, the pot belly heater, an several men always sitting around the warmth. The one other thing I remember was the sign on the wall. It said” if you spit on the floor at home, go home and spit.”
This replaces a post originally published in 2009.
For Father’s Day, I found a curious bit of history about a man from Dakota, in Turner County. When he died on 18 March 1940, a time when larger families were much more common than they are today, John Joshua Beasley (19 March 1859-18 March 1940) was newsworthy. A United Press syndicated story from March 1940, datelined Ashburn, Ga., and published in newspapers around the country under the headline “Oddities in the News” noted: The living among his 40 children, 60 grandchildren and 44 great-grandchildren mourned the death of John Joshua Beasley, 84. He was the father of 24 children by his first wife and 16 by his second. Nineteen are living.
At the time, his progeny made him the record-holder among Georgia fathers, and to my knowledge, it’s a record which may still stand.
Beasley’s first wife, buried beside him, was Fannie Gresham Beasley (1 October 1861-19 January 1905). His second wife was Maggie Britt Beasley (18 September 1888-6 December 1967). She is buried at Oviedo Cemetery in Oviedo, Florida. Many of Mr. Beasley’s children lived well into the later part of the 20th century and at least one lived until 2010. I’m unsure if any are still alive but I imagine his legacy is not lost on his descendants.
This house has always been a landmark in my travels between Fitzgerald and Sycamore. I first remember seeing it on a trip with my grandmother to visit her sister in Ashburn when I was about ten years old.
This image dates to circa 2011. The church is still standing but has been sided with metal and expanded from its original form.
Grady Sconyers married Cortez Henderson in 1936 and they soon opened a general mercantile store, which they operated for about ten years. In 1947, he opened Turner County Frozen Foods, which served as the local “meat locker” and also sold frozen foods. They sold this business in 1950 and opened the Sycamore Gin, which served farmers for a 30-mile radius. Mr. Sconyers was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Turner County. [This photograph dates to 2010. I’m unsure if the building is still standing].
Vickie Stanford writes: [This was] my husband, Gary Stanford’s, grandparents’ home. Former home of Mr & Mrs L.C. Stanford.
Among Ashburn’s most architecturally significant houses, this was the childhood home of Betty Talmadge (1923-2005), a former First Lady of Georgia.
Shingler Heights Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Various postcards over the years advertised this charming Craftsman bungalow as “The House by the Road”, dubbing it a “Modern Tourist Home” and a “Beautiful Private Estate Open to Guests”. Other enticements included locked garages, porter service, steam heat with automatic stoker control, electric fans, hot water, shower baths, and Beautyrest box springs. Known as a boarding house, it was also the home of Mrs. Robert R. Shingler, who took great pride in maintaining a hospitable stop for travelers along US 41, a primary north-south route in the days before interstate highways. It is now a private residence.
In renovation, it has been slightly altered, though retains its overall original appearance.
Shingler Heights Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This somewhat eclectic Craftsman is indicative of the variety of architecture in Shingler Heights. It was built by J. S. Betts for his daughter Annie Betts Ketchum and her husband Ralph Parker Ketchum. Thanks to Michael Massey for the identification.
Shingler Heights Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This is one of several eclectic Folk Victorian houses in Rebecca.