The handsome Second Empire Newton County Courthouse in Covington is Georgia’s most recognizable, from its appearance in numerous television series and films. Designed by the venerable firm of Bruce and Morgan, it was an ambitious structure for its time, reflecting the prosperity of the county it represented. Most people will recognize it from the hit television series, In the Heat of the Night, which filmed in Covington for much of its run. It was also used as the Hazzard County Courthouse on the first five episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard.
This house is a beautifully maintained exemplar of the Neoclassical Revival. It was built for Lester Lee, who resided here until 1924, when it was sold to the O. W. Porter family. Like many historic homes in Covington, the mansion has been used extensively as a set location for Hollywood productions over the years, including The Vampire Diaries, Bessie, and Sweet Magnolias, among others.
Floyd Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Since a fire destroyed the General Putnam Motel in 2018, the restaurant is all that remains, and it probably won’t be around much longer. This was a popular location for tourists on US 441 in the pre-interstate days and beyond, but is best known as one of the set locations for the movie My Cousin Vinny. It’s just north of Eatonton, but I believe a recent expansion of the municipal boundary places it within the city limits today. It likely dates to the late 1940s or early 1950s.
I took a turn off a dirt road at Groveland a few years ago and stumbled onto a fascinating collection of buildings. Though I was unsure of their purpose at the time, Bill Warnell, wrote in January 2012: Both Glory and East of Eden filmed scenes here. The buildings are original structures used in farming. Both movies painted the houses/barns for their purposes. The buildings last served as the town of Darien in the movie Glory. The movie called for the town to be torched by “the 54th” after they pillaged it as part of the War of Northern Aggression! Most of the buildings are still used for storage and can be seen from Hwy 280 but are ALL on private property. The Warnell family has long been associated with Bryan County. They lived in Groveland until moving to Pembroke in 1927. Daniel Brooks Warnell is the namesake of the UGA School of Forestry, one of the best-known in the nation, and the Mary Kahrs Warnell Forest Education Center, named for his wife, is an excellent resource near Guyton.
The south end of Newcastle Street, in Brunswick’s Old Town National Register Historic District is getting a dose of Hollywood special effects this week as crews prepare the area for filming the upcoming Ben Affleck movie Live By Night, based on the bestselling novel by Dennis Lehane. Brunswick was chosen to fill in for Prohibition-era Ybor City, the now-trendy Tampa neighborhood known as the center of the American cigar industry for much of its existence.
It was an eye-opening experience for me to see this process in action. I’ve photographed several abandoned set locations in my endless travel throughout Georgia in the past decade, but the vitality and energy of these crews gives me a new appreciation for everything that goes into making a movie. And it doesn’t hurt that I’m a big fan of Ben Affleck’s work.
Most of the work is cosmetic, with paint and signage appearing on familiar storefronts. The magic of filmmaking insures that nearly all these places will return to normal soon after the movie wraps.
While two local artists take a break beside a mural at the corner of Newcastle and Monck Streets, carpenters help put the finishing touches on a period furniture store.
As a photographer of fading rural Georgia, I see signs and murals like these quite often, but I tip my hat to these artists, especially the attention to detail. It’s amazing!
Across the street, an empty lot on the corner of Newcastle and Monck has taken on a whole new appearance, with the ground-up construction of Ciego de Avila, representing a restaurant of old Ybor City.
Everything was on the move, from tables to sand. More about the sand in a bit.
A little further down Newcastle, just past Ciego de Avila is this newly constructed prop, the Bodega la Concha. It’s one of my personal favorites.
Back across the street, detail work was being done on more storefronts.
The Hicks Brothers Hardware Store, seen below, should be familiar to those who grew up in the era of independent local retailers, all too rare today.
They even had an old seed display.
And this cool sign for Columbian Pure Manila Rope.
This prop worker was making final tweaks on a cardboard advertising sign and was patient with me taking her picture.
Just across the street, Tampa Savings Bank and Ybor Iron Works are taking shape.
Some of these structures have been empty for a long time, and Brunswick friends have suggested that they’re happy to see any improvements, even cosmetic ones.
