The Georgia State Prison at Reidsville was open from 1937 until 2022. The main building, seen above, was the work of the Atlanta architectural firm of Tucker & Howell in the Stripped Classical style and was completed in late 1936 but not occupied until 1937. It cost $1.5 million and was funded by the Public Works Administration, a New Deal agency. One wall of the structure features an idealistic frieze with sculptures of various men at work by famed sculptor Julian Harris entitled “Rehabilitation”. The prison was built at a time when Southern prisons and chain gangs were coming under serious criticism in the national press and by Congress for their poor conditions. Robert Elliott Burns’s bestselling book I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!, published in 1932, put a particularly unwelcome focus on Georgia. The reforms that followed were an ongoing process, and were fully embraced by Governor Ellis Arnall in 1942. As the state’s crime rate grew rapidly along with the population, more structures were added. The Rogers State Prison is located near the closed Georgia State Prison, as is the prison cemetery.
According to Tattnall County: “The Georgia General Assembly passed a law on August 16, 1924 that abolished hanging for all capital crimes. From that point forward, instead of being hanged by the sheriff of the county or judicial circuit where their crimes had occurred, the condemned were to be electrocuted at the Georgia State Prison at Milledgeville. During that year an electric chair was installed in the prison, and the first execution in that method occurred on September 13, 1924.“
“On January 1, 1938 the execution chamber was relocated to the new Georgia State Prison at Reidsville. In the 1940s and 1950s, volunteers were offered $25 to flip the switches which would start the flow of electricity and eventually lead to the death of the prisoner. Executions were moved to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison near Jackson, in Butts County, in June 1980. The state’s old electric chair can still be found in the museum on the upper floors of the main building, as well as prison documents containing names, authorizations and last statements of the prisoners.“
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was transferred from the DeKalb County Jail in Decatur, Georgia, to Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Georgia. He was released on October 27, 1960 on a $2,000 bond [after intervention by John F. Kennedy]. GSP also housed radical activist H. Rap Brown, now known as Jamil Al-Amin. Al-Amin was the chairman of SNCC in the late 1960s. In 2007, he was transferred to a federal facility where he now resides. The facility also housed notorious Atlanta killer Wayne Williams.”
Georgia State Prison was also the site of the execution of Lena Barker, the only woman to face the death penalty in the state in the modern era. Baker was later exonerated.
The Longest Yard, a popular movie starring Burt Reynolds and Eddie Albert, was filmed at the prison.
Peggy Bramblette recently reached out to let us know that the historic New Perry Hotel, perhaps the best-known symbol of this Middle Georgia town, was facing possible demolition. A week passed and I was not surprised to learn that the demolition is imminent. I’ve witnessed a long history of developers convincing local politicians to agree to the erasure of local landmarks without much oversight. When places like the New Perry Hotel are lost, communities almost always regret it; numerous people in Perry have spoken out against the demolition and it has received a fair amount of local news coverage. You can sign a petition here, though it may ultimately have little impact.
The owners, Triple P Holdings, have applied for a demolition permit, and it seems, the City of Perry is poised to endorse what would be a horrible end for one of their most important historic landmarks. Their boilerplate statement suggests the demolition is all but a done deal. [Note the words in bold font, which echo numerous statements I’ve read before similar properties were destroyed]: “As we celebrate Perry’s 200th Birthday, we reflect on our rich heritage and cherished memories of Perry’s past. The New Perry Hotel serves as a nostalgic reminder of bygone eras while holding a special place in the hearts of Perry’s past and present residents. Regrettably, the New Perry Hotel has remained vacant for many years and is in a state of disrepair. We are confident the current property owners have a vision for redevelopment which respects Perry’s legacy and meets the quality standards expected by the Perry community. Just as we honor the visionaries who laid the foundation for Perry’s success, we must also embrace the responsibility of ensuring that Perry remains a dynamic and thriving community for future generations.”
The New Perry Hotel is not only important for its cultural prominence in the community, but as a woman-owned business from a time when that was uncommon. The 1925 redesign of the structure, incorporating earlier structures, was overseen by owner Rochelle Cheeves Skellie.
Update: This property was demolished in July 2024.
Thomas Jefferson Johnson (1793-1847), who came from Pulaski County to southwest Georgia in the early 1820s to establish a plantation, was one of the legislators responsible for the creation of Thomas County in 1825. The county was named for one of Johnson’s relatives, soldier-architect Gen. Jett Thomas (1776-1817).
Dairy Complex, designed by Abram Garfield, 1928. This now houses the Visitors Center.
Johnson built his first house on the property that came to be known as Pebble Hill circa 1825 and married Jane Wilkinson Hadley in 1827. According to the National Register of Historic Places, it was “…a simple two-story dwelling with farm outbuildings and slave cabins nearby.”
Statue of a prized bird dog, one of several found throughout the property. Pansy Poe was an avid sportswoman long before it was fashionable and dogs were her greatest passion.
Jane died after the birth of their third child and Johnson remarried in 1839, to Martha Evans Everett. They had no children. Julia Ann was the only one of Johnson’s three children to live to adulthood.
Log dogtrot cabin, used as a schoolhouse and playhouse. Built in 1901 for Kate Harvey’s children, it’s the oldest surviving structure at Pebble Hill.
