Local sources suggest that William Pye bought this lot and built a much simpler house here in 1876. It is believed that the original house was incorporated into this structure, which was remodeled in the Colonial Revival style in the early 20th century. It is perhaps the grandest Colonial Revival in Forsyth. A brick carriage house behind the residence dates to the 1910s and has been used as a dental office in recent years.
This is one of my favorite barns, for its setting in a stand of oaks. It’s located east of Sycamore.
This barn is part of an historic farmstead which also includes a general store.
I believe this was located beside these warehouses. I photographed it in 2014 and don’t know if it’s still standing.
The layout of this barn, particularly the front window, would suggest it had a commercial use or was the center of a very large farming operation.
This vernacular Gothic Revival [or Carpenter Gothic] farmhouse is amazingly original and includes a rear ell. It is of a style often referenced as Folk Victorian, but the Gothic Revival dormer is the dominant feature. An historic log barn is also present. An historic survey dates it to 1915, but I believe it to actually date to the late 19th century
This is located in one of the most pastoral parts of Berrien County, with well-kept farms and fields and skies that go on forever. I think this was a stock barn, but can’t be sure.
Seabrook Village is a restored African-American community, depicting life among freedmen and their descendants from 1865-1930, and is one of the most unique living history museums in Georgia. [Unfortunately, hours are inconsistent and it’s not always accessible]. The pending loss of the little one-room schoolhouse pictured above is what drove the community to come together to preserve their historic resources. While it may seem abandoned and in a state of disrepair, it’s actually an authentic look into the challenges most Black Georgians faced on a daily basis from Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era. The Seabrook community was established through land grants dictated in General William T. Sherman‘s Field Order No. 15 in 1865. This was the policy which became known as “Forty Acres and a Mule” and it afforded many former slaves the opportunity to settle land they had once worked as laborers.
The offices of the Seabrook Village Foundation are located at the adjacent Eddie Bowens Farm house.
Meredith Belford writes of this house: [it] was moved from Trade Hill Road and fully restored at Seabrook Village in 1994. It was the home of Georgia Ann Delegal who was the child of freed slaves. Despite having limited education, her parents became very successful after their emancipation and amassed several hundred acres of land in the Seabrook and Trade Hill communities. They donated land for the original site of the Seabrook School and the present site of the Sunbury Missionary Baptist Church when it was moved from Sunbury to Seabrook in 1917. The house reflects their elevated status within the community.
This house was built by Pompey and Josephine Gould and was originally located near Dorchester Station. It was donated by Lula Gibbons and moved and restored in 1994.
This is a typical “one-seater”, built with scrap materials that were on hand.
According to the Seabrook Village Foundation, this corn crib was restored using original methods and tools. It was originally located at the Sam Ripley Farm.
I’ve talked about the destructive powers of kudzu before and this photograph, dating to 2012 illustrates it well. Kudzu invasions are a very popular subject with Southern photographers, almost obligatory for those who document the backroads. The “Vine that Ate the South” may have taken this old barn down by now.
This was likely a corn crib, but could have had another use. It’s a great survivor.