These tin-sided warehouses dominate the downtown area of Bellville and are remnants of the railroad era. The mural was added sometime after I first photographed the buildings in 2009.
Note: This replaces a post originally posted on 5 November 2009.
This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a railroad crossing sign that notes an exempt status. This is due to the fact that an old streetcar line crosses here. Columbus once had a vast network of streetcars, or trolleys, and they were instrumental in the growth of numerous neighborhoods throughout the city.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This historic overpass on North Wilkinson Street was likely built for the Central of Georgia Railway in the 1920s or thereabouts. The Central of Georgia was later absorbed by Norfolk Southern, but since there were numerous lines running through Milledgeville at one time, I haven’t been able to confirm. This one was obviously built with local materials; the red clay so famous in Middle Georgia is shining through. The line which this overpass serviced is now abandoned.
A 1988 survey of historic resources in Jones County documented this structure as part of the Lamar Farm, which at the time included a farmhouse and three outbuildings. The survey also noted the Bateman Company had owned the property since circa 1953 and been involved in the peach business.
Though no determination was made in 1988 as to the function of this structure, its location along the rail line, the shed doors, and the loading platform suggest a freight warehouse. This may have been a modification for the Bateman peach business or may have been an original use. The lack of windows in the structure also indicates a warehouse usage.
The timber boom that led to the settlement of Eastman was facilitated in large part by the opening of the Macon & Brunswick Railroad through the area in 1869. The East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad followed, before its absorption by the Southern Railway in 1894. This Victorian depot was built by the Southern Railway circa 1906* and remains one of Eastman’s most important public landmarks.
The depot, while not fully restored, is in good condition.
*- Sources vary as to date of construction. Some state it was built in 1906 and others say 1908.
Milan is located in Dodge and Telfair Counties, one of many Georgia towns with such a distinction. It was settled in the 1880s due to the arrival of the railroad in the area. It was named for Milan, Italy, and of course, has a Georgia pronunciation. It’s “My-lun”, not “Muh-lan”. Many people have asked me over the years why Georgia has such unusual place names, and it’s not just Georgia. The reason is because common names, especially surnames, were already in use and the post office department wouldn’t allow towns with the same, or even similar, names.
Milan became the focus of unwelcome national attention during the summer of 1919, known as Red Summer. The story is graphic, but as Black history is being officially censored in Georgia and many other states, it should be told. And to be certain, Milan was not alone in regards to such atrocities.
On 24 May 1919, two white men, John Baptiste Dowdy, Sr. (1894-1919) and Levi Evans, attempted to break into the home of a Black woman, Emma McCollers, with the intent of raping her two young daughters. Dowdy’s father, Rev. William Dowdy, was the mayor of Milan. When the family refused to allow them in the house, Dowdy fired his gun.
The girls fled to the nearby home of Emma Tishler and were followed by Dowdy and Evans. During the chaos, Ms. Tishler hid in a well. Berry Washington, a 72-year-old Black sharecropper, heard the commotion and attempted to defend the girls. Dowdy fired at Washington, and after a struggle, Washington killed Dowdy. Washington turned himself soon after the shooting and was transferred to the jail in McRae.
The next day, Deputy Sheriff Dave McRanie handed Washington over to a lynch mob who removed him from the jail and in the early hours of 26 May 1919, hanged him from a post at the site of the shooting and riddled his body with gunshot. His mutilated corpse was left in public view for at least a day, no doubt as an ominous warning to the local Black community.
This is the last surviving of several massive industrial shop buildings which served the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic and its successors in its Fitzgerald hub. Their presence speaks not only to the vast expansion of the railroad industry at the turn of the century, but as well to the rapid growth of Fitzgerald, scarcely 10 years old when this heavy industry brought large-scale employment to the town.
