
This is one of the oldest homes in Lakeland and was originally used as a boarding house. The columns were added a few years after the house was built.

This is one of the oldest homes in Lakeland and was originally used as a boarding house. The columns were added a few years after the house was built.

Thanks to Kenneth Goff, the present guardian of this landmark Queen Anne, for sharing this wonderful history: In 1906 Mary Banks, whose husband was namesake of Banks Lake, formed the South Georgia land and Industrial Company to lay out lots of land on Main street for sale as well as the damming of Mill Creek to form lake Irma. In November 1906, P.G. Mallory purchased the lot on the corner of Main and Miller Street.
On December 26, 1906 Mr. Mallory sold the property to M.W.Bargeron. Mr Bargeron served on the board of trustees for Oaklawn Academy where he was a teacher. Also Mr. Bargeron was the cashier for the Milltown bank. Later Mr Bargeron would be elected on December 1, 1920 as Lanier County’s first county treasurer.
In 1910 Mr Bargeron built the Queen Anne structure that stands at its present location corner of Main and Miller. The house was built by J.L. Byrd with home made cement blocks made on site. In December of 1921 Mr Bargeron sold the property to William J Lee. The house stayed in the Lee family until it was sold to John W. Harrell in 1945. In April 1947 the house was purchased by Lakeland Funeral home and was used as a funeral home until 1954 at which time Mr. L.R. Howell purchased. The house remained in the Howell family until Ms. Norma Gaskins Akins in 1992 purchased the house and completely remodeled the house. In 2022 The Goff family purchased the house and has continued the preservation of the historic house. In 2023 an expansion began that will at a three car garage, office, game room, library, and three additional bedrooms. The addition has been carefully planned to complement the historical style of the house. When completed the house will have around 9000 square feet.
The house that stands today has witnessed many things from WW 1 to the introduction of cars, electricity, indoor plumbing, and rockets in space. The house has been used as a private residence, funeral home, boarding house, and some even say a possible brothel. Today the house and property extends warmth and stands a tribute to its rich history in this community.

You can’t miss this landmark when you’re in Lakeland. It stands out in a town full of beautiful homes but it’s so lovingly maintained that it doesn’t feel imposing. Traci Jones writes The Victorian portion was built in 1906 and the back part in the mid 30s. My husband’s [Bob Jones] grandparents–featured in a mural on the Oak St. Side–ran it as a boarding house for 40 years., lovingly referred to as The Jones Hotel. In 1989 his parents remodeled and opened a bed and breakfast. We moved in three years ago and had some remodeling done by some local craftsmen. It serves as our residence, with plans in the future to reopen as a B& B.

Though obscured by landscaping today, Raymond Clancy’s Georgian cottage, built a few years after the Civil War, is one of Darien’s nicest surviving 19th-century homes.
West Darien Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Billy Bolin notes that this Cape Cod house was moved to Darien from rural McIntosh County.

The downstairs portion of Ray City Lodge No. 553, Free & Accepted Masons, has served as the Ray City Drugstore and the Victory Soda Shop. It’s the only remaining commercial brick structure in Ray City.


Pueblo Revival architecture was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. There are at least three houses of this style in Nashville, including one right next door to this one.

This house is well-maintained and a perfect exemplar of the style.


Nashville United Methodist Church is one of Berrien County’s most historic congregations. Founded in 1858, the church likely first met in members’ homes. There isn’t much information about the first church building, but in 1871, Benjamin Sorsby sold the congregation land for a church and parsonage for $13. The facility was located across the street from the present education building. In 1898, it was destroyed when a tree fell on it and construction on the present sanctuary began. It was completed in 1900.
