This Queen Anne cottage is just north of the South Metter Historic District but is perhaps the finest example of the form in town. I’m not sure if the design is from a pattern book or is just the work of a local carpenter, but it’s a great little house.
The Trapnell-Boyd House is one of the finest examples in Metter of this eclectic architectural style that dominated small Georgia towns around the turn of the 20th century. The overall appearance is Folk Victorian, but the tapered posts aren’t really Victorian at all.
South Metter Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Evans County Courthouse was built in 1923 at a cost of $60,000, replacing temporary offices in the White Building. It was one of several in the area designed by prolific courthouse architect J. J. Baldwin.
National Register of Historic Places
The cemetery associated with historic Eureka Church is the last remaining public landmark of The Level, a Black community near Hagan. The church collapsed circa 2018. A nice collection of vernacular memorials set Eureka Cemetery apart as a historic resource for Evans County. I am sharing random shots, including commercial markers, but focusing on the vernacular pieces.
I believe the name was misspelled on this memorial, as there are others buried here whose name is Collins.
Like many in this Freedmen’s congregation, Leasan Ray was likely born enslaved.
The fallen marker notes that Mary Wright was aged 59 years at the time of her death.
This is one of the earlier commercially made memorials in the cemetery, featuring a dove.
This marker has no information, but was likely meant for a family.
The only information, other than the decedent’s name, notes that she was Bob Small’s sister.
Venus Bacon’s marker is an early commercial form with stenciled lettering.
The hearts were a nice addition on this handmade memorial.
Mr. Wright was a Private, 52 Co, 157 Depot Brigade, World War I.
I have tried to interpret the words on this memorial to no avail.
The red star likely denotes a Masonic affiliation.
All the Jones family memorials have a similar shape and were likely the work of the same maker. This small stone has faded badly.
I will try to add birth and death dates if I am able to interpret them. I believe they all may be children.
Like the memorial for Jim Jones, Mary Jones’s features the name in cursive.
The memorial for D. V. Richardson is perhaps the most notable work in the cemetery. It features hand lettering and an unusual symbol, seen in detail above. It appears to have something to do with carpentry or, perhaps, Masonry.
These tin-sided warehouses dominate the downtown area of Bellville and are remnants of the railroad era. The mural was added sometime after I first photographed the buildings in 2009.
Note: This replaces a post originally posted on 5 November 2009.
This Queen Anne cottage is one of the finest works of residential architecture in Glennville, located right in the heart of downtown. The Hughes family was prolific in the area, but I haven’t located much about the Coates family. Cemetery records indicated Charles Marion Coates (1882-1935) and Eula DeLoach Coates (1887-1951) lived in Glennville around the time this house was built.
Elder Abraham Jackson was the patriarch of Jackson Town, a historically Black neighborhood near Collins, Georgia, and he and his family were among the earliest burials in what would become the Jackson Cemetery, still dominated by his descendants and cousins today. The cemetery is very well-maintained.
Born enslaved in Barnwell, South Carolina, Elder Jackson later served (1865-1866) in Co. C, 1st Regiment South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (Colored), which was redesignated Co. C, 33rd Regiment, United States Colored Troops. He married Rilla, whose last name remains unknown, in the 1850s.
This memorial for Anna Collins, the very wife of Henry Collins, is the earliest grave I found in Jackson Cemetery. She may have been Elder Jackson’s sister-in-law.
Nellie was the wife of George Jackson. Her vernacular memorial, which has been repaired, is very similar to that of Anna Collins. It reads: Dear husbad (sic) and children. as you is now, once was I, and as I am now you must be. Remember death and follow me.
Nettie Crabb was born in Brownstown, Indiana, in 1841, but further details of her early life are elusive. She married Dr. Robert L. Weems, a physician who served as a surgeon during the Civil War. Widowed in 1880, she moved to Bird Island, Minnesota, where she worked as a milliner. In 1882 she homesteaded in Wessington Springs, Dakota Territory (present-day South Dakota), and worked in a pharmacy, which she would eventually own, the only known woman in the territory to do so. In The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (2009), Ann D. Gordon noted that Nettie was “well skilled in her profession (pharmacy).”
Nettie married another Civil War veteran, Cleveland T. Hall, in 1884, but was widowed again in 1886. Ever busy, Nettie was elected as a trustee of the Wessington Springs school in 1887 and 1888, and was also served as an election judge. In 1889, she argued for women’s suffrage at a state constitutional convention. Later that year she served as vice-president of the Jerauld County Equal Suffrage Association. In 1890 she was prominent in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
In 1895, she was one of the first settlers of Fitzgerald. where she established the Fitzgerald Enterprise, the first major newspaper in the community. She also remained active in the WCTU and was known for her support of railroad workers. Her first son, Victor, had died of exposure when his train was caught in a snowstorm in Minnesota. When Nettie C. Hall died at the age of 68 on 14 June 1908, she was a legend of the community and her lifetime of work and advocacy was celebrated. In 1910, railroad workers and the WCTU erected the “Mother Enterprise” drinking fountain in her honor.
Fitzgerald Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This is the current post office in Fitzgerald. It opened in 1966.
Westwood Cemetery is perhaps the oldest and largest Black cemetery in Fitzgerald.
Though the earliest burial I could locate was in 1918, the cemetery may have been established earlier, in the heyday of the Westwood community and the AB&A Railroad shops, circa 1900-1910.
The usual variety of memorials is present, ranging from handmade vernacular headstones to stenciled and commercial examples. As always, I’m sharing only a representative sampling of what I found and was able to photograph.
Interestingly, some of the earliest memorials in the cemetery are commercially made marble headstones.
Hattie Allen’s memorial is one of the finest in Westwood Cemetery. It notes that she was born in Houston County, Georgia, and that she was a member of Bethel AME Church, one of Fitzgerald’s oldest Black congregations.
The gravestone of Mr. King illustrates the difficulty in the identification of some burials, especially those using hand writing. Some of the inscription has eroded over time. As a result, the photographic documentation of such memorials is an important step in recording their lives.
The vernacular memorials are always my favorites. Ms. Jones’s was difficult to read.
This simple vernacular memorial was painted white, as were a good number in Westwood Cemetery at one time.
The marker for Mr. Anderson was cracked, a common issue with handmade memorials.
I presume this was the son of Walter Anderson. If so, his father outlived him by a decade. Both of their memorials were likely made by the same person.
This is one of four handmade posts marking the plot of the Mathis Family. This one bears the name K. C. Mathis, who died in 1952.
A broader view of the Mathis Family plot, with the handmade boundary posts visible at the corners.
This headstone is handmade, but of a shape commonly found in commercial memorials of the Victorian era.
I love unusual names and am always happy to find them when rambling around old cemeteries. Rev. Owens may have been associated with one of the local congregations in Westwood, but I have been unable to located anything about him.
The lamb is a common symbol in cemeteries.
The government supplies headstones to all veterans who choose to be remembered for their service. This memorial indicates that Mr. Medler served in the army in World War II.
John Medler was likely the brother of J. C. Medler (previous photograph). Both served the United States in the army in World War II.
This memorial is of a vernacular style common in the last century.
This small cross is one of the finer commercial memorials in Westwood Cemetery.
Though not fully visible in this photograph, the name at the bottom of this memorial is ‘Cummings’. Cummings was one of the two leading Black funeral homes in Fitzgerald for the latter half of the 20th century.
The graves of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are decorated with flower pots.
This marker has no identification.
The Lyons family plot is interesting for its placement of small Christmas trees near each grave.
The cemetery is not neglected but rather in a more natural state, with native grasses and wildflowers abundant throughout.