Tag Archives: Georgia Turpentine Industry

Parker Turpentine Camp, 1920s, Wefanie

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Jim and Lemma Parker House, 1920s, restored circa 2000.

This home at Wefanie was the center of a bustling turpentine camp owned by the James Edgar “Jim” Parker, Jr., (1900-1973) family. Mr. Parker’s son, Jimmy Parker, told Mike McCall and me in 2018 that he spent more money restoring this house than all the other buildings on the former turpentine camp were worth combined. He noted that he and his two sisters were born and raised here until the family built something more substantial. These photos were made between 2010-2018

As to Wefanie, I have talked to several locals, including Mr. Parker, and no one seems to know the origins of the name. It’s located within the larger boundaries of the Jones Creek community. And it’s pronounced “WE-fanny”.

Parker Turpentine Camp Tenant Cabin No. 1 – Front View

An article by Clinton Oliver in the 2 May 2002 issue of The Glennville Sentinel saluting the 100th birthday of Mrs. Lemma Wells Parker (1902-2002) details life at the turpentine camp.

Parker Turpentine Camp Tenant Cabin No. 1 – Rear View

“The [Parker] girls had fond memories of visiting and playing with the girls of the tenant families living in shanties Mr. Parker [Jim, Jr.] had erected to house the families of his turpentine workers. They ate many meals of “soul food” prepared by the gentle and hardworking black mothers of the “turpentine quarters”. “

Parker Turpentine Camp Tenant Cabin No. 2 – Front View

Mary Ida and Jo Anna [Parker] told of the spotlessly clean floors in the tenant houses. “The women scrubbed the floors with water and lye until the boards were white. Then the mothers would spread croaker [sic] sacks (burlap bags) on the floor for us to sit on and play.”

Parker Turpentine Camp Tenant Cabin No. 2 – Rear View. The shed room was an essential addition to many of these structures, usually to accommodate a growing family.

Jimmy recalled that the shanties were completely covered with Kudzu vines to keep the houses cool inside. “They had to keep the runners clipped to keep them from blocking the doors.”

Parker Turpentine Camp Tenant Cabin No. 2 – Interior

As the use of drink cartons as insulation in this photo suggests, these structures were often used as rental properties much later their use in the turpentine industry.

Parker Turpentine Camp Privy

Though most of these structures won’t be around too much longer, they represent an important intact example of a vanished way of life.

Parker Turpentine Camp Barn

It’s notable that Jimmy Parker left these buildings standing, as many such places have long been demolished or fallen to ruin.

Parker Turpentine Camp Commissary

This well-preserved building served as a commissary for turpentine workers.

Note: This is a consolidation of several older posts related to this property. As of 2025, the Parker House and commissary are in good condition, but the woods have grown back up around the worker housing and they are highly endangered, at best.

Catfaces: Silent Witnesses of a Lost Industry

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As they heal, it’s harder to see the emblematic “whiskers” that led to them being called catfaces, but these scarred pines gave life to a labor-intensive industry that was integral to American shipping and employed thousands in Southern Georgia until the early 1960s.

“Catface” describes the scars on the trees that remained after they were notched for the collection of resin, aka sap. The main reason for the demand for resin was its use for waterproofing ships, hence the term “naval stores”. Turpentine had myriad uses beyond the naval stores industry.

In the 1800s, trees were “boxed”, a process in which the collection receptacle was cut into the tree itself, and eventually killed it after all the resin was extracted.

UGA professor Charles Herty developed the “Herty Method” in 1901, which produced a better product and allowed the trees to live after they were sapped out.

In this process, a section of bark was removed and an angled notch, or streak, was cut into the wood. Below the notch, metal strips were placed to direct the resin into a collection vessel, sometimes a terra cotta “Herty cup” or a tin cup.

When the first notch stopped producing, a new one would be cut directly above it. This process could be repeated several times, and since the streaks, looked like cat whiskers, the remnant scars were known as catfaces.

Trees involved in the naval stores industry can still be found, if you know where to look.

Most of the characteristic scars have “healed” over time, a testament to the ability of the pines to survive, and have left behind interesting variations. As these trees age and die, there won’t be any new catfaces, so if you see one, you’re seeing something special.

Since most turpentine stands are on private property, the red-blazed trail at Laura S. Walker State Park near Waycross, where I photographed these examples, is one of the best places to see these fascinating landmarks.

