Saddlebag Tenant Farmhouse, Sumter County
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Tag Archives: Georgia Tenant Houses
Hall-and-Parlor Tenant Farmhouse, Sumter County
Single-Pen Tenant Farmhouse, 1935, Marion County
This is one of the most extraordinary tenant houses I’ve ever seen.
At first glance, it appears to be a typical example of the form.
But further inspection reveals an inscription on the local stone chimney, dating it to 29 March 1935. While I have seen a few dated chimneys in my travels, this is the first one I’ve encountered on such a utilitarian structure. It’s an amazing testament to the pride of the builder, who may have also been the tenant.
As this remnant wall suggests, this already tiny house was subdivided, suggesting it may have been home to two tenants.
It also includes a shed room at the rear of the house, which is relatively typical with this form.
Single-Pen Tenant Farmhouse, Laurens County
This is an iconic house type in rural Georgia, sometimes referred to as Cracker Style.
It has that association as it was often the typical housing of white sharecroppers and small farmers, but it’s actually just a single-pen (one-room) house.
This example, like many I’ve encountered, has a preacher’s room on the front, which in the case of most of these utilitarian structures didn’t house a preacher but rather accommodated the needs of a growing family. It also has a shed room at the back. So, the traditional single-pen often grew as the family grew…from one room to three, in this case.
Hall-and-Parlor Tenant House, Treutlen County
Amos Farm Tenant House, Jarrell
Single-Pen Tenant House, Taylor County
This single-pen house is located north of Rupert.
Tenant Farmhouses, Houston County
This row of four surviving tenant houses in southern Houston County is an important landmark of the sharecropping era. Interestingly, three different designs are represented among them. On the largest working farms, tenant houses were often located adjacent to one another in rows. Very few examples of this configuration survive today. And while it’s obvious that these won’t be around much longer, I admire the landowners who have kept them as reminders of the history. These likely date to the early 20th century.
The first two pictured are simple saddlebags.
This board-and-batten example is larger than the others and has chimneys on each end.
My favorite of the four was this hip-roofed saddlebag with false-brick siding. In the South, we generally refer to this type of siding as “tar paper”.
Update: As of 2022, I think some of these structures are no longer standing.
Saddlebag Farmhouse, Hancock County
This is the first photo that Anne Chamlee shared with me from her personal archive of backroad photographs from Middle Georgia, and it’s still my favorite. It really is it, perfectly representative of the all the forgotten places I’ve spent nearly 15 years documenting.
It has been a real honor to get to know Anne and to share her passion for rural architecture and history with all of you. I hope you have enjoyed her photographs as much as I have.
Saddlebag House, Hancock County
This is Anne Chamlee, who has shared so many wonderful photographs of Middle Georgia with me. She had likely just photographed this saddlebag farmhouse when she appeared on the other side of the lens, in 1990.