Cypress Lake was built just down the road from the historic Riggs Millpond, possibly on land once owned by Abraham Riggs (1814-1886), but other than that, its history has been somewhat elusive. According to the National Inventory of Dams, the pond and dam date to 1912. The present spillway and pavilion may be contemporary to that date but I cannot confirm. At the very least, both have likely been updated over time.
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.
Richard B. Russell Lake, called Lake Russell by locals, has the most natural appearance of the three large lakes impounded by the Army Corps of Engineers on the Savannah River along the Georgia-South Carolina border. While all the lakes serve the dual purpose of flood control and hydropower creation, Richard B. Russell has restrictive covenants that prevent the construction of homes along its shoreline, unlike Lake Hartwell to the north and Lake Strom Thurmond to the south. As a result, it is a more pristine environment and an unusual recreational location in Georgia.
Originally conceived as Trotters Shoals Lake in 1966, it was authorized by the Flood Control Act. The name was later changed to memorialize the recently deceased U. S. Senator Richard B. Russell. Historic sites ranging in time from the last Ice Age to the time of the lake’s construction were inundated during the filling process, and about 68 of the 600 identified sites were documented. This work has been covered in two books, Beneath These Waters, Archeological and Historical Studies of 11,500 Years Along the Savannah River and In Those Days: African-American Life Near the Savannah River.
The lake is approximately 26,650 acres in size and levels do not fluctuate more than five feet in optimum conditions. The average maximum depth is approximately 167 feet. This is another distinction from neighboring Lake Hartwell and Lake Strom Thurmond.
The text that follows is abridged from a plaque at this site, which was dedicated to the people of Sardis in 2017. To me, the most unusual thing about the tower is how modern it looks, even if it resembles an old frontier fort. Though the text doesn’t definitively say when it was built, I believe it was during the ownership of the Savannah & Atlanta Railway, circa 1917-1921.
The Sardis Coal Chute, also known to locals as the Coaling Tower, is a reminder of the days when steam locomotives dominated the railroads and when Sardis was a booming little town. This intact coaling tower…was once used to load coal into the tenders of steam locomotives using a gravity feed system. The tower was built with solidly reinforced concrete and stands approximately 90 feet tall…The 142 mile rail line, Savannah & Atlanta, ran from S&A Junction, between Camak and Warrenton, to Savannah…
Sardis did not have a railroad until 1911 when the Brinson Railway was extended from Millhaven to Waynesboro. Later, on March 26, 1914, the line became the Savannah & Northwestern and even later, in July 1917, became the Savannah & Atlanta Railway. The line entered receivership in 1921 and was sold to Robert M. Nelson in 1929. The Central of Georgia bought it from Nelson in 1951. In 1962 the Central of Georgia abandoned the line between Waynesboro and Savannah and Sardis was once again left without a railroad.
The Major Archibald Willingham Butt Memorial Bridge [shortened to Butt Bridge, locally] is Georgia’s only monument to a victim of the sinking of RMS Titanic and is also one of the most unusual. In terms of sheer size it’s likely the largest such memorial in the nation. Four regal lions guard the corners of the bridge and bald eagles perch atop lighted globes on both sides. The pedestrian friendly structure is also a great place to view the historic Augusta Canal.
It is quite an ostentatious tribute and by nature a “living memorial”, carrying thousands of cars per day over the Augusta Canal at 15th Street. Nisbet Wingfield, the city engineer and commissioner of public works for the city of Augusta, was the engineer for the bridge; William Henry Deacy, who specialized in memorials, was the architect; and the W. W. Leland Company was responsible for the whimsical decorations. [The reinforced concrete bridge is 52.8′ at its largest span, has an overall length of 155.8′, and has a deck width of 55.8′. It is a T-beam, designed to look like an arch form]. By 1994, the future of the bridge was uncertain, but citizens rallied to save it, with the phrase “Save our Butt” a common refrain throughout Augusta. It took over 20 years for everything to fall into place, but in 2017 rehabilitation of the bridge was complete and the future of one of the city’s most unique monuments was insured.
Major Archibald Butt (26 September 1865-15 April 1912) was born to a once-prominent Augusta family who had fallen into poverty after the Civil War. While attending the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, Butt developed an interest in journalism, eventually editing the school newspaper. Before moving to Washington, D. C., Butt worked at the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Macon Telegraph. Upon arriving in the nation’s capital, he covered the government as a correspondent for a syndicate of newspapers in Nashville, Augusta, Atlanta, and Savannah. Through his skillful journalism, he made valuable connections with Washington’s high society and this ultimately landed him a job as the first secretary of the American Embassy in Mexico (1895-1897). Over the next few years Butt continued to write. He also served as a quartermaster in the Spanish-American War, noted for saving the lives of some 500 mules by turning down poor conditions in Hawaii and sailing on to the Philippines, where he remained until 1904. His logistical skills as a supply manager drew much praise, and he later served as Depot Quartermaster in Havana during America’s 1906 occupation of Cuba.