Pine Needle Bathing Suits Helped Promote Georgia Turpentine

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Eliza Peeples*, Spirit of Turpentine, Circa 1936, from an Atlanta newspaper

Eliza Peeples must not have been too bothered by the sharp pine needles that made up the bulk of her bathing suit, but she was wearing the outfit to help promote turpentine. As part of its promotional push, the American Turpentine Farmers Association (ATFA) began holding an annual Miss Spirits of Turpentine beauty pageant in 1940, where this costume, as well as a pine needle tiara, were part of the show. This photograph is scanned from a newspaper article published in one of the Atlanta papers soon after the association was formed, so I think Eliza was more of a mascot than an official “queen”. I can’t locate the paper in my archives at the moment, so I don’t have an exact date. I don’t know when the pageant was phased out, but the last “turpentine queen” was crowned in 1995, long after the disbanding of the group.

Harley Langdale of Valdosta formed ATFA as a cooperative of naval stores producers in 1936. They came from the “Turpentine Belt” states of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. And Georgia was usually the leading producer. Judge Langdale led the organization for 29 years, but the industry, which boomed during World War II, reached its peak by the late 1940s. Innovations such as fire breaks and controlled burns were adopted early by ATFA members, and their benefits are still integral to forestry today. For a time, turpentine was one of the biggest employers in the rural South. Numerous factors, primarily modernization and competition from the chemicals industry, as well as the loss of labor due to the Great Migration, spelled the end of ATFA, and broad scale production, by 1975. Memories of the industry are fading from the collective consciousness but a few of the old turpentine shacks, commissaries, and stills can be found scattered throughout Georgia.

*- I was able to learn that Eliza Peeples McLemore (1920-2011) lived in Griffin, Georgia, for most of her adult life, and that she had a twin sister, Louie Peeples White (1920-2009). They were the daughters of Russell Alexander Peeples and Ethel Orr Peeples.

Shingler Commissary, 1910, Miller County

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From what little information I can locate on Miller County’s historic places, I’ve preliminarily identified this as a commissary built circa 1910 by Joe Shingler to serve his timber and turpentine business. This building looks a little later than 1910, but it was possibly “modernized” at some time during its history and served as a general store. It likely originally featured lapboard siding similar to the adjacent barns, which date to the same time.

Saddlebag Tenant House, Treutlen County

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This was may have been part of the Soperton Naval Stores operations.

Commissary, Laurens County

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This commissary near the Lowery community was likely related to the turpentine industry and according to a Laurens County Historic Resources survey dates to circa 1910-1920.

Captain C. C. Grace House, Circa 1864, Screven

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Nine years ago, Lindsay Thomas, Jr., whose family owns and maintains this wonderful Georgia Centennial Farm, reached out to me about photographing the old home place near Screven. Lindsay’s father served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983-1993. Lindsay was very interested in documenting the large number of catface pines and Herty cups on the property. I still haven’t gotten around to making those photographs, but hope to someday soon. [For those not in the know, catfaces are the scars left behind by the collection of pine sap for the manufacture of turpentine. The naval stores business was dominant in this region until at least the 1950s.]

The farm, known as Grace Acres today, was established by Captain C. C. Grace, circa 1864, and the house was likely built around that time. The family has maintained a presence in the area ever since and they’re not only good stewards of the land, but they do a fine job of maintaining this historic home.

Red Taylor House, Sandy Bottom

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I suspected this house had connections to the turpentine industry and Vernon Taylor wrote to confirm: I was raised in Sandybottom and left when I was 17 years old…it brings back great memories.  I lived with my Mom and Dad I that house that you took in Sandybottom of which you referenced “working in turpentine”.  You were right my Dad did and sometimes I would help him….thanks for the memories!

Vernon also said that though the Lang family owned the land, each home was owned by the individuals who lived in them. He noted that his father, known as “Red” because of his Native American heritage,  and his uncle, Hance Pope, both worked in turpentine..

Turpentine Cabin, Emanuel County

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Turpentine Cabin, Tetlow

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This is about as good a view as can be had of this shotgun house in northwestern Wayne County. It’s located in the vicinity of Tetlow, which still exists on the map and in a nearby road name, but seems lost to history otherwise. Because there are the remains of several nearly identical shotgun houses at the site, I presume this was a turpentine camp at one time. The area in which its located was heavily involved in the naval stores and timber industries throughout much of the twentieth century; the camp was likely abandoned by the 1960s.