Fleming (not to be confused with Flemington) is one of two communities in Liberty County named for the pioneer William Fleming family, who owned large area plantations. Fleming proper is actually a bit off GA-196 (Leroy Coffer Highway) on Fleming Loop, but since so many people take this shortcut between Hinesville and Savannah, this was a good place to put the name of this little-known community out there for everyone to see. This newer store and a fruit stand stay fairly busy, and no doubt the Coca-Cola mural, done in the old style, still draws people off the road.
And a brief message to those of you who have sent me messages recently. Thanks for your concern, and yes, I’m still around. I will do my best to answer as many of you as possible. Year’s end has found me getting the gamut of mid-life medical tests and all the fun that entails, and planning some new directions for Vanishing Georgia. I just wanted check in and will keep you all posted.
This mural by Chris Johnson honors Eastman’s most famous business, Stuckey’s, which in its heyday had 115 roadside locations, employed around a thousand people, and sold $5 million worth of candy every year. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the founder’s granddaughter, Stephanie Stuckey, this legendary family business is still going strong.
It’s located across from the historic Southern Railway depot.
The long-abandoned Peabody School lunchroom, which was designed by the architectural firm of Stevens and Wilkinson in the International Style in 1957, was transformed into a beautiful work of public art with the creation of this inspiring mural by Kevin “Scene” Lewis celebrating Juneteenth. Kevin told me the mural was completed in 2021.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but it has been an important day of remembrance and optimism since it was first celebrated in Black churches in Texas in 1866. It recognizes the end of slavery, which occurred at different times in various locations. The date of 19 June 1865 is the source of the holiday’s name, recognizing Major General Gordon Granger’s General Order No. 3, which forcibly freed all the enslaved people of Texas. This is significant since many planters and slaveholders from Eastern states fled to Texas to escape the war, bringing their slaves with them. Amazingly, the enslaved people of the border states of Delaware and Kentucky did not achieve their freedom until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on 6 December 1865, but since Texas first began observing the holiday, the Juneteenth moniker has been used for all celebrations of emancipation.
Kevin “Scene” Lewis, has a story as interesting as his murals. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he grew up in southeastern Virginia, and embraced art from childhood. His talent for drawing and graffiti led him to a double major in Communication Arts and Illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University. After graduating near the top of his class, he was headed to California when his car broke down in Kansas. While working to get it repaired, Lewis met his future wife, Reatrina, who was serving her first year in the Air Force. After they married, they were stationed around the world for several years but eventually landed in Warner Robins, as Reatrina wanted to be closer to her family in Unadilla.
Lewis had already embraced the Macon arts scene when he learned that his grandfather was a native of the city. In 2022, he told the Middle Georgia Times, “I just want to keep letting the city know that I know I’m not from here but this is my home. My grandfather was from here and I want to put roots here in the city and make an impact.” He is definitely making an impact. An accomplished muralist, his work can be found all over the state, and his smaller scale works have attracted a growing number of collectors. Visit his website here.
This mural is a landmark in Rochelle. It’s been here for at least 15 years. It’s one of those, “you know you’re in Rochelle when…” kinds of places. I made the photo in 2010 and thought I had lost it, only recently realizing I had shared it on another platform at that time. Problem solved. Hillbilly Produce raises fresh vegetables and sells them here and in Pitts during the summer months. As the mural suggests, you can expect watermelons, corn, onions, and peas, for starters. They also sell seasonal items in the fall.
This mural has recently been exposed by the removal of its structure’s outer walls. It wasn’t a stretch to determine it was a pool room.
It’s located on the south side of Arabi and was once part of a business that included a 3-bay garage.
The mural is unsigned as best I can tell, but the artist is quite talented.
The focal point is a buxom woman smoking a pipe, surrounded by raucous children, while trying to shoot a game of pool with earth standing in for the cue ball and the planets filling out the rack.
This child is sliding down one of her buttocks.
The images above and below show two plump children swinging on the pool cue, which the artist has depicted as a tree branch.
