Martin Gottlieb (1892-1968) was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant who came to Fitzgerald in 1918. He was a merchant and tailor and an active member of the Hebrew Commercial Alliance throughout his time in Fitzgerald. He is best remembered for leaving the city a large bequest that was to be used to purchase Christmas gifts for needy children. The fund survives to this day. He also served as president of the Fitzgerald Baseball Club, the Pioneers, which were a professional farm team. The property documented here was originally Gottlieb’s farm, located just outside Fitzgerald, but now within the city limits.
Shop barn
Gottlieb eventually went into business with Ed Castleberry (1909-2003), and their Gottlieb and Castleberry Men’s Shop, located next to the Garbutt-Donovan Building on East Pine Street, outfitted generations of men in Fitzgerald. I remember visiting the small store as a youth as it was the place to order Boy and Cub Scout uniforms.
Garage
Eventually, Ed Castleberry purchased or inherited the farm from Mr. Gottlieb. Though more a “gentleman’s farm” than a commercial enterprise, pecan trees were cultivated and harvested on the property from year to year.
Volkswagen Beetle in the garage
Ed and Minnie Castleberry’s (1915-2006) son, John Ed Castleberry (1945-2023) continued to live here until his death.
Barn
The property will likely be sold for commercial use, so I was glad to have the opportunity to photograph it.
Like all of South Georgia, Long County saw what was likely record snowfall from Winter Storm Enzo. Amazingly, similar snowfall occurred in the area in 2018. Some random landmarks from throughout the week are shared below, most of which are in Ludowici. I’ll also be sharing some nature-based images from Griffin Ridge.
Liberty County received historic snowfall on Tuesday night as a result of Winter Storm Enzo, a weather system that brought blizzard conditions to the Gulf Coast and lower Southeast. I’m sharing a few random landmarks from my local rambles of the past week. My only regret is that I couldn’t photograph everything. I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoyed making them. I’ll be sharing some shots from Long County, as well.
This house was located in western Ben Hill County in the Aster or Sunflower Road area, near Arp. The photograph was made in 2004 and the house was razed soon thereafter. Unfortunately, this is the best quality file I’ve been able to locate. I’m re-editing my Ben Hill County images now and am republishing this (a different version was originally published in 2008) with the hope that someone will know more about the house. It was one of the special places that inspired the work I do now.
This simple central hallway cottage is one of numerous residential properties within the Gillespie-Selden Historic District, a traditionally African-American neighborhood in Cordele. The community contains a surprisingly wide variety of early 20th century house types, with this home being among the simplest forms present.
Gillespie-Selden Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
I’m always fascinated by single-pen cottages, and while this one was later expanded by the addition of a second room, the original section, at left, is a great example of this humble form. This home is located in the Duncan’s Bottom neighborhood and appears to have been abandoned for quite some time.
St. Paul Primitive Baptist Church was built in 1930 and is the oldest surviving church structure in the historically African-American Montezuma neighborhood known as Duncan’s Bottom. It is centered around Whiteline Street. The church is located adjacent to Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The Black Primitive Baptists, while not as well known as the Missionary Baptist or the African Methodist Episcopal churches, had similar origins. Most congregations evolved out of white congregations to which members were exposed in the days of slavery.
St. Paul is critically endangered at this time, as the roof has collapsed through the middle of the sanctuary. I’m not sure if the congregation is still active.
This a rear view of this house, identical to the front, which is obscured by privet and other vegetation. Located in the historic Smith Hill neighborhood, at the edge of Talbotton’s main Black cemetery, it is a typical example of the form, which was nearly always used as tenant housing. The top of the central chimney has been capped, but the hearth remains in place. The house is wider than most early 20th century examples I’ve documented, so I would date it to circa 1870s-1890s. It was later used as rental property.
According to Voorhees University: “Elizabeth Evelyn Wright (1872-1906) was an African-American educator, social reformer, and founder of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina. She was born [one of 27 children of a carpenter father and a mother who may have been full-blooded Cherokee] on April 3, 1872, in [the Smith Hill neighborhood] Talbotton, Georgia, during a time of racial segregation and limited educational opportunities for African Americans.
