I made this photograph in 2008 and rediscovered it when I began re-editing my Sumter County images. The historic, largely forgotten New Era community holds a special place for me as a photographer of rural subjects. Its owners have allowed it to stand, long after it was abandoned, and in doing so they preserved a living museum of a certain place and time. They appreciated what it represented. Letting it go back to the elements is just part of that process.
This was a huge building, almost certainly serving an agricultural purpose. The front section at right was probably an office, while the remainder was a gin and/or warehouse. As best I can tell, the structure has since collapsed or was razed.
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”.
Like most rural Southern towns, Dudley was an agricultural center and cotton was one of the most important crops. This old gin looks to have been abandoned for some time. Note the water tower in the background, with the cardinal logo. I believe this may have been the mascot for the local school’s sports teams.
This property was originally settled by Joseph Shields and sons James and Patrick in 1802.
Date Plate from Restoration of Main House [1914]
With two slaves, they cleared and cultivated the land.
Log Cabin
When Joseph died in 1818, he willed the land to his son, James and by 1860, 20 enslaved people worked the land.
Commissary [1900]
James died in 1863 and in 1865 his widow, Charity, signed a contract with three of her former slaves, providing them housing and food in exchange for their work on the farm.
Blacksmith’s Shop & Carpenter’s Shop [1900]
When James and Charity’s son, Joseph Robert Shields, returned home from the Civil War in 1866, he built the main house and soon applied the sharecropping system to the entire farm, managing many of his former slaves alongside poor white farmers.
Tractor Barn
By 1890, the farm had grown to 1000 acres.
Warehouse
In 1897, Joseph Robert’s daughter Susan Ella returned to the farm with her husband Ira Washington Ethridge.
Cotton Gin [1910]
Joseph Robert Shields died in 1910 and Susan Ella and Ira inherited the house and surrounding property.
Gin Office [1930]
To hedge his bets against increasingly unstable cotton prices, Ira Ethridge built a self-sustaining sharecropper’s “village” near the main house.
Gin Office Interior
In 1914, “Mr. Ira” transformed the main house from its historical Plantation Plain appearance to it present Neoclassical appearance by adding columns and raising the porch.
Gristmill
The structures seen today were built between 1900-1930. Most of the sharecropper housing is gone today, but a few scattered examples survive.
Seed House
When Ira died in 1945, his son Lanis understood that the farm would soon be changed by mechanization.
Teacher’s House
He diversified and in the early 1950s began breeding cattle and slowly expanding pastureland on his acreage.
Well House [Reconstruction]
At his death in 1970, the sharecropper’s village was long abandoned.
Water Tower [1913]
His widow, Joyce Ethridge, began documenting the history of the farm.
Corn Crib
In 1994 she and daughters Susan E. Chaisson and Ann E. Lacey gave 150 acres of the farm to the Shields-Ethridge Farm Foundation to preserve the site as an agricultural museum.
Shields-Ethridge Family Cemetery
Joyce’s research also led to the listing of the property on the National Register of Historic Places.
Milking Barn
The Shields-Ethridge Heritage Farm is the most intact collection of historic farm structures in their original location in Georgia.
Mule Barn [1913]
It is truly awe-inspiring and worth a visit.
Garage
As someone who has spent years seeking out structures like these, I can’t tell you how important this place is.
Wheat Barn [1910]
You must see it for yourself.
Tenant House
National Register of Historic Places + Georgia Centennial Farm
Note- This replaces a post originally published on 11 July 2021, necessitated by formatting issues.
Local tradition suggests that this gin was built of Georgia granite to replace an earlier frame structure destroyed by a tornado in the early 1900s, though I am unable to confirm this. It was operational until at least the 1950s and was established by Nathaniel (Nat.) Dowdy Arnold (1859-1928), who was the namesake of this small agricultural community. Arnold’s wife was Annie Susan Callaway (1863-1901), from the Callaway Plantation in Wilkes County.
Nathaniel Dowdy Arnold in William J. Northen, Men of Mark in Georgia, Volume VII, A . B. Campbell Publishing, Atlanta, 1912. Public Domain.
The original settlement, dating to the 1770s, was established near an important Native American trading route and was known as Cherokee Corner. By 1811, a sawmill, gin, and general store were present in the community. A Presbyterian minister named Safford operated the Cherokee Corner Academy and until at least the 1840s was involved in the cultivation of silkworm cocoons.
In 1894, local merchant Edwin Shaw established a post office and named the village Edwin after himself. In 1896, Nathaniel D. Arnold bought Shaw’s store and his postal rights and the town became Arnoldsville.
Because it’s essentially on the back lot of the L. H. Jackson General Merchandise store, I’m tentatively identifying this as the Jackson Warehouse. It’s likely where feed and other agricultural supplies were stored.
I believe my identification of this building to be correct, but if not, I’ll update. It most recently served as an optometrist’s office, but was originally the cotton warehouse of William I. Hudson (1822-1877). Hudson was a county commissioner, state representative, and state senator.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 