This is a great example of an intact early-20th-century farmstead. Its scope is more evident when viewed from a distance but it looks great from any angle. I will share specific structures in a future post and will try to update this post with more photos.
Update: As of 2025, I believe the tenant house is the only structure remaining.
I first photographed this barn at Adamson’s Split five years ago; it’s a testament to the skill with which it was built that it’s still standing.
This replaces a post originally published on 1 January 2010.
Dana Brannen writes: “This Tobacco Barn is located on the farm that was once my grandfather’s place, Dan W. Hagan. Many years of stringing and hanging tobacco in those barns!”
I photographed this log barn in 2009. It’s likely gone now.
Hidden from view for years, this barn was recently exposed by a clear-cut.
This replaces a post originally published on 30 June 2009. I’ve photographed this barn on three occasions in the past five years and it’s still one of my all-time favorites. Its setting in these ancient oaks makes it as popular with locals as it is with photographers.
Allen Collins writes: “This barn is…owned by my uncle R L Collins of Valdosta; another one once stood next to it. Local residents might also remember the three tiny white tenant / rental houses that once stood next to the highway. The big white house was built by my great granddaddy Remer Collins in the 1930s. His father Adamsom W. Collins, or Addison, or simply “Base Collins” as he was more commonly known, built another house nearby in the 1880s. That house burned about thirty years ago. Older residents of Cobbtown might also remember two other houses that were located on this farm. My granddaddy Gordon “Base” Collins sold one of them around 1976 and it was moved to another location. .. The other house, possibly the first house built on the farm in the mid to late 1800s was owned by two sisters, .. former slaves, named “Harriet” and “Sophie.” Sadly, many of these old structures in southeast Georgia featured in this series are fading relics of a vanishing world, their stories often forgotten in the gray mists of time, ..or untold.. But if they could talk, .. what tales, both tragic and wonderful, might they tell..”
This property has been farmed by the same family for at least four generations. It was recently sold and I was asked to document it. Thanks to Brad Lindsey for inviting me and for sharing a bit of his family’s history.
This appears to have served as a corn crib at one time.
Pictured above is an old packhouse and its interior is shown below. Wilt Jones remembers fertilizer being stored here and notes that the bags hanging on the right might have held guano. He remembers his Papa Jones called it guy-anner. If you’re from South Georgia I’m sure you’re familiar with that old-time pronunciation.
The skeletal remains of a tobacco barn are a reminder of the favored crop of mid-20th century Georgia.
