While technically not a ghost town, Coverdale is a small place. It was originally known as Cloverdale, but an error by a post office official changed the name to Coverdale. Locals still know it as Cloverdale. The store has probably been around about as long as the community has been in existence and has had few owners. A post office served C(l)overdale from 1914-1922.
Named for, you guessed it, the trees, Sycamore is the smaller cousin of neighboring Ashburn, and though the lines are somewhat blurred today, is still a town in its own right. Just under 700 people call it home, according to 2020 population estimates.
A typical rural town, Sycamore’s fortunes have always been dependent on the success of agriculture and still counts many farmers among its workforce. But for years, it was also a back-to-school shopping destination for people from Ashburn and other neighboring towns. Denham’s One-Stop was essentially a Walmart of its time, selling everything from overalls to farm equipment, and almost anything else people might need.
The railroad was also important to the town’s growth, and the two main streets, on either side of the tracks, are appropriately known as North and South Railroad Avenues. This scene is about as close as it gets to a view of “downtown Sycamore”.
For much of the 20th century, Denham’s One-Stop was the busiest store in Turner County. Before anyone ever thought of Wal-Mart, there was Denham’s One-Stop. It had a regular storefront and warehouses, like the one seen above, and as a true general store sold almost anything one might need to run a household. Generations of South Georgia schoolchildren from this region made ritual trips to Sycamore to stock up for the year ahead. Nothing like it survives in the area today.
This was home to the Stevens Gun Shop and has been a Danville landmark for many years. I believe it was originally a grocery store. Its owner was M. H. Stevens, Jr. (1921-2006), a World War II Air Force veteran, and former postmaster and mail carrier.
This general store, south of Thomson, has an attached wing that may have served as a residence. I believe it’s part of a larger historic farm.
This general store, identified by Doris Rhodes as the John Major’s Store, appears to be the older of two stores standing in Danburg. When viewed beside the Lindsey Store, it’s also a good example of differences, even with one style, that can be found in vernacular architecture. Both stores are of the shotgun variety, but this store is characterized by higher walls and windows, as well as a greater depth.
It originally featured a shed porch and had a gas pump out front. A 2008 Google Street View of the location confirms this architectural change.
This store is one of two still standing in Danburg. Doris Rhodes identified it as Jim Lindsey’s store in the Vintage Wilkes County group on Facebook.
Robert Willingham maintains a very good local history group on Facebook, Vintage Wilkes County Georgia and the following history comes directly from that source:
…The community was first called Rehoboth, for the church. Not far away was a crossroads and that settlement was called…guess what?…Cross Roads, then Jackson’s Cross Roads, not to be confused with the west Wilkes Jackson’s Cross Roads near Clark’s Station Church, but it was. So when this east Wilkes spot became a post office in 1887, it was christened “Metasville” by first postmaster Thomas Henry Albea. The name derived from Almeda “Meta” Stephens Bigby (1846-1940), wife of B.O. Bigby, buggy maker. One of their daughters was also Meta. Another, Lula, was married to Robert T. Dunaway. The Bigbys are buried at Rehoboth.
Metasville was a busy place. Of course there was cotton. Tom Garrett and John A. Logan had gin houses and grist mills. The timber industry was beginning and would center at nearby Lovelace just across the Lincoln line. By the ‘teens the Washington & Lincolnton Railroad would chug through the area hauling freight.
But what made the place distinctive was a major mining operation just a stone’s throw away–pun groaningly intended! Gold prospectors had identified the place before the Civil war. It had been interesting though not profitable. In the 1870s, Georgia’s State Geologist declared that “specimens of native copper…are the finest I have seen from any section of the State.” The site was listed on Callaway’s 1877 map of Wilkes as the “McGruder” mine [correctly Magruder] and, throughout all its ownership changes, retained that name locally. A New York company came in Feb. 1879 to take charge and that August L. Barber put in the stamps. By October, under Capt. Carlyon, the mine was producing a fine yield. It sold in January 1880 to Chicago and New York investors. That October a huge rock crusher with thirty-ton-a-day capacity was set up. A bonanza of a 4 1/2 foot wide silver vein assaying at $150 to the ton was uncovered in April 1882. A year later proprietor George Jackson and superintendent Major Mills reported boom times though by the end of that August underground operations had ceased. Above ground work continued.
Work proceeded in fits and starts. By 1897 Fred Frank of Colorado had taken charge of the ore production and shipments rolled to St. Louis for smelting. By 1900 Carl Henrich, a native of Germany, and partner Christian Wahl of Milwaukee had assumed control, Henrich managing for the Seminole Mining Co. When the company struggled in March 1904, Henrich bought the property as sole owner. He was a European trained geologist, having worked extensively in the American West and Mexico. He served the Mineral development Company of New York as a supervisor in Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe as well.
Henrich and his wife Martha were childless and, after settling in Metasville adopted ten-year-old Ruby Arnett, daughter of Mrs. Dan Arnett of Lincoln Co. In 1908 Henrich left for Mexico but the mine continued to operate and, upon his return expanded its production. His ill health intervened and he died in Dec. 1917. The estate attempted to maintain the site, with the mine reopening in May 1918, but it could not hold on through diminished results and financial panic.
The economic vibrancy of Metasville may have passed, but the friendly, industrious people remain. And there’s still a lot of history in this hallowed ground.
Thanks again to the Vintage Wilkes County group for the identification. This was Danner’s Store. Gloria Ulery wrote that the store was operated by her aunt Alma and uncle Albert. Both Danner’s and Powell’s are now used by the Standard Truck Parts business.
This old shotgun store was first owned by John Maloof but is best remembered for its association with owner John Powell, who had a residence in the back of the building. Rem Remsen was the last person to operate it as a store. Thanks to Bernie Henderson of the Vintage Wilkes County Facebook page for the identification.
Emory Ware wrote: Mr. Powell…was asleep one night when he awoke to see the grill of a Mack truck about 6 ft. in front of his bed , still running! The truck driver was unfamiliar with the road and didn’t stop but drove into the front of the store.