The illustrations are a blend of different influences, from early comic art to Mad magazine and a little of everything else.
This snaggle-toothed toddler seems terrified as he sits helpless between the woman’s red shoes and striped socks.
And this youngster seems interested in nothing but his lollipop.
I’d love to know more about this mural and the artist. The whole structure has seen better days and it may not be around forever.
This old neighborhood grocery and filling station, located on Georgia Highway 116 just west of downtown Shiloh, will definitely get your attention. It features an amazing mural, with loose vibes of Davinci’s The Last Supper, that places Black historical figures in a colorful tableau.It’s an important work of “Outsider/Folk Art” and deserves further recognition.
My friend Cynthia Jennings and I found it completely by accident this past weekend. According to family members, the artist is Kinyotter Turner. I had a delightful conversation with Mr. Turner’s mother, Jeanette, who was rightfully proud of her son’s work. She said Kinyotter’s uncle owned the building, which has more recently been used as a pool room. The image is based on The Last Supper, but since it adorns a pool room and is near a church, he didn’t formally give it that title. She noted that he had always been interested in history and spent a lot of time reading about it when he was younger. And she stated that he has always had a talent for drawing and art. After his son passed away a few years ago, he made drawings of him and gave them to Mrs. Jeanette. She said they were amazing likenesses.
The artist identified the figures, but some were difficult to decipher. I believe the prophet Muhammad and Jesus to be at the center. [Since Muhammad is generally not portrayed in art, the back to the viewer would fall within the acceptable bounds of ambiguous interpretation.] The other figures are Black revolutionaries and educators.
This mural is located at the corner of South Jackson Street and West Whitney Avenue, just down from historic Mt. Zion Baptist Church and the Albany Civil Rights Institute. [311 South Jackson Street is the physical address]. It was created by local artist and gardener Camyljah Rose (Giddens), and the empty lot beside it has been turned into a small neighborhood garden. She titled the work “Muddy Waters” to show “resilience and the beauty of celebration, much like lotus flowers in muddy water.”
Shellman’s historic downtown got a fresh new look in 2018. The six grain silos that dominate Ward Street were transformed into colorful canvases by artist Chris Johnson between 2016-2018. The illustrations were done first, followed by the Georgia and American flags.
Johnson, a native of Roberta, is the director of the visual arts program at Andrew College. He has gained notoriety for his murals in Georgia and Alabama.
Agribusiness is the heartbeat of Shellman, and the city wanted the silos to represent this fact, along with some local history.
One of the murals honors native son Boudleaux Bryant, who along with his wife Felice was one of the most successful songwriters of his generation.
Ghost murals are barely readable signs, sometimes faded beyond recognition but still visible to the discriminating eye. They can be found in the smallest towns and biggest cities, and advertise everything from shoes and soda to table salt and flour, like this one on a commercial storefront in downtown Sasser. Many have been painted over. There are several of these Ballard’s Obelisk Flour murals surviving around Georgia; some are brighter than this one while others are nearly indistinguishable from the bricks on which they were painted. The brand must have been thriving in the early 1900s, when this mural was produced.
Sasser Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
An old shotgun store on US Highway 129 in southwestern Putnam County, long hidden by vegetation, has recently been exposed, and along with it, a hand-painted sign advertising the Hotel Lanier in Macon. The sign likely dates from the 1920s-1930s. The sides of buildings, especially stores and barns, were often used for advertising, essentially the billboards of their day. Much of US Highway 129 [sections of which were known as the Dixie Highway] was paved by the late 1920s or early 1930s, and as one of the first major improved north-south arteries in Georgia, was valuable real estate to advertisers. The Lanier House, on Mulberry Street, was considered a “crown jewel” in antebellum Macon, owned by Sidney Lanier’s grandparents. After a fire in the early 1900s, it was remodeled and renamed the Hotel Lanier, but remained a popular gathering place until at least World War II. It was razed in 1975.
