Upon the creation of Warren County in 1793, court was first held at the home of James McCormick. In 1796, the location was moved to the plantation of Sterling Gardner, which was designated the official county seat. It is said that a courthouse was built on the Warrenton square in 1809, but little to no evidence has been found to corroborate this fact. In 1820-1821, the first documented courthouse was built and it served Warren County until it was destroyed by fire in 1909. The present courthouse replaced it upon completion in 1910. It was the work of Walter Chamberlain, an architect in Birmingham, Alabama, responsible for at least two other Georgia courthouses.
The only information I’ve been able to locate about this house lists it as the Johnson House and dates it to 1900. I think the Johnson family were longtime owners, but I believe the house to have been built much earlier than 1900.
Camak’s rare two-story depot dates to circa 1898. It’s still used by CSX. The town itself was named for James A. Camak (1822-1893), who served as the first president of the Georgia Railroad, and was incorporated the year the depot was built.
The Warren County website details the importance of railroads in the area: The Georgia Railroad Company was chartered December 21, 1883, to build a line of railroad from Augusta to Athens with branches to Madison and Eatonton. Camak became the location for that line. The charter was accepted March 10, 1834, in Athens, Georgia at the home of James Camak, for whom the town is named. Construction began early in 1835. The charter was amended in 1835, to permit the company to go into the Banking Business. Under the amendment, the company became The Georgia Railroad & Banking Company. Upon the opening of the road through Warren County, stations were established west of Thomson at Camak. By further amendment to the Charter, a branch from Camak to Warrenton was authorized. This line was completed and opened for business in 1839. Georgia’s first railroad tracks were laid in the mid-1830s on routes leading from Athens, Augusta, Macon, and Savannah. Some twenty-five years later, the state not only could claim more rail miles than any other in the Deep South but also had linked its major towns and created a new rail center, Atlanta. The railroads continued to expand until the 1920s, when a long decline began that lasted into the 1990s. The rail line between Augusta and Atlanta is studded with towns named for early company officials: Camak (James A. Camak, president), Dearing (William E. Dearing, president), and Thomson (J. Edgar Thomson, chief construction engineer)...
This photograph dates to 2013. I imagine the store was probably built in the early 1900s and it is of the shotgun form, among the most common designs for rural Georgia stores in the early 20th century.
