This building appears to have been a general store, or perhaps a restaurant, but I’m inclined to think it was a store. There may have been gas pumps out front, as well. When I can’t locate the proper resources, I just have to guess. Nonetheless, it’s one of the few “public” buildings remaining in the historic Upatoi [you-pa-toy] community. Surveys have dated it to 1933.
It’s believed that Upatoi was first settled circa 1790 as a satellite of nearby Cusseta Town, perhaps in some sort of support capacity. The area was dominated by Indigenous peoples at the time. It’s named for nearby Upatoi Creek, which rises in Talbot County and flows southwestward to form the border between Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties before joining the Chattahoochee River at Fort Moore. As to the origin of the name Upatoi, I won’t venture a guess except that it’s indigenous. A post office opened in the rural settlement in 1829 and remained open until 2017. [This building might have even served the purpose at one time.] Upatoi was annexed by the city of Columbus during the consolidation with Muscogee County in 1971.
I’d guess this unusual house dates to the late 19th or early 20th century, and likely once featured Folk Victorian elements. The left and right gables are of a different style, essentially independent of the front gable. It appears a large front porch has been lost over time, further altering the look of the house. There are very few survivors of the early days of Box Springs, and this is a nice example.
At the extreme southwestern corner of Talbot County is the historic village of Box Springs. According to Ken Krakow: The community was named for a local spring that was boxed in and used as a watering stop for the railroad. Pipes were run from the “boxed-spring” to a water tower adjacent to the tracks. The name Boxed Spring was later changed to Box Springs, as it was easier to pronounce. A post office was established in 1853 though the area was likely settled earlier. The town was incorporated in 1913 and dissolved by 1931. Little of that era remains here today.
This old store, built in the early 1900s, sits in a thicket of privet and has always intrigued me; I may even have a family connection to Mr. Browning but need to research further. As the place succumbs to nature, I can only imagine it in its heyday, when the train stopped at the nearby tracks and people came through here enroute to and from Columbus.
Evans Chapel is located in the Church Hill community, just over the Marion County line in Webster County. I believe the present structure replaced a simple wood frame chapel, but don’t know when it was built, nor any other history of the congregation.
Mrs. Geneva Hill (?-12 November 1962) – Cox Funeral Home.
There is a large well-maintained cemetery beside the church. [It’s sometimes referred to as Churchill Cemetery.] I located two memorials made by Eldren Bailey, who I believe to be Georgia’s most prolific black creator of funerary art in the 20th century. Sadly, much of his creative work has been lost, so his cemetery memorials, made to order, represent his legacy. I document them whenever I find them.
Herman Alonzo Walker (1934-1968) – Haugabrooks Funeral Home
Mr. Walker was an Army veteran. He died in Atlanta, so I’m unsure if it was related to the Vietnam War, but he also has a government headstone in addition to this one.
This church is still active as far as I can tell. Though it is likely a relatively modern congregation, its whimsical chapel is as fascinating as any older church I’ve found lately. Typical of many rural Holiness churches, it’s fairly simple in design, but in its artistic facade, Freedom Tabernacle is a work of art in itself.
From the cross that spells out the church name to the hand-painted sign above the entrance, the message is clear.
The straightforward sign reads: Take Jesus for Your Saviour, and, curiously or not, Saviour is spelled in the British fashion. The stars are a common theme in Christianity, but more often associated with black congregations in my experience.
Daniel James II House, Circa 1845 – Daniel James II, Copies of vintage photographs Courtesy Jodi Hancock
I can’t locate any historical background on this house, but surveys have dated it to circa 1830, making it likely one of the oldest houses in present-day Marion County. It’s a very well-proportioned example of the Plantation Plain style and appears to have been recently restored. Jodi Hancock shares that it was the home of Daniel James II (1804-1888).
The Draneville community had a post office from 1882-1907, but the area was a population center much earlier than those dates would indicate. In her History of Marion County, published in 1931, Nettie Powell wrote: Draneville is a growing village and has two good stores, a post office and a blacksmith shop. The farmers in this community are progressive and take a great pride in their commodious homes. This district has two nice churches, Mt. Carmel and Union. Professor Morgan Stevens teaches the school which is in a flourishing condition. Dr Samuel Hart is the physician in that section. This district was first known as the Cut Off and was changed to Jacksonville and during this period when the post office was established it was named Draneville. At the beginning of this decade this district had the largest population in the county, but when the railroad was finished to Buena Vista that section increased in inhabitants very rapidly.
Jodi Hancock writes: This is my grandparents house, on my father’s side. The family raised chickens and farmed many acres for years and the house was sold in 2020, and is currently listed for sale.My great aunt, Loxi Wells Jones, did extensive research on the Union United Methodist Church, in Draneville. The church was built in 1830 at the fork of Georgia Highway 41 South and Georgia Highway 30, 1/4 mile from the current church location. The church was rebuilt in its current location in 1888, on land donated by Daniel James, on September 9, 1857. Daniel James, II caused the church to be built so that he could see the front door of the church from the front door of his home and receive blessings. Daniel James then lived in the big, white two-story home that faces the Union Church. It is now known as the Joe Hancock home, in which his daughter, Jane Hancock Dunmon and her husband Ted, lived.
