Tag Archives: Endangered Places in Georgia

A Ray of Hope for a Savannah Ghost Sign

2 Replies
A weathered brick wall displaying a faded advertisement for 'Uneeda Biscuit,' featuring remnants of colorful paint and vintage lettering, alongside a one-way street sign.

According to the excellent Savannah Agenda, Luis Posada, who owns the Uneeda Biscuit mural at the corner of Price Street and East Perry Street, is hoping to save it with selective restoration. He will appeal to the Historic Sites and Monuments Commission to stabilize it without making it look new. Here’s hoping.

Faded advertisement for 'Uneeda Biscuit' on a brick wall, showcasing historical marketing art.

The mural, which adorns the side of a circa 1854 block of row houses, proclaims: “Everybody Knows Uneeda Biscuit”. The other text indicates that they cost 5 cents and were sold “In Packages”, a big improvement over the barrel crackers found in general stores that were apt to quickly go stale.The two faded boxes at bottom right and left displayed the National Biscuit Company logo. They were once red but have now taken a pinkish tone. My best guess for the date of the mural would be circa 1900-1910.

According to the Society for Commercial Archaeology, the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) spent $7 million from 1898-1908 to put Uneeda Biscuits on everyone’s mind and these murals became ubiquitous. This was unheard of at the time and was even more wide-ranging than Coca-Cola’s iconic mural campaign. At one point, it’s estimated that 30 million people a day saw one of these murals. Like other icons of their age, they are largely endangered today.

Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places

Hazlehurst Landmark Faces Demolition

10 Replies
An abandoned, weathered white house with classical columns and peeling paint, surrounded by grass and trees, with a Western Motel sign visible in the background.

Michael Williams reached out to me last week to let me know that one of Hazlehurst’s most recognizable landmarks, the home and office of Dr. Samuel L. Martin (1876-1966), was soon to be demolished if no one stepped forward to move it before a new fast food restaurant (Taco Bell) would be built on site. I understand that the land has already been sold.

Close-up view of a weathered, abandoned building with peeling paint, showcasing brick steps leading up to a porch with columns.

As our friend Jesse Bookhardt said back in 2024: “Everybody loves Dr. Martin’s old home, but nobody seems to love it so much that they are willing to save it, so it continues to vanish bit by bit.“

Close-up of a weathered wooden wall with peeling paint, featuring a window with a stained glass top and a lace curtain, reflecting the exterior environment.

Dr. Martin was a graduate of the Atlanta School of Medicine (now Emory University), who also dabbled in politics. He was a city alderman and mayor of Hazlehurst, in addition to service in both houses of the state legislature. While serving in the senate, he promoted a bill which provided scholarships for medical students who would practice for four years in small towns who were underserved by health care.

Close-up of a weathered wooden door with peeling paint, featuring decorative fan-shaped carvings and glass panels, flanked by vintage-style lanterns.

Even in its deteriorated state, the house has been a favorite to many who have seen it and photographed it over the years. It has most recently, to my knowledge, been some sort of antique store, but it has been abandoned for quite some time.

View of weathered white columns of a building with peeling paint, overlooking a grassy area and a road with passing cars.

The architecture is quite eclectic, especially the asymmetrical front. I think the front and colonnade may be early additions to the house, which was originally built by Charles Felder Chapman (1879-1951) for his wife, Winnie Mae Roberson Chapman (1890-1931).

Abandoned two-story house with peeling white paint, broken windows, and overgrown vegetation, set against a blue sky.

The carriage house became Dr. Martin’s home office, though he was an old-fashioned country doctor and spent much of his time on the backroads of Jeff Davis County, taking care of rural patients.

An old, weathered building with a gray exterior and wooden accents, featuring broken windows and overgrown grass surrounding it.

It is always sad to share news like this, but I’ve seen so much of it over the years, I can imagine the outcome. The best possible scenario would be for someone to move and save the house, but short of that, it will soon be gone forever.

An abandoned, weathered two-story house with large white columns, peeling paint, and a grassy yard.

