This house has been well-preserved and is likely related to the turpentine industry.
Note: This replaces a post originally published on 16 October 2012.
Single-Pen Tenant Farmhouse, Long County
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Tag Archives: Georgia Turpentine Industry
Board-and-Batten Tenant House, Wheeler County
This has the appearance of a turpentine-related house, though that is only a guess.
Tison Naval Stores, Tison
As I was photographing this structure, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was grooming a horse and learned the he was Charles Tillman, a descendant of the Tison family from which the surrounding community takes its name. He noted that this was the base of operations for Tison Naval Stores.
After living away from the family lands for many years, Tison returned home and began growing grapes and operating Watermelon Creek Vineyards. He graciously shared some of the history of the area with me. His son, it turns out, is the ninth generation to farm the fertile lands near Watermelon Creek. Mr. Tison also noted that for many years the community’s name was misspelled “Tyson” on state maps and he went through the process of having it corrected to reflect the proper spelling.
Croatan Indian Memorial Cemetery, Bulloch County
In 1870 a group of Croatan Indians migrated from Robeson County North Carolina, following the turpentine industry to southeast Georgia. Their knowledge and historical association with pinelands made them natural choices for this industry, and unfortunately, their social class at the time made them vulnerable to its exploitation. Many became tenant farmers for the Adabelle Trading Company, growing cotton and tobacco. Tenant farming and turpentining were connected in that they provided housing and commissary goods for their employees, resulting in a type of indentured servitude. They established the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Adabelle, as well as a school and this nearby cemetery. After the collapse of the Adabelle Trading Company, the Croatans faced both economic hardship and social injustice. As a result, most members of the community returned to North Carolina by 1920. The Croatans are thought to be historically connected/related to the Roanoke-Hatteras people, but scholarship on these tribes is debated and constantly evolving.
The small cemetery is located deep down a row of planted pines. Few headstones remain, though there are five or six, likely of local people somehow connected to the tribe. Sadly, they were so overgrown when I visited that photographs were not possible. I believe descendants have made pilgrimages to maintain it over the years, but they are quite distant and can’t come very often.
Text of the Marker: In memory of Lucinda Locklear, Pink Locklear, Hezie Emanuel and Margaret Adline Locklear, and the other dauntless Indians from Robeson County, North Carolina, who settled, lived, and died here sometime between the close of the Civil War and the 1920s and whose graves are unmarked. Dedicated June 4, 1989.
Logging Camp Church & Schoolhouse, Toledo
No matter how many historic buildings I uncover in my travels, finding a structure like this is still what motivates my work more than anything else. This is located between Folkston and St. George, near the old logging community of Toledo. (As of 2016, I’m told that this has been razed). Wesley Williams writes: My understanding, from the old folks, is that this started out as a school /church when there was a logging camp in the area. It was later abandoned and turned into a home. For the record…that is how I understand the history from old timers in the area…This is in the Toledo area about a 1/3 of the way between Folkston and St George…
Turpentine Cabin, Appling County
Clancy Kitchens House, Long County
Wendell Theus writes: Know this old house well, owner Clancy Kitchens long gone. Turpentine and timber laborer, cared dutifully for his invalid wife many years. He used to walk by our house most Saturdays to Ludowici, Ga. a distance of over 3 miles returning late that evening to check on his wife. As kids we would meet him and walk a short distance with him unable to keep the unbelievable pace he kept and never stopped. This style house almost completely gone now and worse this type of character of humanity.
Aultman Farms Warehouse, Warwick
Dan Aultman writes: This building was originally the farming headquarters for the Aultman family. Later S. O. Spooner leased the turpentine rights for the Aultman forest and rented the building for his offices and warehouse.
Sessoms Timber Trust, Cogdell
Turpentine Commissary, Homerville
The man pictured above is Oscar Hodges, who lived in Virgil Chandler’s “Green Quarters” and worked turpentine for many years. He lived out of the commissary. Jesse Reavis Steedley, who shared the history and the vintage photograph and knew him for many years, writes that he was a fine, hard working man.
