This was built as a one-story house but was expanded by Dr. Madison Monroe Holland (1860-1914) Holland in 1908 to accommodate his medical practice. Statesboro didn’t have a hospital at the time and the house served that purpose. Holland was one of Statesboro’s first doctors and briefly owned the Statesboro Drug Store, as well.
National Register of Historic Places
This originally served as a children’s hospital.
Senoia Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
While photographing Moreland, we had the good luck of running into Carol Chancey. Carol, a member of the Moreland Cultural Arts Association, is very enthusiastic about the history of this place. We talked a lot about Lewis Grizzard and Erskine Caldwell and plans for preserving what is left of Moreland. She also identified the buildings seen here. Besides the Cureton & Cole store on the left, she notes that the middle building was a doctor’s office and the one on the right was the old post office.
Though the massing of this house is slightly asymmetrical, it’s still a great example of the Neoclassical Revival style.
Monticello Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This hospital was chartered in 1936. Robert Jenks Taylor gave the city $100,000 for construction of the hospital in memory of his father, Dr. Eziekiel Henry Taylor, and his grandfather, Dr. Robert Newsome Taylor, Hawkinsville’s first physicians. It closed in early 1977 with the completion of a newer facility north of town. After being in a state of disrepair for many years it is presently being restored for use as apartments.
At his wife’s suggestion, Dr. Orlando L. Alexander (1852-1920) built this Queen Anne-inspired hotel, where the couple kept a residence, as well. Dr. Alexander was a local physician who received his medical schooling at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He served on a statewide medical conference in 1905. The hotel was built by D. J. Nobles, a master carpenter from Hagan, Georgia, who was responsible for as many as 25 structures in the general area; it was the first location in Tattnall County to have electricity and the first to have telephone service.
National Register of Historic Places
This Federal gem on Warren Square was built by enslaved craftsmen between 1806-1809 for Dr. William Parker (1766-1838), who acquired the property through his 1804 marriage to the widow Louisa Guerard McAlister. Dr. Parker, whose grandparents arrived in Savannah with General Oglethorpe in 1733, was a founding member of the Georgia Medical Society.
Savannah Historic District, National Historic Landmark
I believe the lower floor of this landmark was once the office of Fitzgerald’s first black physician, Dr. Edward Toomer. The structure has been historically known as a boarding house, primarily for black railroad men. Though other businesses have been located here, its connection to Dr. Toomer is certainly the most significant aspect of its history. Sadly, it was demolished in the spring of 2016.
Waresboro is the most historic community in Ware County, having served as the county seat before the establishment of Waycross. While looking around the area for sites to photograph yesterday, I met Joe Spence while he was tidying up the yard of this beautiful home. At 81, he has the energy of a man in his 30s and a reverence for the history of this house and community. He’s spent the better part of the past two years stabilizing and restoring it. He notes that it was not “in the family” for 90 years but persistent attempts to buy it from its last owner finally prevailed.
The home’s builder was his ancestor, Dr. John Middleton Spence, who once owned over 16,000 acres of land in the area. Dr. Spence went to Galveston after the hurricane of 1900 to assist in the recovery effort. He was so impressed by one house standing amid the ruins of others, with not a shingle touched, that he set about to locate the builder of that house and when he did he brought him back to Waresboro to build this house.
Please note that this is private property and not available for public tours.
Used for many years as the precinct house, this is said to have been built around 1850 as a doctor’s office.
Philomath Historic District, National Register of Historic Places