Statesboro Coca-Cola Bottling Company, 1934

Leave a reply

J. F. Fields (1858-1932) was a merchant, who began selling soda water at his popular New York Bargain Store in 1894. By 1900, Field and Dempse Barnes (1875-1912) were in business as the Fields and Barnes Bottling Works, manufacturing numerous brands of soda. In 1901, Fields purchased the Statesboro Bottling Works and Ice Business from B. P. Maul. Dempse Barnes bought Fields’s interest in 1903 and formed the Statesboro Bottling Works. The turn of the century was a time of great growth in the soda water business and in 1906, Dempse Barnes, through acquisitions of competitors and expansions, brought the first Coca-Cola Bottling Works to Statesboro. The structure pictured here was built in 1934 and after operations moved to another facility in 1998, has housed several businesses. It is in serious need of preservation.

Exterior view of an old brick building with a green awning, featuring large windows and a for-lease sign. Surrounding area shows an empty parking lot and overgrown grass.

Gable Front Cottage, Burroughs

1 Reply
A small white house with blue trim and a falling roof, surrounded by lush greenery, in Burroughs, Georgia.

Burroughs was a community of formerly enslaved people in southwestern Chatham County who, in the 1870’s and 1880’s, were given the opportunity to buy the land they were living on from their former enslavers. Today, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church and New Ogeechee Missionary Baptist Church are the tangible links to that past. Simple vernacular housing, such as the example pictured here, were once common in the community, but are rapidly vanishing.

Wingate Mule Barn, Circa 1940, Lax

Leave a reply
Interior of an abandoned wooden barn, featuring exposed beams, a wooden floor with some decay, and an open doorway leading to a view of greenery outside.

This long-abandoned barn is part of a group of tin-sided structures in “downtown” Lax that were part of the Wingate family’s turpentine and farming operations in the 20th century. This particular structure served as the mule barn, and as this view of the loft would indicate, is in its final days. Thanks to Quint Wingate for the historical background and to Jerry Youghn for suggesting I document it. I’ll share more of these structures soon.

An old, weathered barn at Lax, Georgia, made of corrugated metal and wood, with partially open sides, surrounded by green grass and trees under a partly cloudy blue sky.

Gable Front Cottage, Liberty County

4 Replies
An abandoned house surrounded by overgrown grass and trees, featuring a porch with white columns and peeling paint.

This utilitarian cottage has always been a favorite of mine. I never stopped to photograph because there was always an old car parked on the side and it wasn’t a convenient stop on the highway. I’ve passed it hundreds of times and always wanted to document it. I finally did a few weeks ago. It’s located between Flemington and McIntosh (the settlement in Liberty, not the county to the south).

Hendrix High School, Dodge County

Leave a reply
Abandoned brick school house in Dodge County, Georgia, surrounded by overgrown vegetation and trees under a clear blue sky.

Someone from Dodge County recently reached out to me about documenting this historic school, located east of Eastman on Georgia Highway 46, and I was able to get a photograph of the side of the building. They identified it as the old Hendrix High School and stated it closed in 1957 when the Dodge County High School was built. It was possibly a comprehensive school, with all grades. That’s all I know for now. Rural schools were the norm until school consolidation in the 1950s and 1960s and many survive throughout the state.

Hay & Stock Barn, Fitzgerald

Leave a reply
An old, weathered barn with a rusted roof and broken windows, surrounded by overgrown vegetation and a clearing.

The best finds are often hiding in plain sight. This hay and stock barn, located near the corner of Benjamin Hill Drive and Perry House Road, was recently exposed after trees were cleared. The nearby area was once farmland but has been developed in recent years.

An old, weathered barn with a wooden structure showing signs of decay and neglect, surrounded by sparse vegetation and trees under a clear blue sky.

Pyramidal Cottage, Bulloch County

Leave a reply
Abandoned wooden house with a rusted corrugated roof, surrounded by tall grass and trees.

This tenant dwelling was located on Harville Road. The photo dates to 2013 and the house may be gone by now.

General Store Ruins, Nevils

2 Replies
Abandoned yellow brick store building with a large opening, overgrown vegetation, and a clear blue sky

This was one of several grocery and general stores in Nevils in the early 1900s. It’s located adjacent to the old Shearwood Railroad Depot. The photographs were made in 2014; as of 2025, the building is still standing.

A weathered, yellow-brick wall of an abandoned store with a faded Coca-Cola mural, partially overgrown with shrubs and grass, surrounded by leafless trees against a clear blue sky.

The Coca-Cola ghost mural is nearly unreadable now. Such traces of the commercial past are so common in small towns as to nearly be cliche.