Historic photograph of E. C. Miller Store in Hinesville, via Buddy Maertens on Facebook.
Per Virginia Fraser Evans’s Liberty County: A Pictorial History, the E. C. Miller general store originally stood on the courthouse square in Hinesville but was later moved a few blocks away for preservation. Buddy Maertens wrote on Facebook: “The E.C. Miller General Store was the “Wal-Mart” of Hinesville, Georgia in 1900. My great grandfather, Elbert Calhoun Miller (1860-1925), owned the store and built a beautiful Victorian home behind the store in 1902.” Jim Moore also noted that it became a pool hall in the mid-1950s.
I don’t know when it was moved, but it’s an iconic form of late-19th and early 20th century store design and has obviously been restored in a historically considerate way.
I’m identifying this as a storefront, because there was an old portable sign beside it, but it could have just as well been a residence. I hope to learn more.
Five Points Grocery is located at a busy curve on Georgia Highway 26, and though I had passed it many time on earlier travels, I had never stopped until a recent trip to Columbus. As Mike McCall and I were photographing the little shotgun building, one of the co-owners, Naomi Weaver, waved and invited us inside. The store was closed that day for the preparations for a community wedding, but she was a gracious host, not rushed or bothered by all our questions.
Naomi related that she didn’t know a lot of the specific history of the building, but I gathered it was likely built in the 1920s or 1930s. It would have been a retail anchor of the nearby Flint River Farms, a New Deal resettlement project that helped area farmers build homes and buy property in the darkest days of the Great Depression.
It’s rare to find stores like this today, and even rarer to find them vibrant and still at the heart of their communities. While the owners have added a storage area at the back of the building, which Naomi was rightfully proud of, the interior of the store itself is largely unchanged from what it would have looked like over half a century ago.
Naomi noted that Mom’s Kitchen, which serves early breakfasts to scores of busy farmers and farmhands, was one of the biggest draws at Five Points Grocery.
This part of the store is reserved for anyone who just wants to sit around and shoot the breeze. In that way, it’s as authentic as any country store I’ve found. With the instantly gratified and hurried world that technology and mass market retail have wrought, it really is rewarding to come across places like Five Points Grocery and people like Naomi Weaver.
This is deep in Macon County Mennonite country, and if you aren’t familiar, the Mennonites of Macon County have been known for their hospitality and good food for a couple of generations. Alva and Sara Yoder opened the landmark Yoder’s Deitsch House and Bakery just up the road toward Montezuma in July 1984 and its been a destination for people from all over the region since then. On the day we visited with Naomi, we also stopped at Yoder’s and it was packed as usual.
This is one of two surviving stores in Morris. It is the larger of the two and this side view (above) shows a later expansion of the structure. It originated as a shotgun form. One of the two buildings likely served as the post office before it was moved to US Highway 82.
This shotgun form store or office building is located next door to the larger general store building. One of two extant commercial structures in Morris, it is near collapse.
Mrs. W. E. Porter, General Merchandise, George Balian, 1973, Courtesy Meg Balian
I’m grateful to Meg Balian for sharing her father’s circa 1973 painting of Mrs. W. E. Porter’s general store in the forgotten village of Findlay. I’ve been meaning to share it here for some time not only for its subtle beauty but also as a link to the history of this elusive place in Dooly County. The building was still standing a few years ago but I never knew a name for the store until Meg reached out.
Meg’s father was Kevork Misak (George) Balian (1932-2013). As a young man, George began the study of art at a French and American school in Aleppo, Syria. At 18, he immigrated to America with $250, a suitcase filled with his belongings, and a watch. He worked his way through school and received a degree in Architecture from Auburn University, where a lifelong passion for War Eagles football was born.
Mr. Balian was a member of the American Institute of Architects and completed residential, public, and commercial designs in cities as diverse as Macon, Atlanta, St. Louis and New York. He was also involved in the design of the Abuja National Mosque in Nigeria.
This modern commissary was built by Henry Ford in 1941 to provide groceries, fresh meat, vegetables, and general merchandise to the employees of Richmond Hill Plantation. It also served as the market for the local community.
This was a new discovery for me yesterday. It’s obviously a general store, judging by the form, and has long been closed. The middle of the building is sagging so badly that my initial though was that it won’t be around much longer, but it has likely looked like this for a long time. They don’t build them like this anymore.
This little building is definitely a barn today, but the screen door on the front indicates it may indeed have once been a country store. The signs identify it as Blocker’s Grocery. I’m not sure it was originally located in this spot, but it’s a great preservation of a bygone era, either way. I miss those old Sunbeam bread signs.
The name of a recent occupant of this building suggests that it is best remembered as a mercantile or general store. The Mercantile Inn was located here during the 2010s, if my notes are correct. As was often the case with buildings like this, the owners may have lived upstairs, or it could have been a general commercial block with a fraternal lodge upstairs. It is the most architecturally significant commercial structure remaining in Collins, in my opinion.
Frank Morris writes: “No idea of who built it or exactly when, but it was owned/operated in the late 1800’s to 1900’s (?) as a General Store by my Grandfather W.L. Morris who lived at 302 Morris St NW in Collins until his death. He and his wife Lila are buried in the Baptist Church cemetery in Collins. I still have some of the ledgers from transactions made at the store.“
