A lot of people pass by places like this and don’t realize their significance. Country stores were necessary not only for household needs but as community centers in rural locations. One might wonder today how these places ever survived, so far out in the country, but they often thrived.
This old general store is located west of Roberta. It’s still serving the community, albeit in a different way, as the Greenway Farms Market store.
This pressed-tin false front building appears to have been a warehouse of some kind. It’s one of several interesting false front structures in Lyerly. False front refers to a gable front structure that has had a rectangular front added. This is meant to make the building look larger and was very common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
These photographs date to 2009 and 2017, respectively. I’ve always been fascinated by this house. It’s a board-and-batten hall-and-parlor with an attached kitchen. I’m not sure it’s still standing.
While technically not a ghost town, Coverdale is a small place. It was originally known as Cloverdale, but an error by a post office official changed the name to Coverdale. Locals still know it as Cloverdale. The store has probably been around about as long as the community has been in existence and has had few owners. A post office served C(l)overdale from 1914-1922.
Through photos shared in social media, I’ve learned that this house, known as the Marcus McNair House, is presently being dismantled. I believe the lumber and other elements are being salvaged. This is an important vernacular house and it’s my understanding that it has remained in the same family since it was built in 1884. I’m glad I was able to document it and am glad the family did their best to save the house as long as they could. It’s very expensive to maintain these large old houses and in some cases, the liabilities outweigh the benefits. Preservation should always be the first option, but it’s not for me, or anyone else, to judge what someone does with their own property. I’m sure it was a difficult decision to go forward with this process.
This old shotgun-style warehouse is located across the street from Denham’s One-Stop. Alva Ray Denham (1922-1983) was the son of Marcus N. Denham (1887-1965), who came to Sycamore from Upson County and married Beulah Ray (1892-1942), a local girl. The Denhams were very active in many aspects of the local economy and social life. This photo dates to 2014.
For much of the 20th century, Denham’s One-Stop was the busiest store in Turner County. Before anyone ever thought of Wal-Mart, there was Denham’s One-Stop. It had a regular storefront and warehouses, like the one seen above, and as a true general store sold almost anything one might need to run a household. Generations of South Georgia schoolchildren from this region made ritual trips to Sycamore to stock up for the year ahead. Nothing like it survives in the area today.
This was one of the first places I photographed when I began the Vanishing Georgia project in 2007-2008. Nearly every small South Georgia town would have had a business like this at one time but many have been absorbed into more general agribusiness operations in the modern era.
Wynn’s Garage was a Sycamore landmark for many years. Joy Jones Gregory writes: I remember going to Mr. Julius Wynn’s garage as a young child, with my father. The oil smell, the pot belly heater, an several men always sitting around the warmth. The one other thing I remember was the sign on the wall. It said” if you spit on the floor at home, go home and spit.”
This replaces a post originally published in 2009.
This utilitarian cottage appears to be quite old, though I can’t locate a history or construction date. My best guess as to a date would be 1880-1910. I’ll be posting a few more re-edits from Palmetto over the next day or two and hope to learn more about them.