Bill Ricks writes: Previous owner, M. E. Powell of Soperton, told me that the car was used in the movie Murder in Coweta County starring Johnny Cash and Andy Griffith, and he bought it several years later from someone in Savannah. Powell had frequent contacts with Cash from the first time they met in the early 70s until Cash’s death. Mr. Powell said he gave the car to Tony Bush, owner of the Soperton Ice Plant Antiques store.
As of 2016, the car is no longer parked in front of the antique store. I assume it was sold.
Patsy Vickers Blackner writes: This is the Vickers family store. It was originally built by my grandfather, Carlie E. Vickers and it was run by the family until they built a new store in Douglas. Dena Vickers Cotti adds: That was my grandfather’s store. My father grew up in the white house behind it. The right side of the store was the old ice house. It was my dad’s responsibility to keep up with the ice house.
I believe the house is still here, but I’ve been told the old Galaxie 500 is gone. I’ve never been able to identify the house so I just call it the “Galaxie House”.
Update: After 13 years, I was delighted to hear from Alice Shores Dodson about this home: This house was the Tom and Rachel Hammett house. I can see Ms. Rachel driving that car to church at Reno Baptist many years. Mr. Tom drove the school bus for many years taking kids to Cairo after the Reno School closed in 1956. It’s all grown up now but would be a beautiful place if it was cleaned up.
The three gins at Portal represent one of the largest intact ginning sites I’ve found in my travels. Two are Lummus gins and one is a Centennial. This Lummus gin, with the International truck in front, belonged to F. N. Carter & Son [Freeman Noah Carter, Sr. (1887-1974)], which became E. C. Carter Farms [Ernest Cicero Carter, Sr. (1910-2000)]. This complex, handling everything from turpentine to general agriculture, was central to life in Portal for many years.
The Lummus system originated in New York during the Civil War, but relocated to Juniper, then Columbus, Georgia, during Reconstruction. Donna Bird Williams notes that one of the gins and the nearby storage buildings are owned by LeRoy T. Bird [Leroy Thelma Bird (1897-1982)] and Son. Donna is the granddaughter of LeRoy and the daughter of Richard E. Bird [Richard Erastus Bird (1930-2009)]. The Bird family ginning business dates to circa 1845.
This structure is smaller than the two Lummus gins contained in the same complex. It was built for F. N. Carter & Son by Centennial Cotton Gin Company of Columbus, Georgia. A local name for the street, Mullet Roe, can be seen on the sign above. Mullet Roe, of course, is really a form of Southern caviar but I like the tongue-in-cheek usage on the sign.
The actual name for this once-busy thoroughfare is Railroad Street.
This view looks toward the gins from the old freight warehouse.
One of several antique work trucks is parked under the shed beside the gin.
This is a close-up of the International R-190 seen in the first photograph. This line of classic work trucks was manufactured during the 1950s-1960s. I believe this is an early model.
Various storage buildings remain on the property, as well. A small office building (not pictured) also survives.
I can’t over-emphasize how important it is to see all these structures intact. They are a veritable living museum and symbolize a time when agriculture was dominant, and often the only industry, in rural Georgia.
