Pine Ridge Meats & Groceries, Norman Park
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Norman Park Cafe
In many South Georgia towns, historic storefronts are finding new life as restaurants. Jim Howard writes: This building was built as a bank. When the bank failed the property was purchased by my mother and stepfather. Hazel & Frank Griffin. And they started the cafe. The Suwannee store was on the other end of the block. In between was the picture show, Sat. Mon & Wed nites
Norman Park United Methodist Church, 1903
Norman Park [known as Obe until its incorporation in 1902] was home to an early Methodist congregation known as Old Shiloh. Norman Park Methodist was an outgrowth of Old Shiloh and was built with timbers cut by members on land donated by Mr. & Mrs. R. L. Norman.
Lauri Jo’s, Norman Park
If you’re familiar with the Georgia Grown program of the Department of Agriculture, you’re likely a fan of locally sourced products. From Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly to Pickled Okra to Candied Jalapenos, Lauri Jo’s offers a little something for everyone. I stopped by their retail and production space in Norman Park the other day to pick up a couple of jars of their Southern Sweet Cucumber Pickles, a family favorite. My mother , who says they’re as good as the ones my great-grandmother used to make, called me on the road to ask me to get some. The folks that work for Lauri Jo make you feel right at home and are rightfully proud of their products. I got a look at a big wall map of the United States with pins on all the places Lauri Jo’s has been shipped and sold. There were lots of pins.
Update: After ten years, Lauri Jo closed her doors in 2019, but her products are still available. Just search the name online.
Gable Front House, Sunbury
Law Office, Appling
As far as I could tell, this was the only private business in Appling.
Old Columbia County Jail, 1934, Appling
This early Federal Works Project was designed by Augusta architect A. Brian Merry. R. A. Bowen was the contractor. It is now home to the Columbia County Historical Society.
Columbia County Courthouse, 1856, Appling
Columbia County was created in 1790. The area was settled by Daniel Marshall and the Baptists in 1772. The dead town of Cobbham served briefly as the first county seat, followed by Kiokee, near the Savannah River. Because Kiokee was considered too far from much of the population to be a practical site, William Appling offered land for a new county seat and it was named in his honor. The first courthouse in Appling was built around 1793, followed by a more suitable structure in 1812. It served until the construction of the present courthouse in 1856.
Columbia County is perhaps unique in Georgia in that it has essentially two county seats. By the 1970s, this courthouse was in a bad state of deterioration. Since the county was in the midst of a population boom and the majority of the population was clustered near Evans, the Appling courthouse was no longer adequate for housing all the offices of local government. Around 1980 a new Columbia County Government Center was constructed in Evans, with additional facilities following in the 1990s. Most functions of local government are now carried out there, while a few offices are maintained in this historic antebellum courthouse. Some court proceedings are still held here, making it the oldest courthouse in the state still in use.
National Register of Historic Places
Kiokee Baptist Church, 1808, Appling
When Daniel Marshall established the oldest continuing* Baptist congregation in Georgia in 1772, it was a violation of the established laws of St. Paul’s Parish, contrary to the tenets of the Church of England, and he was soon arrested. Upon his release he continued the mission of the church and built the first meeting house at the site of present-day Appling. A new church known as Marshall’s Meeting House was built in 1789 near the banks of Kiokee Creek. By 1806 Marshall’s Meeting House was in bad disrepair and the congregation raised nearly $4000 for the construction of the present church, known as Kiokee Baptist Church, which was completed in 1808. A Mr. Danielly was the brick mason and brothers John and Hezekiah Bond did the carpentry. The congregation only used this church until 1827, when they again built a new church in Appling proper, likely to accommodate a growing membership. It served until it was destroyed by a tornado in 1875 with the congregation meeting in the courthouse until another church was built. A modern facility in Appling serves the church today, while the historic church is used for special events.
Daniel Marshall was a native of Connecticut and established Baptist churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and served as a missionary to the Native Americans. The Marshall family preached the gospel at Kiokee for sixty years. After Daniel’s service (1772-84), his son Abraham (1784-1819) succeeded him, followed by his grandson Jabez (1819-1832).
*-The first Baptist church established in Georgia was the Tuckaseeking Baptist Church in Effingham County. They were a Seventh Day Baptist congregation and were active from 1759 until about 1763, when persecution forced them out of Georgia. Never a common sect in Georgia, the Seventh Day Baptists claim just one congregation and one mission in the state today.
National Register of Historic Places
Picnic on the St. Marys River, St. George, 1909
Georgia’s southernmost town, St. George, is located within the “Georgia Bend” of the St. Marys River. This historic postcard, mailed from St. George, illustrates a picnic held along the river in February 1909. It must have been a really mild winter, though, as a few of the boys are standing in the river.
I was curious as to why anyone would be in the river in the winter, but William Thompson makes a good point, writing: I was baptized in that same spot many years ago. See the woman in the water right above the “ic” part of picnic? She is rising up from being dunked.