Wright was raised in poverty but was determined to receive an education. At the age of 16, she left home and traveled to Tuskegee, Alabama, where she enrolled at the Tuskegee Institute. She worked as a domestic servant to support herself while pursuing her studies.
Inspired by the educational philosophy of Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute, Wright believed in the transformative power of education for African Americans. After completing her studies at Tuskegee, she returned to South Carolina and started teaching at the Macedonia School in Denmark.
Realizing the need for higher education opportunities for African Americans in the region, Wright embarked on a mission to establish a college. She started by raising funds and gathering support from local communities, churches, and philanthropists. In 1897, she founded Denmark Industrial School, which later became known as Voorhees Industrial School and eventually Voorhees College.
Voorhees College provided vocational training and academic education to African-American students, focusing on agriculture, carpentry, home economics, and other practical skills. Wright believed that education should not only prepare students for employment but also instill character, discipline, and moral values.
Elizabeth Evelyn Wright’s dedication to education and her tireless efforts to establish Voorhees College played a significant role in expanding educational opportunities for African Americans in South Carolina. She passed away on December 14, 1906, but her legacy lives on through Voorhees College, which continues to educate students to this day.“
The church was originally known as St. Phillips A. M. E. Church, but later changed its affiliation to Methodist. It was organized by freedmen on 15 April 1870. The original building was destroyed by a storm in 1875 but under the guidance of Rev. A. S. Grangin, was rebuilt later that same year. Part of Jefferson Street which runs beside the church, was renamed Elizabeth Wright Avenue in her memory.
Tolomato Island is one of the historical wonders of Coastal Georgia, located just north of Darien, though it is little-known outside the area. Archaeologists have determined, through examination of pottery and shell middens, that indigenous peoples, Swift Creek and Guale-Tolomato, were living in the area as early as 2000 BCE and thrived until at least the 1600s.
A Spanish Catholic mission known as Our Lady of Guadeloupe of Tolomato, may have been established here in the late 1500s, though details of this endeavor are in dispute. One early source of this claim is John Tate Lanning’s 1935 book, The Spanish Missions of Georgia, which over time has been proven to be academically questionable, at best, and has led to serious debate over any of the details of European intrusion into the area. It is known that there was a similarly named mission near St. Augustine in the early 1600s, as well, further confusing the matter.
What is known for sure is that the site today is home to the ruins of one of Georgia’s earliest industrial endeavors. Though surrounded by a quiet community of modern homes, the ruins are well-preserved and considered an important resource by the people of Tolomato Island. Locally, the area was originally known as “The Thicket”.
The historic marker on nearby Georgia Highway 99 reads: “The Thicket”: Sugar Mill-Rum Distillery Ruins–On the banks of Carnochan Creek, a short distance East of here, are the ruins of a famous Sugar Mill and Rum Distillery operated early in the 19th century. These buildings, constructed of tabby by William Carnochan on his huge sugar plantation at “The Thicket,” followed closely plans laid out by Thomas Spalding of Sapelo. The sugar works and rum distillery were operated successfully on a commercial scale until 1824, when a hurricane tore off the roof and upper story of the mill and cane barn, and destroyed other buildings. What this marker fails to mention is that the success of this operation was dependent on the labor of enslaved people. Prominent among the ruins are slave dwellings and other structures related to Carnochan’s operation.
The ruins are relatively intact and are a significant archaeological resource.
Repairs were apparently made in the 1920s, as graffiti on the patchwork suggests. The work above is signed “J. O. V. 1926”.
The people of Tolomato Island should be commended for preserving and keeping a watchful eye over this relic of early Georgia.
It should go without saying, but if you visit, take only pictures and tread lightly.
Vegetation has grown inside the ruins, but the durability of tabby as a building material is evident in these images.
Like the slave dwellings and the distillery, the ruins of the sugar mill have survived for over 200 years and are evidence of some of Georgia’s first industrial efforts.
These structures were built when John Adams was the president of the United States.
It will take many years for archaeologist and historians to come to a conclusion, if they ever reach one, regarding the Spanish mission story, but the story of William Carnochan is told in these ruins.
It is a microcosm of the earliest part of Georgia’s story, and is quite amazing.
