I’m not sure if this was a primary residence or a tenant house but it’s located on what appears to be an historic farm, just outside the Monticello city limit. There’s also an abandoned general store or restaurant across the highway, though it may not be related to this property.
This house has caught my eye for many years when passing through the forgotten village once known as Eudora, and I finally stopped and made a photograph a few days ago. As long as I can remember, it’s been overgrown. Eudora means “generous gifts” in Greek, and Ken Krakow’s Georgia Place-Names suggests that was the origin of the name. The community is certainly situated among some of the most beautiful and productive countryside in Jasper County. While it had a post office from 1874-1902, Eudora nearly vanished from memory, but according to a 31 October 2013 article in the Monticello News, residents were proud of its history and wanted signs placed along the highway to signal its presence. [It is also sometimes referred to as Prospect, for the old Prospect Methodist Church.] A planned railroad, known as the Monticello, Eudora, and Social Circle, was set to come through the area in 1884, but was routed toward Madison instead. Perhaps this was a slight at the time, but 140 years later, the people of this community are still proud of their history and have made sure the name is remembered.
With the recent loss of the old Liberty Methodist Church, this early I-House [Plantation Plain] is the last significant landmark that I know of in the long lost settlement of Calvin, in Jasper County. The two-over-two central hallway dwelling also features shed rooms across the rear and, barely visible on the left side of this image, a formerly detached kitchen which was later attached by a breezeway.
Wiley Phillips (1791 or 1792-4 August 1875) is believed to have been the first owner of the house but Sarah Yarborough from Warren County was the first owner of the property and the house may have been built around the time of her marriage to Jesse Tollerson [also recorded as Tollison] in 1813. Wiley Phillips’s nephew, Calvin Fish, is considered the first white child born in Jasper County and was the namesake of the Calvin community. Thomas Smith purchased it in 1833 but sold it to Richard Turner in 1835. Turner never actually lived in the house, though he, and later his estate, owned it until 1863, at which time his son-in-law, Benjamin B. Freeman, sold it to Shelly P. Downs. Downs was a physician and served as surgeon with the 38th Regiment of the Georgia Militia during the Civil War. It was next owned by Seaborn C. Kelly (1836-1872) sometime between 1866 and 1872. Kelly sold the house to James Benton on 15 January 1872. Scarcely three weeks after Kelly sold the house, on 7 February 1872, he and his brother John C. Kelly were murdered in Monticello by Clinton Digby, a cousin of Seaborn Kelly’s wife, in a disputer over a Black laborer. James Benton sold the house to Seaborn Kelly’s son, Burton Clark Kelly, in 1885 and it remained in the family until 1997, though it was unoccupied from circa 1958 until being sold to Philip A. Jones in 1998. Mr. Jones’s extensive research is the source of most of the ownership history.
National Register of Historic Places
Bethlehem Primitive Baptist is one of the most iconic and historic churches in Brooks County. Established in 1834, it joined the Primitive Baptist sect in 1840. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Some sources date the church building to 1834, which is possible, but I’ve also seen circa 1861 referenced. Whichever date is correct, it’s an old church with a quiet beauty. Many have visited just for the sense of peace it projects.
Sadly, I learned today from Gail Blackman Eubanks that it was badly damaged by a storm, thought to have been last September. Gail kindly shared the two photos detailing some of the damage and says structurally, it looks really bad. She was optimistic, nonetheless.
She noted that the interior pews and lectern looked to be in good shape, which is amazing considering that much of the roof is open to the elements. I don’t know if there are any plans to attempt to restore it, but I certainly hope so. There has to be a strong sense of community around this historic place and maybe a miracle can happen.
National Register of Historic Places
This historic general store on the corner of Lamar and Forrest Streets has been well-maintained and is a great example of commercial architecture in late-19th-century Georgia. It is virtually unchanged from its original appearance. The sign notes that the business traded in stoves and crockery. Selling hardware, groceries, and sundries, J. W. Harris & Co. would have been the equivalent of a big box store today.
Americus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Empire Bank Building is the most spectacular Neoclassical Revival structure in the vibrant commercial historic district of Americus, and a landmark of the form. It was built on the site of George Oliver’s store and completed in 1911. I’m still trying to identify the architect. From 1950-1989, it was home to the First Federal Savings and Loan Association. It is presently home to the River Valley Regional Commission and is a great adaptive re-use for an important historic building.
Americus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
New Corinth Baptist Church is an historic Freedmen’s congregation and perhaps the oldest Black church standing in Sumter County. According to the National Register of Historic Places, it was built by William Hooks in 1870, using lumber from his own mill, for his African-American laborers and their families. Though such a largesse wasn’t unique, it was nonetheless quite unusual at the time. This was just five years after the Civil War. The congregation grew into one of the largest in Southwest Georgia, with nearly 300 members by 1894. A school on the grounds, which is no longer extant, served children of the community until the 1940s.
National Register of Historic Places
I made this photograph in 2008 and rediscovered it when I began re-editing my Sumter County images. The historic, largely forgotten New Era community holds a special place for me as a photographer of rural subjects. Its owners have allowed it to stand, long after it was abandoned, and in doing so they preserved a living museum of a certain place and time. They appreciated what it represented. Letting it go back to the elements is just part of that process.
This was a huge building, almost certainly serving an agricultural purpose. The front section at right was probably an office, while the remainder was a gin and/or warehouse. As best I can tell, the structure has since collapsed or was razed.
The churchyard of Mountain Creek A. M. E. is located in an isolated section of northern Sumter County and reached by a road of deep red clay, perched atop a hill. Named for a tributary of the Flint River, Mountain Creek may be a Freedmen’s congregation, but its history is a bit obscure, as is often the case with the historic Black churches I document. This little building is what beckoned me here in the first place, and it has proven to be as enigmatic as the congregation itself. When I saw the piano [below], I was sure this was the original church, but as I explored the property and learned of an Old Mountain Creek Cemetery, that quickly gave way to a different narrative.
The building is nearing collapse, and I now believe it was a schoolhouse, associated with Mountain Creek A. M. E.
The historic cemetery is full of stenciled headstones, and there are five gravesites painted a shade of bright blue, which some would call haint blue. They are the first of this color that I’ve encountered. [There is also an Old Mountain Creek A. M. E. Cemetery listed on Findagrave, which suggests the congregation was established elsewhere and later moved here. The earliest identified burial in that cemetery is 1902].
An historic church building serves the congregation today, and the front addition, known as the Dr. Russell Thomas and Sister Margarot Camp Thomas Fellowship Hall, was added in 1990.
The church is a typical late-19th/early-20th century form, with separate front doors for women and men.
This appears to have been a general store. Located in rural Sumter County, not far from Andersonville, it’s a very plain structure, made of cinderblock. One can imagine that it was important to the people out here in the country, who probably didn’t go to town very often. General store, as opposed to the more quaint “country store”, is an important distinction, because these places usually sold a little bit of everything, and the owners knew what people needed. It’s possible that it was a commissary. There’s a sign at the roadside that indicates it was part of the Hoke Smith Farm.