Recent clearing of this property has revealed more of this structure than has been visible for years. I’ve been admiring and curious about it for years. I once wondered if it weren’t an old Plantation Plain house that had been converted into something else. A Georgia Historic Resources Survey dates it to circa 1874 and confirms its history as a mill. It is believed to have been moved to this site in 1930. Some of the bricks appear to be handmade, so I wonder if they weren’t recycled and added to the mill once it was moved. I haven’t been able to determine anything about the early history after consulting numerous sources. It’s probably just a case of the lore of the present obfuscating the history of the past. The mill, in its present form, was operational until the early 1960s.
Somewhere near this property, which is known as the Murray Estate, there was a campground and store, where for a few weeks each winter, Romanichal people made their home and traded with local citizens. The Romanichal were a Romani subgroup, generically known as gypsies. The term “gypsy” has always been somewhat derogatory and is now considered by many Romani an insult. Its use here is derived from its historical context in this community.
The property has been a landmark of Buena Vista for nearly a century, so it’s nice to see it looking better than it has in many years. I don’t know if there are any plans for its future, but I’m sure it could be put to good use as a community resource.
The plain style Mount Zion Primitive Baptist Church is one of the few tangible landmarks of the Doyle community, sometimes described as Putnam-Doyle, for inclusion of the nearby ghost town of Putnam. The post office in Doyle was open from 1891-1957, but was known as Wigginsville when it first opened in 1889. It was apparently named for Miss Jennie Doyle White Rogers.
According to Clarence White, from which all the following history is credited, the congregation was established in a brush arbor after the Civil War, and the present church building dates to at least 1888. The property was expanded by a gift from Ida Munroe, a professor and member of the Stevens family, large landowners and, formerly, slaveholders. Mr. White notes that Mount Zion served as anchor to the large African-American population of the communities of Putnam and Doyle.
A schoolhouse [in use until the construction of an Equalization School in Buena Vista in 1957] and the White Pearl Lodge #30 were located near the church. The lodge was destroyed by a tornado in the 1940s. Regarding the lodge, Mr. White wrote: Annually, on the second Sunday in June the lodge held a public program and ceremony at Samuel Chapel, which was known as a “turn-out.” This dignified event had a measure of simple, rural formality in an atmosphere of gentility and community fellowship. Lodge members dressed similarly, including the wearing of ceremonial badges. Unforgettable feasts were spread on the churchyard at the conclusion of the program; these were massive potlucks of meats, vegetables, salads, breads, cakes and pies brought by the women of the lodge in cardboard boxes and served with fresh-squeezed lemonade from one of the largest of galvanized tin tubs reserved for this singular use.
White’s description of this ritual is even more fascinating: The third Sunday in August was Big Meeting Day at Mt Zion, and nightly revival meetings (by kerosene lamp light before electricity) preceded the huge Sunday gathering. The occasion was a kind of festive homecoming attended by hundreds, many of whom returned from the Northern cities to which they had migrated beginning in the 1920s. There were concession stands that sold food and snacks. Cars and trucks overflowed the churchyard and were parked everywhere along Mt Zion Road, sometimes reaching to Highway 26. Moonshiners discreetly made their products available, being watchful for law enforcement officers who might suddenly appear. As the long day wore on, old family feuds might suddenly reignite. In addition to two services inside the church, there was a lively social scene outside the church. People came to see and be seen, to promenade—in their Sunday best. Indeed many attendees never set foot in the church; for them, visiting and being in the sprawling scene were how the much anticipated day was spent.
Hill’s Mill and its millpond have been landmarks of the Concord community in northern Schley County for well over a century.
According to Keith Hill, the great-great grandson of original owner Lewis Hill (1828-1904), the site of the mill has been in the family since before 1873. Slaughter Hill sold the land to his brothers, Lewis and Elbert (1838-1905) around that time. They were the children of Archibald (1803-1882) and Samantha Barfield Hill (1807-1863) of Taylor County.
Keith Hill has done extensive research on the mill and notes that the pond and dam were in place at the time of the 1873 sale, but apparently, not the mill. It was built some time in the last quarter of the 19th century, but isn’t documented by deed until 1902, at which time Lewis bought out Elbert’s part of the business. Lewis’s widow, Mary, sold the property to Henry Hurst in 1905, and a year later, Hurst sold it to the Hills’ half-brother, Josiah Hill (1868-1931). The property changed hands numerous times over the next few decades but returned to family in 1944, and to my knowledge, is still in their possession. It was in use at least until 1955.
This location remains one of the most beautiful places in the county, and is well-loved by generations, for its association with milling corn, cotton, and lumber at various times, but also as a favorite recreational spot. It is located on private property.
This historic farmstead is located near the Broad Level community of northern Long County, an area that was once a center of turpentine production and timber cultivation. There are several surviving barns and outbuildings, including one roofed with Ludowici Tile. I’m not sure about its history, but chances are it was connected in some way to the turpentine industry. It has been relatively well preserved, a great example of a “middle class” working farm from the early years of the 20th century.
