Tag Archives: Big Barns of Southeast Georgia

Hay & Stock Barn, Emanuel County

4 Replies
Unidentifed “Big Barn”, Emanuel County

This is one of six known barns of this style located within about a 30-mile radius in Southeast Georgia. As a group, they are a significant vernacular resource among agricultural structures in the Coastal Plain. They were likely copied from memory or inspired by patterns seen in plan books but their prevalence in such a small geographical area is more than coincidence. Since the best known barn, at the old Coleman Farm, is known locally as the “Big Barn” and even has a road named for it, I’m calling these all “Big Barns”, even though the two at the Brinson farm are much smaller versions. All the barns, except for a garage barn at the Coleman Farm (now lost), are hay/stock barns and are characterized by ornamental trellis work. This one seems to be the most vulnerable. I’m sharing the other examples below.

“Big Barns” of Southeast Georgia

Coleman Barn, Candler County
Coleman Garage Barn, Candler County
Rushing Barn, Bulloch County
Brinson Barn #1, Emanuel County
Brinson Barn #2, Emanuel County

Hay Barn, Emanuel County

1 Reply

Though not as large, this barn has similar characteristics, and therefore influences, of the famed Big Barns of Southeast Georgia. The trellis work is the defining feature of this barn.

Coleman Barn, Candler County

7 Replies

I first came to know of this iconic barn from another photographer in the area and was absolutely amazed when I was finally able to photograph it a few years ago. It’s a massive structure and its architectural features, such as wooden-shingle dormers and trellis vents and doors, make it among the most interesting I’ve ever encountered in South Georgia.

Last July, Anna Williams shared this history of the barn: My husband (Ben Williams, owner of the Heritage Barber Shop in Metter) is the great-grandson of the man who built the barn. It was the Coleman Farm before the Rushtons purchased it. Jim Coleman was the original owner and he was the one who built it. My husband, his brothers and many cousin’s played there when they were young. That was many years ago; he is now 77. This is better known today as the R. L. Rushton farm.

It’s hard to do justice to this barn in photographs. It’s massive, but beyond that, its architecture and the attention Jim Coleman paid to the details take it a step above most any of its contemporaries in South Georgia. The old cedar tree adds a lot to the landscape. Robin Robbins & Vicky Prince both wrote to inform me that this barn had been used in the opening sequence of the 1974 movie Buster and Billie. The barn appears at 2:20 on the YouTube clip.