The Comer Lions Club has been organizing an old-fashioned county fair for 68 years. The Ferris wheel caught my eye when I was driving past; though no longer operational, it remains a symbol of the fair and a landmark in its own right. Originally a water wheel at another location in North Georgia, it was acquired in 1949 by Pinky Martin, owner of Comer Motor Company. With the help of mechanic Jeff Turner, it was converted by hand into a working Ferris wheel and was used until the early 1970s.
Nearly every county in Georgia once had a place like this but they’re quite rare today.
The property and structures are well-maintained.
Traditional exhibits like crafts and livestock remain highlights of the fair.
Popular musical acts also play here each year.
If you’re in the area in September, check them out. The Lions Club is a great non-political organization who not only do charitable work but also give back to their communities in tangible ways. Madison is a traditionally rural county and the fair is still the biggest event of the year.
Solterra Cottage, the retreat of Frederic and Frances Baker, was built in 1890 and became known for its lavish parties, even hosting the newly-elected President William McKinley, along with his wife and the Vice-President’s family, in 1899. A fire consumed the cottage in 1914, but this dovecote survived. Over the years, it was moved several times but has finally been placed between the ruins of Chicota and Hollybourne Cottage, near its original location.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
Banks Lake is a natural blackwater lake characterized by shallow water and cypress trees. Located just east of Lakeland, it was owned for much of the 2oth century by the family of Governor Ed Rivers.
Joshua Lee operated a grist mill here in the mid-1800s. When he dammed the Carolina bay on his property, the lake was created.
Unsubstantiated sources suggest that Governor Ed Rivers’ family attempted to develop the area in the 1920s and that his estate threatened to drain and log the lake in the 1970s, but regardless, the property was purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 1980, assuring its preservation. In 1985, the Conservancy sold the lake to the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who redesignated it Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
With around 20,000 visitors per year, Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge is one of the least crowded parks in the system. It almost feels like a roadside park because, effectively, it is. There are docks and a short boardwalk and an outfitter on site. A gentleman I met on the dock told me that fishermen tie strips of cloth to trees to find their way around. It’s apparently quite thick with cypress.
Banks Lake is part of the Grand Bay-Banks Lake ecosystem, the second largest freshwater wetland in Georgia, after the Okefenokee Swamp.
The refuge, managed by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, does not have on-site staff. Fishing is allowed, for those with valid licenses.
For information on this natural wonder of Georgia, please visit the refuge website.
Altama Plantation House. Public domain image shared by Eamon Leonard.
George III of England granted 2,000 acres along the south bank of the Altamaha River to William Hopeton in 1763 and Hopeton soon set about creating the rice plantation which bore his name. So began the long modern history of this property, first known as Hopeton and now more widely known as Altama. In 1805, the property was sold to two Scottish immigrants, John Couper and James Hamilton, who grew Sea Island cotton with hundreds of slave laborers. Couper’s son, James Hamilton Couper, vastly improved the property after he acquired it in 1827. He built the original Altama plantation house [pictured above] in the Georgian style circa 1858. Its ruins may remain, per the Glynn County Historic Resources Survey [2009].
Palm-lined Drive, Altama Plantation
After visiting Holland he introduced a system of dikes, canals and rails to move his rice and sugar efficiently to the river for transport into nearby Darien.
Laundry House, Altama Plantation
Couper was perhaps Georgia’s greatest “Renaissance Man” and it’s unfortunate that he isn’t better known today outside a small group of historians.
Laundry House Interior, Altama Plantation
He led the survey party which mapped the Georgia-Florida border, built Christ Church in Savannah and was the first to describe the Indigo Snake to science. He is honored eternally in its Latin name, Drymarchon couperi.
Blacksmith Shop, Altama Plantation
The Civil War was the death knell for Hopeton-Altama as a working plantation.
Blacksmith Shop, Altama Plantation
In 1898 a small colony of Shakers attempted to tame the property, which was long neglected and dotted with ruins of its former glory. Their efforts to grow rice and raise cattle were unsuccessful and they abandoned the project in 1902.
Double-Crib Barn, Altama Plantation
William Dupont bought the adjacent Hopeton and Altama properties in 1914 and renamed the expanse Altama.
William Dupont House, Altama Plantation
Dupont wintered and trained racehorses here and built the main house [pictured above] based on the original plantation house.
Garage behind Dupont House, Altama Plantation
Atlanta entrepreneur Cator Woolford bought the plantation in 1930.
Woolford Swimming Pool, Altama Plantation
He built a swimming pool on the property which remains to this day.
Woolford Playhouse, side view, Altama Plantation
He also built a large “play house” adjacent to the pool to entertain his guests.
Old-growth Oak, Altama Plantation
In 1944, Alfred W. Jones scion of the Sea Island Company, acquired Altama, primarily for use as a hunting reserve.
Guest/Hunting Cabin, Altama Plantation
Cabins and structures supporting the sporting life were constructed in the ensuing years.
Guest/Hunting Cabin, Altama Plantation
The cabins were used for hunters, as well as for general visitors.
Camellia, Altama Plantation
With the Sea Island bankruptcy in 2010, Altama was bought by a private equity firm who planned to develop the property as homes and shops.
Barn, Altama Plantation
With the help of the Nature Conservancy, the Marine Corps and private donors, the property was acquired by the state of Georgia in 2015 for future protection and management and will now serve as a publicly accessible Wildlife Management Area, part of a 120-mile corridor of protected lands stretching from Florida through the Okefenokee Swamp to Fort Stewart. It’s a real conservation success story and the cooperation of state and private entities is commendable.
DNR Check Station, Altama Plantation
Though not particularly historic in terms of age, most of the outbuildings have a cultural value as part of a grand 20th-century hunting plantation.
Approaching Kite from the east on Highway 57, you cross the Little Ohoopee River. The remains of a very large swimming pool stand between the river and the buildings discussed later in this post. Martha Claxton Hill writes: The swimming pool was called “Beeline Springs”. Earnest Claxton owned all of the land around the pool. It was a special place in its day. In a time when private pools were a domain of the wealthy, public pools such as this were among the most popular recreation spots.
Ernest Claxton’s daughter, Lynn Paul Neal penned the following remembrance in Emanuel County’s 2013 Bicentennial Celebration Book. Thanks to Mary Ann Smith for bringing it to my attention and procuring permission from Mrs. Neal to share it here:
Remember Bee Line Springs?
Earnest Claxton built the Bee Line Springs Swimming Pool and Recreation Park just outside of Kite on the Ohoopee River. It had a skating and dancing pavilion that was also used for reunions and family get-togethers.r
Three artesian wells supplied icy cold water for the swimming pool. One side of the pool had dressing rooms and there were cabins that were rented on the property.
Several nationally known bands of the late 1920s and 1930s played there. Ernest would find a band enroute from Miami to New York City or vice-versa and book them to stop on their way to play for a one-night dance. These occasions drew tremendous crowds.
You can still see the old swimming pool outline thru the trees on the south side of Hwy 57 near the ‘Hoopee River.
Many public pools featured skating rinks, bowling alleys and/or restaurant, but this structure is too small to have been either of those. And Martha Claxton Hill notes that it was not here when the pool was open. Grady C. Riner writes: That block building was built years after the pool was grown over and broken. It was built as a juke joint ( in today’s words a bar). It had the juke box for music and dancing. After it was closed as a juke joint it was used as a house. My aunt lived in it for years with her two young boys.
A shed-sized structure is located just to the left of the larger building.
Kilkenny Marina is small and the store quite basic but online reviews consistently compliment the friendly folks working here. And the location, at historic Kilkenny Plantation, is unbeatable.
