Historic Farmstead, Circa 1920, Hart County

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Owner or overseer’s home. There are several lightning rods on this pyramidal Georgian cottage.

Driving through the bucolic countryside of Hart County, I came upon this farm near Bowersville. As I slowly passed each structure and took in the scope of the property, I realized what an amazing place it was.

I’m identifying this is a commissary, for its store-like layout. It appears to be used as a barn today.

It has become rare to find this many structures still standing that were once the center of a vibrant working farm. I always appreciate the fact that there owners who recognize their importance and allow them to stand long past their original purpose has been fulfilled.

Barn

The farm looked much the same when photographed for an historic survey over 30 years ago, though the white paint was a bit brighter and one building has been lost.

Barn, which may have served another purpose at one time. Windows aren’t generally associated with barns.

Farms like these are the ones most people think of when they get nostalgic about our agrarian past. This may have been an larger operation than some, but it wasn’t a corporate farm running on government subsidies.

Double shotgun house, most likely used a tenant residence

These buildings have been empty for many years, yet they’re still maintained as part of a larger property today. There’s still a farm here and the landscape is really something to behold.

General Store, 1920s, Maretts

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This store, or commissary, was likely built around the same time as the Craftsman house located behind it. Because the community is known as Maretts (for the Marett family), it’s a good bet there is an association. It’s one of at least three stores or commissaries in the general area, indicating a thriving agricultural community at the time they were built. Places like this were the convenience stores of their day, and since few people owned cars, they served an immediate local need.

Craftsman Farmhouse, Circa 1924, Maretts

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This vernacular Craftsman home may be associated with the general store or commissary that stands along the highway directly in front of it; it was common for store owners to live in or near their businesses in the early 1900s.

General Store, Hart County

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This general store is located just around the corner from New Harmony Methodist Church, on Mt. Olivet Road. It may have once had gas pumps out front. The general area is now referred to as the Reed Creek community. It’s a very pastoral area, characterized by well-maintained farms and yards. I hope someone will recognize this place and help with its identification.

New Harmony Methodist Church, Hart County

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There is very little history to be found in regards to New Harmony Methodist Church. Our friends at Historic Rural Churches of Georgia date the structure to 1890, tentatively, but two local surveys I’ve consulted date it to 1870. Both dates are believable, since this style church was the most common in Georgia in the last half of the 19th century. These surveys also point out that it rests on a newer foundation, which is obvious.

The cemetery is quite interesting, as many of the graves are reburials, moved here when the Mt. Zion Cemetery was inundated by the creation of Lake Hartwell in May 1961.

Peter Albert “Lee” Fleming (1862-1898). Fleming’s wife and children’s names are also present on the modern stone which marks it.

There are more historic interments at New Harmony, perhaps, but the most fascinating marker is this yellow brick structure. It’s not quite a crypt and not quite a grave house. The brick is probably local to the area.

Decedent unknown

As a fan of vernacular monuments, I really liked this cross.

Jackson Morrison House, Circa 1902, Hartwell

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This central hallway cottage was built by Jackson Morrison circa 1902 as the anchor of his four-acre property in the historically Black Hartwell neighborhood known as Rome. Mr. Morrison, a well-respected community leader, was a skilled carpenter, farmer, and real estate entrepreneur, purchasing at least ten lots in the Rome community between 1920-1928. The land, originally owned by white residents, was subdivided and the transactions handled by Mr. Morrison, allowing many Blacks who otherwise would not have been able to own land to buy parcels. On his own four acres, Morrison raised vegetables, wheat, cotton, and corn, and farmed additional land in Hart County. Morrison and his wife both died in the 1960s but the home remains in the ownership of the family, who no longer live in Georgia.

National Register of Historic Places

Hunter’s Chapel A. M. E. Church, Elbert County

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Hunter’s Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is located in southeastern Elbert County, near the Savannah River on the Calhoun Falls Highway. I’m not sure as to the date of construction or the history of the congregation. It’s a beautifully maintained church and churchyard.

13 Forks, Elbert County

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The crossroads community of 13 Forks takes its name from the numerous branches and creeks that surround the area. I only counted nine on the map, so I must have missed a few. The community gives its name to 13 Forks Road (or is it the other way around?) and a granite slab and this old store building, dating to circa 1934, let you know you’ve arrived.

When trying to find a history of the area, I learned that it’s best known as the home of the 13 Forks Dragstrip, which was going strong in the 1960s. A 1965 flier I found online notes that the drag strip was open at 1PM every Sunday, and admission was $1.50. As to some of the attractions: Gene Cromer’s Fabulous Moonlighter, a ’40 Willys Coupe that did 6 foot wheel stands; Charlie Roberts, hurrying to finish that fiberglass English Ford; Charles Headen, still running Big Red, but sporting a new Mustang; Bennett-Hobbs, driving a new all glass English Ford Hydro; Ed Skelton, driving a Falcon and a new Mustang; and Dude Moore, really honking now in his pretty yellow ’55 Chevy...

Drag racing fans still return to the community for occasional reunions.

Tenant Farmhouse, Hard Cash

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This single-pen tenant house is typical of the residential dwellings common in the tenant farming and sharecropping era and was related, no doubt, to the Hard Cash community. There were likely a number of these along Hard Cash Road at one time, and this may be the last survivor. While it’s an endangered resource, it’s just more evidence that even utilitarian homes were built better a hundred years ago than they are today.

Commissary, Hard Cash

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The only reference I could find about Hard Cash was that the place name appears on an 1894 Southern Railway map. This indicates it was a railroad siding, perhaps with a freight depot for shipping whatever goods were being produced. I’m imagining cotton or even corn, but it may have encompassed a lot of different products. As to the Hard Cash aspect, I suspect it referred to a business owner not running credit accounts, and only accepting “hard cash”. That may be overthinking it, but it’s how I see it.

This old shotgun store was likely a commissary, serving farm workers or other laborers who lived in the area.