This is located in the Five Points community. Though it looks more commercial than domestic, I believe it to be a residence. Perhaps it started out as something different. There are crenellated parapets on the front and graduated parapets along the sides of the structure. It is definitely an eclectic form.
The places I seek out and photograph are often obscured by vegetation, ranging from weeds to trees. Pine saplings had grown up around this historic log house when I photographed it in 2016. The tin roof is a later addition, an attempt to save the house from the elements, and almost all of the examples of single-pen houses I’ve found with newer roofs have a significant overhang or protrusion.
I’ve admired this simple house for years, always concerned that its days were numbered. I made this photograph a few years ago, and probably have a better shot somewhere in my archive, but I think this one will do for now. I was surprised I’d never published it here before, but I couldn’t find it on the website. It’s not an exaggeration to say that houses of this style (technically, form) provided shelter to the masses before modern techniques and materials were widely available. In a way, they were the “cookie-cutter” types of their day, but I’m guessing this house is at least 80 or 90 years old and can’t imagine today’s prefab versions lasting nearly as long.
This board-and-batten gabled-ell cottage was a landmark in my travels to Red Earth Farm for many years. It’s now a heap of boards, finished off by Hurricane Helene.
It was likely a tenant home, perhaps connected to the nearby John Pearson House and related to the naval stores industry.
It was a humble house but must have been loved in its time. I know I will miss seeing it.
This unusual vernacular house in Collins is a bit difficult to classify architecturally. A marker identifies it as the Dr. Collins House, built circa 1900. I’m not sure if it was just a home or also the doctor’s office.
This substantial farmhouse is set among pecan trees and looks as it probably did fifty years ago. I believe it’s in the southern part of the county. I made this photograph in 2018 but as far as I know it is still standing.
This is a perfect example of the Folk Victorian style. It is out in the country and beautifully maintained.
The more aware I’ve become of the rarity of double-shotgun houses, the more intrigued I am by the form. This cottage in Tattnall County is clearly a double-shotgun, but it is also pyramidal. It’s a great illustration of the overlap in vernacular forms. These structures were almost always associated with tenant farming but many were modified for later use as one-family residences or cabins. This example is a favorite and truly one of the nicest I’ve found.
Note: This updates and replaces a post originally published on 26 October 2014.
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.
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.