Larry Goolsby, who has done more research on the history of the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic and its successor than anyone I know, wrote in his excellent history Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast, ACL & SCL Historical Society, Valrico, Florida, 2000: “The Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic was…busy…during 1906. Construction was proceeding on a large yard and permanent shop complex at Fitzgerald, including a 75×300-foot machine shop with and 85-ton traveling crane, blacksmith and boiler shops, engine house, coach shop, planing mill, foundry, and a power house among other buildings. These facilities, called Shops at first and renamed Westwood in 1922, would replace AB&A’s small shops at Brunswick and Waycross as the system’s major site for rebuilding, repairs, and painting. They also superseded the wooden shop buildings originally built at Fitzgerald. The scope of the undertaking could be gauged by Master Mechanic J. E. Cameron’s concern over housing for the new shops’ employees: “In 60 days from now we will bring in the neighborhood of 300 men and their families, and not a house for their accommodation.“
A majority of the railroad laborers were African-Americans, and houses were soon constructed in Westwood, an historically African-American community about a mile from the Fitzgerald yard. I had always presumed that Westwood existed because of the railroad, and it certainly grew with their presence, but at least one church in the village predates the railroad’s presence by nearly 30 years.
Over the years, the existing Westwood shop buildings began to deteriorate as the railroad transferred their operations elsewhere. A couple of the buildings, nearly identical to the one pictured here, were still standing as recently as 15-20 years ago. In the years since they were abandoned by the railroad, they have been used by various businesses.
Like all of South Georgia, Long County saw what was likely record snowfall from Winter Storm Enzo. Amazingly, similar snowfall occurred in the area in 2018. Some random landmarks from throughout the week are shared below, most of which are in Ludowici. I’ll also be sharing some nature-based images from Griffin Ridge.
Ludowici Well Pavilion, Ludowici
Speed Trap Shake Shop, Ludowici
Ludowici Depot
Box cars crossing Main Street, Ludowici
Royal Inn, Ludowici
Long County Public Library, Ludowici
Oak Street, Ludowici
Johnston House, Ludowici
Godfrey House, Ludowici
Gerald Nobles House, Ludowici
Shopping Center, Ludowici
Storm Responders on US 84, Ludowici
The First Bank, Ludowici
3rd Street, Ludowici
McClelland House, Ludowici
Parker’s, Ludowici
Circle K, Ludowici
Ludowici Drugs
Howard Funeral Home, Ludowici
Bullard House, Ludowici
Lloyd Chapman House, Ludowici
Tobacco Barn, Long County
Jones Creek, Long County
Jones Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Long County
Jones Creek Baptist Church, Long County
The railroad gave birth to Shellman, as it did so many little towns throughout Georgia. It was originally known as Ward, for John P. Ward, who helped bring the Southwest Georgia Railroad into the area. The town was incorporated in 1883 and renamed for W.F. Shellman, a traffic manager for the Central of Georgia Railroad. The C of G built this passenger and freight depot in 1893. It was renovated in the 1990s and is now used for community functions.
Shellman Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Thomasville has a long railroad history, with its first known depot being built circa 1861 (demolished 1950s). At the height of the town’s position as one of the busiest winter resorts in the nation, a much larger depot was built by the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad in 1886. The tourist trade waned by the early 1900s, when passenger railroads pushed most of the business into Florida, but Thomasville continued to grow, well-served by its established railroad presence.
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot seen here was built in 1914, on the site of the Savannah, Florida & Western depot. It’s a landmark of the Mission Revival style, popular at the time. One end of the building (above photo) featured a restaurant, open 24 hours a day, and the other was the baggage room. Both are identified by their function on a terra cotta panel above the windows.
In the 1920s and 1930s, about 34 passenger trains arrived or departed in Thomasville daily, and the depot was a hub of local activity. By the early 1960s, passenger trains were being replaced by commercial airlines as travel options, and only a few trains came through Thomasville on occasion. The restaurant closed in 1969, and in 1979, the sole surviving passenger train running through Thomasville, by that time the Amtrak “Floridian”, was discontinued, and the depot closed.
Since being restored in the 2000s, the depot is now home to several businesses, including a restaurant.
A personal note: In conversation with my father, he told me that he worked out of this depot circa 1966-1967. He said while still a trainman for Atlantic Coast Line (and then Seaboard Coast Line) he had a Thomasville-Moultrie assignment. He drove from Fitzgerald to Thomasville and stayed in a boarding house near the depot. He said the tracks were so bad between Thomasville and Moultrie that the switch engine that made the run every day, known as “Butt Head”, topped out at around 15mph. He also remembered many of the men he worked with, including James Griffin, Glenn Alexander, Ed Cox, Julian Hunter, Bruce RIgdon, Henry Whitten, and C. W. Faulkner. He recalled the restaurant being open in those days, as well.
National Register of Historic Places