Clay County may be named for politician Henry Clay, but driving around the countryside you’d be hard-pressed not to wonder if it has something to do with the earth around here. The red clay is most evident in winter, when fields are fallow and awaiting the next planting. It’s a beauty all its own.
As always, I’m most thankful for another year of discovery and for all of your support. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season.
When most people think of cabbage in Georgia, they probably think of Cabbage Patch dolls. But cabbage is actually a big crop in the state. According to the most recent statistics from Georgia Grown, 30,000 acres under production yielded over 61 million pounds in 2021. This field, near the Altamaha River, was about to be harvested when I drove by.
I rarely meet an old dirt road I don’t like, and this one, punctuated by a dairy silo, is no exception. Even on an otherwise gloomy day, there’s nothing that says Georgia any better to me. John B. Gay writes: This is my family’s farm! I’m the 4th generation to farm here. It was a dairy farm from the 50’s till 2018. Now I raise row crops, beef cows and hogs.
I believe this farm now serves another purpose, but the old barns recall the earlier days of commercial poultry, Georgia’s dominant agricultural commodity. I believe Northeast Georgia is still the top region for production and was an early leader in innovation.
In October I visited Sweet Georgia Fuyu in Glennville. This may be Georgia’s largest commercial persimmon operation and if not, it certainly looked like it. All that bright orange is an amazing sight.
The weekend before I had been at the Forsyth Farmer’s Market in Savannah and bought some persimmon-ginger jam from owner Laura Potts-Wirht, who invited me to come and photograph the orchards.
I had met Laura a few years earlier at a locavore potluck at Janisse Ray and Raven Waters’s Red Earth Farm and she was very enthusiastic about the persimmons.
Presently, there are 20 acres of persimmons with ten more acres being developed. Fuyu Persimmons are a bit firmer and definitely sweeter than the old varities we’re used to in Georgia.
While I’m not personally a fan of the raw fruit, I always loved my grandmother’s persimmon cakes and breads made from the fruit of an old tree at the farm.
I enjoyed talking to the two men who were on-site, grading and preparing the persimmons for shipment. They noted that the harvest was nearly over but that they had been busy throughout the season.
If you’re ever near Glennville, check out the orchards in the early fall. I believe they ship, too.
Two tenant houses from an historic farm remain on this property, though both are nearly gone. There were likely more such houses here at one time. They are great examples of a once common but increasingly rare vernacular form.
Just outside Pembroke, this row of tobacco barns is reminiscent of a scene that was once common throughout Georgia. Productive farmers often situated their tobacco barns in close proximity on dirt lanes like this one.
While many wouldn’t expect to find tobacco cultivation near the coast, northern Bryan County, where Pembroke is located, is more similar to inland Georgia than Coastal Georgia.
Jan Deal Hendrix notes that the barns were originally owned by Albert Floyd and are now owned by his nephew.
The barns are in amazing condition, considering they likely date from the 1940s or 1950s.
Thanks to Linda Shaver Starling for bringing these to my attention.
This Plantation Plain farmhouse, with Folk Victorian details, is part of Jeff Deal Farms. It was built by Lem Lanier. It was later owned by Joe Franklin and Emory Deal and family. Thanks to Kenneth Dixon for the history.
This was originally part of the Shrouder farm.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 