Robert Lee McDougald established his undertaking business in 1936 and it continues to this day, as the C. W. McDougald Funeral Home. Robert McDougald, known as “Professor”, also served as the principal of the Butler Colored School [later known as Eureka High School and McDougald High School] located next door to the funeral home. The McDougald family has been prominent in the African-American community of Butler for nearly a century.
This amazing Greek Revival townhouse likely dates to the 1850s-circa 1860. The only history I’ve been able to track down so far is that it once served as a funeral home. I hope to update with a name and a more accurate date. The facade of the house was obscured by pines for many years but has recently been exposed by the removal of the trees.
Americus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Built for Judge Samuel D. Killen, this Greek Revival home was later owned by the Francis Marion King family and the Penn-Dixie Cement Company, who used it as a clubhouse. It was purchased by Gardner Watson in 1955 and has been used as a funeral home since then.
As is often a tradition in Georgia towns and cities, one of the grandest homes in the city now serves as a funeral home. In Sylvania, it’s the Thompson-Strickland-Waters Funeral Home. Its history is shared here by Nancy Hilton Scherr, via Norman Scherr: The funeral home was built in 1890 by my grandfather, Lee Holmes Hilton, who was only 25 at the time. He moved his wife and children in and the Hilton Home remained in our family until about 1950. He was killed in 1911 after achieving so much including bringing the first bicycle to Sylvania, the first car (an Orient Buckboard), the first bank (Screven County Bank), the first oil mill (Screven Oil Mill), and the first telephone company which was a line connecting Sylvania with the outside world at a station on the the Central of Georgia Railway. Founding the nearby town of Hiltonia, he served on the Sylvania Board of Education, and he also served in the 1900 and 1901 Georgia House of Representatives. My father, named after him, practiced law for years in Louisville, Kentucky, until he moved us back into the Hilton House where he had been born in 1904. I loved living there as a very young girl. Papa died at age 79 and was prepared for burial in the home he was born in, a full circle of life.
This is an old African-American funeral home.
This imposing Queen Anne has served as the Hancock Funeral Home for many years.
Americus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This unique Neoclassical home was built for Charles J. Williamson. A postcard of the house dated 1909 was probably produced soon after its construction. This is one of the most unique houses in the area. It became a Watson-Mathews Funeral Home in 1969.
Montezuma Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The owner of the adjacent properties told me this was a funeral home for as long has he could remember. Mary Stokes Johnson writes: It was a funeral home owned by Mr. Marion Carter. Major L. Simpson adds: …It was owned by Mr. Marion Carter, who was also part owner of Brown & Carter’s Funeral Home in Waynesboro, GA. I believe he passed away in the early 2000’s.
Update: As of 2019, this structure has been razed.
For many years, this served as Stapleton’s post office. I believe there was a store here, as well, and later, a funeral home.
This wonderful example of Tudor style architecture was built by William R. & Beulah Alford Johnston. Today it serves as Banks Funeral Home. Thanks to Mary King Givens for the identification.