Brunswick’s magnificent Historic City Hall (seen here behind a Warner Bros. “dirt truck”), on the south end of Newcastle Street, is essentially camera-ready and slated to appear in the movie, as well.
These trucks and lots of hard labor are spreading dirt all over the street surfaces that will appear in the film.
And the street looks great…
Working my way back up Newcastle Street I was happy to see the Spanish Coca-Cola mural on the side of the Ciego de Avila Restaurante.
There was more detail work being done on that structure. It seems to be never-ending.
Back at the corner of Newcastle and Monck, there’s this great view.
And more workers securing the set.
Monck Street should feature prominently in the film.
Besides this wonderful recreation of an early automotive garage, there’s the 5th Avenue Social Club, surely a favorite of the criminal elements integral to the story.
And finally, looking down Monck toward Newcastle.
If you’re curious about the movie, you can read Dennis Lehane’s book, or visit IMDB, where this anonymous plot summary was first posted: Boston, 1926. The ’20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world. Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city’s most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw. But life on the dark side carries a heavy price. In a time when ruthless men of ambition, armed with cash, illegal booze, and guns, battle for control, no one-neither family nor friend, enemy nor lover-can be trusted. Beyond money and power, even the threat of prison, one fate seems most likely for men like Joe: an early death. But until that day, he and his friends are determined to live life to the hilt. Joe embarks on a dizzying journey up the ladder of organized crime that takes him from the flash of Jazz Age Boston to the sensual shimmer of Tampa’s Latin Quarter to the sizzling streets of Cuba. Live by Night is a riveting epic layered with a diverse cast of loyal friends and callous enemies, tough rumrunners and sultry femmes fatales, Bible-quoting evangelists and cruel Klansmen, all battling for survival and their piece of the American dream. At once a sweeping love story and a compelling saga of revenge, it is a spellbinding tour de force of betrayal and redemption, music and murder, that brings fully to life a bygone era when sin was cause for celebration and vice was a national virtue.
I first came to know of this iconic barn from another photographer in the area and was absolutely amazed when I was finally able to photograph it a few years ago. It’s a massive structure and its architectural features, such as wooden-shingle dormers and trellis vents and doors, make it among the most interesting I’ve ever encountered in South Georgia.
Last July, Anna Williams shared this history of the barn: My husband (Ben Williams, owner of the Heritage Barber Shop in Metter) is the great-grandson of the man who built the barn. It was the Coleman Farm before the Rushtons purchased it. Jim Coleman was the original owner and he was the one who built it. My husband, his brothers and many cousin’s played their when they were young. That was many years ago; he is now 77. This is better known today as the R. L. Rushton farm.
It’s hard to do justice to this barn in photographs. It’s massive, but beyond that, its architecture and the attention Jim Coleman paid to the details take it a step above most any of its contemporaries in South Georgia. The old cedar tree adds a lot to the landscape. Robin Robbins & Vicky Prince both wrote to inform me that this barn had been used in the opening sequence of the 1974 movie Buster and Billie. The barn appears at 2:20 on the Youtube clip.
This landmark has changed hands over the years and though it’s presently closed, there are hopes that someone will buy it and keep the tradition alive.
It was used as a set location for the 1991 film Dutch.
I first photographed this historic church in early 2009. History regarding the congregation or structure is hard to come by, but Methodist archives indicate the present structure was built before 1863. This suggests that it was built before the Civil War, as little construction was going on at that time.
This location has been featured in several Hollywood movies, including Sweet Home Alabama. It was about the only place to get a good home-cooked meal in Crawfordville for nearly sixty years, and Mrs. Annie Lou Bonner was a well-loved local fixture throughout her long life.
Crawfordville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This wonderful building is best known locally as the Dawson Pharmacy building. According to Bob & Cherry Howell, it’s been owned for many years by the Scott family and before that was owned by the Horsleys. John Clark (host of GNN’s Georgia Focus and a Dawson native) relates that this was recently used as a set location in the Disney movie The Odd Life of Timothy Green. I’ll be talking with John on the upcoming Halloween edition of Georgia Focus and will keep you posted as to airtimes.
Dawson Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 