Liberty County received historic snowfall on Tuesday night as a result of Winter Storm Enzo, a weather system that brought blizzard conditions to the Gulf Coast and lower Southeast. I’m sharing a few random landmarks from my local rambles of the past week. My only regret is that I couldn’t photograph everything. I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoyed making them. I’ll be sharing some shots from Long County, as well.
Janisse Ray welcomes patrons and friends to Cedar Grove. Paintings by her husband, Raven Waters, line the walls of the church.
Janisse Ray is known for her thoughtful books that seamlessly weave narrative with an appreciation for our fragile natural environment and over the years she’s been a fearless advocate for fostering community involvement in her beloved South Georgia.
Cedar Grove Methodist Church
One of her causes has been the restoration of Cedar Grove Methodist Church, which she now owns with her husband, Raven Waters. It has been a labor of love for Janisse, who has devoted many hours raising money and locating carpenters and artisans to complete the project. I’ve proudly served on the board with her, though Janisse has made it all happen.
Lindsey Levine, Alec Bruns, and Lucki Wilkerson accompanied Janisse as she read a poem dedicated to Cedar Grove
When Hurricane Helene roared through Tattnall County this past September, the work was nearly complete. Javier Ramos had just put the finishing touches on exterior repairs when the storm came.
Walter Parks
Janisse shared the following on her Substack account: “Surveying the damage after a hurricane is like waking up after surgery. You’re bleary-eyed and half crazed, but you’ve got to see what’s forever gone…I found that the damage was relatively minor. A few trees down, a few holes in roof…Thanks to a lot of generous people, the church got a roof for 12K. Then it got handmade windows, built by an 80-year-old carpenter. Then a new pulpit. Then all the repairs inside were finished. Every one of those jobs has a story. The roof story was told in “A Roof for Cedar Grove” a segment of Saving Grace, which aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting…”
Walter Parks and Swamp Cabbage
Undaunted, Janisse acted quickly to raise more funds to remove fallen trees and put the finishing touches on Cedar Grove. On 14 December 2024, she hosted a lunch at Red Earth Farm and then treated patrons to a concert inside the church, featuring Walter Parks, who once toured the world with Woodstock opening act and musician extraordinaire Richie Havens. Walter’s band Swamp Cabbage accompanied him.
Author Janisse Ray has led the effort to save historic Cedar Grove Methodist Church
Janisse first learned of Walter’s work in a New York Times article detailing his use of historic hollers from the Okefenokee Swamp in his music. This wasn’t lost on Janisse, who has long championed the swamp and its folklife. And it somehow seemed appropriate for celebrating an historic country church. I’m constantly inspired by Janisse Ray and am grateful for the community she’s created in her corner of Tattnall County.
Wishing everyone a safe and happy 2025! It’s been another great year traveling around Georgia, looking for the obscure, as well as the well-known places and people that make our state so interesting. As always, I’m grateful to you all for coming along with me. From murder and mayhem (always popular for some reason) to soul food and some preservation success stories, I think I covered a lot this year.
This American Foursquare house is located across from the Girls Dormitory of the Gillespie-Selden Institute. It was the home of Dr. Augustus S. Clark (1874-1959) and his wife Anna Clark, visionaries who established the institute, and is also known as the Founder’s Home. Tax records and real estate listings date the house to 1941. This seems a bit late for the style, but variations of American Foursquare are still popular today, so the date may be correct.
Dr. Clark, a native of North Carolina, received his theological training at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and after teaching for a year at the Haines Institute in Augusta, was sent by the National Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church to Cordele in 1898 to help revive the struggling congregation of the Portis Presbyterian Church, a Black congregation. A new church was built and named St. Paul Presbyterian.
In 1902, the Clarks established the Gillespie Normal School to improve the educational opportunities of local African-American children. It was named for a Pittsburgh family who gave money for the school. It quickly outgrew the basement of St. Paul, where its first classes were held, and moved into two wooden buildings. By 1904, donations made it possible for the construction of three more buildings. The school continued to grow and attract students from all over the Eastern United States and eventually included a hospital. Though the school closed in 1956 due to consolidation, most of its structures survive to this day, and some have even been restored.
Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church is one of several historic churches in the Gillespie-Selden Historic District, and one of the most architecturally accomplished. It’s a good example of the two-tower style common in African-American communities from the 1890s-1940s. According to the cornerstone, laid by the Wrath Bon Lodge No. 22 (Knights of Pythias), the church was “rebuilt” in 1915, indicating an earlier structure stood at this location before that date. H. S. Shearer was the pastor, and J. C. Callaway and L. W. Willis served as ministers. J. Bryant was treasurer and W. D. Durham was the clerk. Deacons were Paul Pooler, J. C. Chambus, T. L. Lucas, D. L. Watkins, C. H. Bell, T. C. Clavers, L. McLendon, E. Dyer, J. Ingram, B. F. Folsom, Lem Walker, West Hall, and Joe Humphrey.
Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
I’m always fascinated by single-pen cottages, and while this one was later expanded by the addition of a second room, the original section, at left, is a great example of this humble form. This home is located in the Duncan’s Bottom neighborhood and appears to have been abandoned for quite some time.
St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church was built in 1930 and is the oldest surviving church structure in the historically African-American Montezuma neighborhood known as Duncan’s Bottom. It is centered around Whiteline Street. The church is located adjacent to Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The Black Primitive Baptists, while not as well known as the Missionary Baptist or the African Methodist Episcopal churches, had similar origins. Most congregations evolved out of white congregations to which members were exposed in the days of slavery.
St. Paul is critically endangered at this time, as the roof has collapsed through the middle of the sanctuary. I’m not sure if the congregation is still active.
This a rear view of this house, identical to the front, which is obscured by privet and other vegetation. Located in the historic Smith Hill neighborhood, at the edge of Talbotton’s main Black cemetery, it is a typical example of the form, which was nearly always used as tenant housing. The top of the central chimney has been capped, but the hearth remains in place. The house is wider than most early 20th century examples I’ve documented, so I would date it to circa 1870s-1890s. It was later used as rental property.
Martha Riley; May Lue Riley; Oscar Riley; Robert Riley; and Eucie Riley. Gone But Not Forgotten.
This extraordinary vernacular memorial marks the burial place of members of the Riley family of Talbotton, in Smith Hill Cemetery. Smith Hill is perhaps the oldest municipal Black cemetery in Talbotton, a town which before the Civil War was essentially a network of plantations. As a result, the final resting places of the enslaved who toiled on those plantations are generally unknown. Smith Hill may have had origins as a plantation cemetery but it grew into the de facto burying ground for the Black community. It quickly descends into a ravine and marked graves are scattered in all directions. Varying styles, from plain to Victorian, are present. The earliest marked burial dates to the 1870s, but there are scores of unmarked graves in Smith Hill.
I chose this memorial to represent the cemetery for its obvious artistic merit, but also to illustrate the difficulty which faces genealogists and historians in documenting the lives of a population that was traditionally left out of the broader story of Southern history. The marker, with stenciled names, a marble cross, and folk art flowers, tells us someone cared about these people, but beyond that, there lives are a mystery. James Riley (1923-1955) and Rose Riley (?-1978) are represented by ledger stones nearby, so they were related. Perhaps the names on this memorial were earlier members of their family who wanted to make sure their names were not forgotten.
According to Voorhees University: “Elizabeth Evelyn Wright (1872-1906) was an African-American educator, social reformer, and founder of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina. She was born [one of 27 children of a carpenter father and a mother who may have been full-blooded Cherokee] on April 3, 1872, in [the Smith Hill neighborhood] Talbotton, Georgia, during a time of racial segregation and limited educational opportunities for African Americans.
Wright was raised in poverty but was determined to receive an education. At the age of 16, she left home and traveled to Tuskegee, Alabama, where she enrolled at the Tuskegee Institute. She worked as a domestic servant to support herself while pursuing her studies.
Inspired by the educational philosophy of Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute, Wright believed in the transformative power of education for African Americans. After completing her studies at Tuskegee, she returned to South Carolina and started teaching at the Macedonia School in Denmark.
Realizing the need for higher education opportunities for African Americans in the region, Wright embarked on a mission to establish a college. She started by raising funds and gathering support from local communities, churches, and philanthropists. In 1897, she founded Denmark Industrial School, which later became known as Voorhees Industrial School and eventually Voorhees College.
Voorhees College provided vocational training and academic education to African-American students, focusing on agriculture, carpentry, home economics, and other practical skills. Wright believed that education should not only prepare students for employment but also instill character, discipline, and moral values.
Elizabeth Evelyn Wright’s dedication to education and her tireless efforts to establish Voorhees College played a significant role in expanding educational opportunities for African Americans in South Carolina. She passed away on December 14, 1906, but her legacy lives on through Voorhees College, which continues to educate students to this day.“
The church was originally known as St. Phillips A. M. E. Church, but later changed its affiliation to Methodist. It was organized by freedmen on 15 April 1870. The original building was destroyed by a storm in 1875 but under the guidance of Rev. A. S. Grangin, was rebuilt later that same year. Part of Jefferson Street which runs beside the church, was renamed Elizabeth Wright Avenue in her memory.