Bronze relief of Major Butt by Henry Price
In March 1908, he began serving as the military aide-de-camp to President Theodore Roosevelt, and retained that position with the incoming Taft administration. The military aides-de-camp of this time were essentially protocol chiefs and had close working relationships with presidents. Taft considered Major Butt a close friend, and the Taft family, as a result, were fond of visiting Augusta.
Butt never married and was the housemate and companion of the American painter and sculptor, Francis Davis Millet. Millet had been peripherally associated with the salon of John Singer Sargent and knew many of the finest artists in America during his lifetime. In 1912, Butt took leave from his White House job when animosities flared between Taft and Roosevelt, and he and Millet had been vacationing in Europe, highlighted by an audience with Pope Pius X, before embarking for home on the Titanic. It was said that both men helped women and children onto lifeboats before losing their lives, though this may be apocryphal. Taft was known to have been deeply saddened by Butt’s death.
Major Archibald Willingham Butt (detail of circa 1909 photograph) via Library of Congress. Public domain.
A fountain dedicated to the memory of Butt and Millet was placed in President’s Park at the White House in 1913. In April 1914, former-President Taft visited Augusta to pay tribute to his close friend, and spoke at the dedication of the Memorial Bridge.
Augusta Canal Industrial District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark + Augusta Canal National Heritage Area
Cherokee chieftain George Welch built a mill near this site circa 1820 and built an uncovered bridge sometime thereafter. As a result of the Cherokee removal in 1838 the land was sold to Jacob Scudder. In 1880, it was purchased by Dr. M. L. Poole. The original bridge washed away in 1899 and was replaced with this covered bridge in 1901. The builder, Bud Gentry, built it in the Town lattice design, common among Georgia’s covered bridges. The mill was abandoned in 1946 and burned in 1959.
After periods of disrepair, the structure was converted from private ownership and dedicated as a county park in 1997. It is a free site and a wonderfully maintained park.
This water tower supplied the mill village of Milstead. It reaches a height of 100 feet and is 14 feet in diameter. It was built by contractor J. B. McQuary for $3000 and was used until 1965.
The Albany Water Works (left) was built in 1892 by engineer John C. Chase. By 1901, the Electric Light Plant was added to the complex by the firm of Moore & McCrary.
This unassuming structure on the banks of the Flint River in downtown Albany is significant as the only surviving bridge house in Georgia, a relic of a time when bridges were huge moneymakers for those who financed them. This example was commissioned by the Connecticut-born entrepreneur and founder of Albany, Nelson Tift, circa 1857-1858. The second floor was known as Tift’s Hall and served as a concert and performance space.
An even greater aspect of the structure’s significance is that it, and the bridge it served, were built by Horace King, who rose from slavery to become a highly successful architect and Reconstruction-era Alabama state representative. He was one of the most respected men of color in the 19th-century South.
The Bridge House was purchased by A .P. Keenan in 1916 and served a commercial use for much of the 20th century, first as the Empire Smithing Company and later as Keenan Auto Parts. Since 2008, it has been home to the Albany Welcome Center.
Though some sources note that a John or Thomas Gilbert constructed the first mill, now known as Chappell’s Mill, on Big Sandy Creek [South Sandy Creek] in northern Laurens County circa 1811, it is more likely that it was James Stanley II (1771-1841), a settler from Jones County, North Carolina, who purchased nearly 2000 acres surrounding the millpond. [Primary sources are not available to me, so I cannot be certainof the date of the purchase, but the Stanley family migrated to Laurens County in 1811. It seems more than coincidental that the date of their move happens to be the date generally accepted for the construction of the mill]. He also operated a mercantile on the site.
The millpond site is considered to be the oldest man-made landmark in Laurens County. The old mill house, seen in the first two photographs, dates to the 1840s and was built after the original structure, which stood on the north side of the pond, washed away during a flood.
The stone work in the foundation certainly indicates the work of early craftsmen, almost certainly enslaved laborers.
Upon Stanley’s death in 1841, his son Ira B. (1802-1858) took control of the operations. He served Laurens County as sheriff in the 1820s and state representative in the 1830s. Until just after the Civil War the site was known as Stanley Mills, but in 1868 Ira’s son-in-law, James W. Chappell, gained majority interest in the mill. It has since been known as Chappell’s Mill.
Ira Stanley Chappell (1859-1931) was the last member of the Chappell family to own the mill. He sold it circa 1917 to Allen J. Dixon who sold it in 1943 to Dr. T. J. Blackshear.
Dr. Blackshear eventually sold it to Alex Dixon’s grandsons, James and Forrest Townsend.
During their ownership, the mill was expanded and electrified (1950s).
The Townsends always felt that water power resulted in a superior meal but the volume of work mandated the modernization.
At its peak, production ran to over 15,000 bushels per year.
The mill remained in operation until 1997. Its importance is not only in its longevity but in the fact that various structures associated with different eras of milling, from water power to electricity, as well as a mercantile and various barns, remain largely intact, and illustrate the evolution of what was one of Georgia’s most important early industries.
I am grateful to the caretaker for allowing me to photograph. It is private property and he noted that law enforcement often has to disperse trespassers. It’s an invaluable historical resource and the owners have been good stewards.
