This is located on the courthouse square in Danielsville and has most recently served as an office space. The present door placements suggest it may have always served such a purpose, but I won’t rule out that it may have been a residence or boarding house in the past.
This house is a more eclectic later version of the Queen Anne style.
The historic building on the right is clad in granite, a common building material in this area, which is located near the western extent of the Lexington-Oglesby Blue Granite Belt.
Lexington Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Lexington Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Victorian commercial building on the right was originally home to the A. J. Gillen Department Store. In naming it a Place in Peril, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation noted: The building currently sits vacant. Due to Maxeys’ isolated location, the large size of the building and its deteriorating condition, attracting a business to the A.J. Gillen Department Store is a challenge. Without that investment, the building will continue to deteriorate.
I made this photograph several years ago and haven’t been through Maxeys in some time. I believe there was an effort to restore it, but do not know of any progress.
This local landmark dates to at least the 1940s, and perhaps earlier. And, they still have a soda fountain and hand-dipped ice cream. The Art Deco storefront, once commonly seen on pharmacies and jewelry stores, is largely intact.
Elberton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Doug Anderson’s Barber Shop almost looks like a museum but has been a fixture in downtown Elberton for many years. It’s located in the basement of the old First National Bank Building and is a local landmark in itself. You might not be able to see them clearly, as I shot these through windows, but there’s an autographed photo of Brenda Lee, local photos and ephemera, and one of those tongue-in-cheek posters of a Native American promising “hair cuts, guaranteed painless and quick”.
Musician Seth Martin wrote on the Vanishing Georgia Instagram: tons of memories of this spot. First hair cut, Doug’s boots on the granite steps, cokes from old style machine, Hess trucks everywhere, the old tanning booths in the back, Doyle, etc., etc., etc., like a movie…
Susan Crawford adds: Doug Anderson was a piano student of mine in Elberton about 1974-5. He was already an established barber and also played in a band. At that time he drove a 1940s black Chevrolet. He got it when he was in high school and kept it in perfect shape. If he’s still driving it – and he may well be! – it might be worth a picture. Doug was a real gentleman.
My photographs of the shop date to the mid-2010s, but I believe the business is still going strong.
Elberton Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
I photographed this in 2015 and can’t recall where in Comer it was located. Gambrel-roof barns are not very common in Georgia, and the number of doors is a bit unusual. I’ll update when I learn more.
Carnesville isn’t well-known outside the area, and is one of the smaller county seats in Georgia, with between 500-600 residents. As county seats should, it sits smack dab in the middle of Franklin County, which was the first county in the state established after the Revolutionary War [much larger at the time, encompassing multiple modern counties]. While the location of Franklin County’s first seat of government is lost to history, Carnesville gained that designation in 1807.
It was named for Thomas Petters Carnes (1762-5 May 1822), whose service as a colonel in the Maryland Line during the Revolutionary War earned him a land bounty in Franklin County. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives, as a state court judge, Attorney General of Georgia, and in the U. S. House of Representatives, from 1793-1795, representing Athens [located at that time in Franklin County].