Tag Archives: Georgia Murals

Ballard’s Obelisk Flour Ghost Mural, Sasser

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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

Hotel Lanier Mural, Circa 1930, Putnam County

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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.

UGA Football Barn Sign, Revisited

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The UGA Football Barn Sign, as this old store or warehouse building is now known throughout Dawg Nation and beyond, has become a serious landmark, has its own social media presence, and has even been featured on t-shirts. It was already well-known when I first photographed it in 2010, and was a sign for many travelers on the road to Athens that they were getting just a bit closer to the nirvana of a weekend between the hedges. In some of UGA’s leaner years, the sign changed regularly to reflect on recent shortcomings and was a welcome beacon of tough love, when most observers weren’t willing to put it out there. It never disappoints, and the current message is the best. I just know if this old building were to fall down, there would probably still be a UGA Football Barn Sign.

Denham’s One-Stop, Sycamore

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For much of the 20th century, Denham’s One-Stop was the busiest store in Turner County. Before anyone ever thought of Wal-Mart, there was Denham’s One-Stop. It had a regular storefront and warehouses, like the one seen above, and as a true general store sold almost anything one might need to run a household. Generations of South Georgia schoolchildren from this region made ritual trips to Sycamore to stock up for the year ahead. Nothing like it survives in the area today.

Restored Pepsi Mural, Lincolnton

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Artist Addison Niday has recently restored some Coca-Cola murals in Lincolnton, so this old Pepsi mural on the Anderson & Sons building, likely dating to the early 1960s, was a nice complement to his other work. I think restoring these old murals is a great idea, especially in small towns, where they bring bright color and memories of the past back to life in a big way.

Lincolnton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Last Supper Mural, 1980s, Crawfordville

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This easily overlooked landmark is actually a manufactured image, made for Hollywood, but nonetheless has become a symbol of the town for me.

As a work of art, it’s a grand interpretation of the folk art religious signs once found on fence posts and roadside messages once found throughout the American South.

The artist Joey Potter contacted me and said: I painted this mural on the train depot wall in the early 1980s when I was a scenic for cinema and stage…for the movies Stars and Bars and Home Fires Burning…

As the detail views attest, the mural is fading into oblivion.

The depot itself appears to be highly endangered, though the owner has placed a new roof on it, so there may be hope for its future. In The Courthouse and the Depot (Mercer University Press, Macon, 2002) Wilber W. Caldwell identifies it as a depot of the Georgia Railroad. The combination of the broad eaves, the gentle curve of the roof and the distinctive broken based pediment is unique to depots built on the Georgia Railroad in the 1880s and early 1890s.

The depot is posted so please do not attempt to trespass here.

Crawfordville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Centennial Mural, 2002, Dudley

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Dudley, originally known as Elsie, was settled around 1891 when the Macon, Dublin, & Savannah Railroad ran a line through the area. It was named for railroad president and future United States Senator Dudley Mays Hughes and formally incorporated in 1902. This mural was commissioned to celebrate the community’s centennial.

Georgia Cigar & Soda Company Ruins, Waycross

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Waycross native Ben Hagen recently reached out to let me know about this structure in the process of being razed, in downtown Waycross. He noted: …The siding which had covered it for decades had been removed, and a number of great old ads were visible, including Coca-Cola, Chero Cola, a Nash/Oakland auto dealership, and more that I can’t make out...

It was located beside the US Highway 84 overpass at Francis Street and was originally two stories.

The primary signage on the front of the building, as seen in the first image, and below, indicate it may have been home to the Georgia Cigar & Soda Company.

As Ben noted, there were quite a few ads for other business on the side of the building, including Coca-Cola. My guess is that the proximity to the busy highway may have made the location a perfect spot for advertising, before the proliferation of stand-alone billboards.

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I’m hoping some of my Waycross friends will know.

Luck & Moody Peaches Mural, Barney

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This colorful mural by artist Ethan Abbott graces the side of the old Harris Brothers garage and leaves no doubt that you’re in the heart of South Georgia’s peach country. It’s one of the most colorful murals out there and I guarantee it will make you want to stop and buy some peaches or get some peach ice cream.