I’m not a “lister” but I do enjoy a quick review of the year’s most popular posts. These favorites helped add another million views this year. Thank you for traveling along with me. I wish you all a wonderful 2024!
While re-editing my Butts County photographs, I stumbled across these two curious buildings. I believe they were located just outside Flovilla. Both are eclectic, with Victorian and vernacular elements. This looks like the common shotgun-type store dominant in early 20th century Georgia, but has an attached wing at the right. Such additions are uncommon with the shotgun form, so I presume it was added to this building for storage. I believe this was part of the late John Haney’s Fort Indian Springs Antique & Flea Market, so it may be something that he saved and fixed up.
The example above features hints of Victorian ornamentation but the stone columns take center stage. The concrete porch floor and layout of the facade are indicative of a commercial origin. A wing at the left would suggest an attached residence, or a later expansion for full-fledged residential use. I hope someone knows their stories.
Kuanita Evette Murphy states in her book, The History of the Piney Grove Missionary Baptist Church: From the Brush Arbor to the Sanctuary, that the congregation dates all the way back to 1834 and began as a brush arbor church. From the era of enslavement to the present day, Piney Grove has been a spiritual resource for its members and is among the oldest black congregations in present-day Randolph County.
There’s a large historic cemetery beside the church. The following memorials are presented randomly, for their vernacular importance.
Nellie Fillingame (Birthdate unknown-17 January 1938)
The roots of this tree look like they’re going to topple this nice old vernacular headstone.
The next two two memorials, by renowned sculptor Eldren Bailey, were purchased through the Haugabrooks Funeral Home in Atlanta.
Elijah Stergis (Birthday unknown-16 September 1916)
Elijah Sturgis (spelled Stergis on the memorial) was lynched simply for being related to a fugitive and being in the path of a rabid mob. I believe these stories must be told.
On 18 September 1916, Sturgis’s cousin Peter Hudson shot and killed Randolph County Sheriff William Samuel Taylor, who was serving a warrant for Hudson’s arrest. Hudson escaped the scene and went into hiding in the nearby woods and swamps. A lynch mob formed and while tracking Hudson, encountered Elijah Sturgis, apparently killing him for no reason. Hudson was located on 20 September 1916 and shot on the spot. His lifeless body was dragged around the town square in Cuthbert before being hoisted onto an improvised gallows. It was later taken down and burned on the outskirts of town.
Roy Stergis (Birthdate unknown-died 1945)
It’s in a beautifully secluded location, far back in the woods down hilly roads of orange-red clay. This area of northwestern Randolph County is known locally as the Upper Corner. This historic congregation is still very active.
Virgil Chapel is one of the earliest African-American congregations in Randolph County. It was founded in a brush arbor in 1868. Rev. Green McCarthy of Benevolence Baptist Church appointed Rev. J. Simpson as the first full-time pastor. Deacons were: Jake Gilbert, Green Johnson, John Thomas and William Jones. The congregation met for many years in the brush arbor. It was circa 1880 before the first permanent church was built. As the years went on the membership continued to grow. The present church was constructed during the pastorate of Rev. C. C. Scott in 1934 to accommodate this expansion.
This is about as simple as it gets, and that’s what I like about it. The windows are a bit fancier than those you might find on a more rural version of the beloved shotgun form.
This simple cottage was probably built as a shotgun house, with the side wing being added at a later date. The saw-tooth ornamentation along the front gable is a nice element. It doesn’t appear that anyone has lived here for many years.
This is another historic African-American church for which I can find no historical background, but I’ve become fascinated with the vernacular architecture that features prominently on these buildings. The steeple, or tower, is usually the focal point, and even on a newer structure, like this cinderblock example, creativity is in the details. The use of the open sides of the cinderblocks to create a pattern and opening was a clever idea that adds great visual appeal, in my opinion.
This building has been hidden by vegetation on my previous visits to Omaha but was finally visible on my recent trip. It’s a simple vernacular warehouse-type structure. It may have been a store, a feed-and-seed, or maybe just a warehouse. The architecture is typical of agricultural facilities I’ve documented elsewhere, but I hope to learn more, because it’s right in the middle of town, by the well, and seems to be an important survivor of the town’s earlier days.
Based solely upon early burial dates in the church cemetery, I would guess that this congregation dates to the 1920s. I can’t locate any other history at this time.
Athen Hill Baptist Church is located on the highway that goes to Omaha from Lumpkin. Its in an isolated setting on the side of a large hill, with a small cemetery beside it.
Sgt. William Devorce, US Army World War II (1924-1999)
The church appears to have been abandoned for quite a few years and I can’t locate any history.