At the time of Johnson’s death in 1847, he owned 3000 acres and twenty slaves, who made the plantation a model of self-sufficiency.
Walkway to main house
When Martha Johnson died in 1850, the property was inherited by Julia Ann, who married John William Henry Mitchell, Sr., soon afterward.
Main house, 1936
The Mitchells replaced the original house with a more refined structure, commissioning English-born architect John Wind, who had already built many fine area homes and the Thomas County Courthouse.
Formal garden in front of the main house, designed circa 1934 by V. Ethylwyn Harrison, one of America’s first female landscape architects
Their eldest daughter, Jane Temperance Mitchell, complained of constantly sweeping pebbles from the walkways around the house, and complained that the family lived on a “pebble hill”. The name has been synonymous with the property ever since.
Tunnel arbor
Mr. Mitchell entered Confederate service late in the Civil War, as an adjutant of local militia, serving in the defense of Atlanta at the request of Governor Joseph E. Brown, but upon returning home to a greatly reduced labor force, died from pneumonia in March 1865.
Side of main house
The land was subdivided among the Mitchell heirs in 1876. Julia Ann and her children, Jane Temperance Stevens, Martha Josephine Stubbs, Mary Elizabeth (Bettie) Davenport, and John W. H. Mitchell, Jr. all received parcels. Julia Ann died in 1881.
Whimsical statuary at side entrance of house. There are several of these, all with different instruments, and two turkeys, as well.
By the 1890s, Pebble Hill as it had existed in its heyday had been further subdivided and sold to Horace J. McFarlan of New Jersey.
Pool and fountain in the arbor behind the main house
During this time, Thomasville and Thomas County had become a popular destination for wealthy Northern tourists seeking winter relief.
View from formal garden behind the main house
After briefly being owned by McFarlan and Thomasville judge Henry W. Hopkins, Pebble Hill was purchased by Howard Melville ‘Mel’ Hanna circa 1900. In 1901, Hanna gave Pebble Hill to his daughter, Kate Hanna Ireland. Mrs. Ireland increased the size of the property to around 4000 acres in short order and brought her children, Robert Livingston ‘Liv’ Ireland and Elizabeth ‘Pansy’ Ireland for long visits each winter.
Rear elevation showing the central section of the main house
They began spending more time in Thomas County and became very attached to the property. Kate Ireland added gardens near the main house, increased the living space through the construction of a new wing, and built structures to accommodate the growing number of visitors who came to hunt and explore the land.
Pebble Hill Plantation Cemetery
Kate established a championship Jersey herd in the 1920s and with it, a corporate function of the plantation, known as Pebble Hill Products.
Magnificent oaks are found throughout the property
Kate divorced in 1919 and married Perry Williams Harvey, an executive with the Hanna Company in Cleveland. The focus of the Pebble Hill property at this time had shifted to a shooting plantation. In fact, it was the crown jewel of the Thomas County quail plantations. My friend Joe Kitchens, who served as the first director of Pebble Hill when the site opened to the public in 1983, and who wrote the text accompanying Hank Margeson’s photographs in The Quail Plantations of South Georgia & North Florida (UGA Press, 1991), gives an excellent background at his Longleaf Journal: “There is history behind this story. When the railroads first began bringing northern tourists and outdoors men and women to Georgia, the track literally ended in Thomasville. Below was Florida- still malaria and yellow fever country. In addition to its comfortable winter weather, the “piney woods” of Thomasville offered health benefits- or so it was claimed-as well as outdoor adventure. Five large resort hotels, a carriage course around the town and a “Yankee Paradise” Park attracted winter visitors from the “frozen north.” Horseback riding, coaching, fishing for largemouth base (gigantic in the warm waters of nearby alligator-infested lakes, Iamonia and Miccossuki), and above all the chance to shoot quail (not “hunt”- in sporting parlance the dogs “hunted” and the humans “shot”). Dogs, horses, warm weather and shooting. An enticing alternative to freezing weather, snow and soot- filled air in Cleveland and other northern cities…Many of the new owners were partners and beneficiaries of the boom in oil-and the monopolizing enterprise of John D. Rockefeller, whose Standard Oil Company made Cleveland the heartland of financial and industrial ambition. Among those who flourished there were the Hannas, the family and kin of Senator Mark Hanna of Ohio. Hanna emerged as a “king maker” in national politics by managing the campaign of presidential aspirant William McKinley. Mark Hanna seems to have nourished ambitions of being president himself. In the Gilded Age, potential Republican presidential candidates were vetted in Thomasville by the wintering millionaires. A grand niece of Mark Hanna, Mrs. Parker Barrington Poe, or “Pansy” as she was universally known, owned Pebble Hill. It was said you could walk across Thomas County and never leave Hanna- owned land.”
This appears to housing for workers, or a small office.
The National Register of Historic Places notes: “Large expanses of land were burned off each season to allow freedom of movement for both wildlife and hunters, and fields of corn and other grains were planted and left, unharvested, to attract game birds, particularly quail. Local residents were hired and trained to assist in running the plantation and in organizing the hunts. Since hunting season meant many guests remained for extended periods, a large house staff was required to meet the needs of the family. To house all of these workers, cottages were constructed on the grounds. More than sixty such families lived on the property.”
Plantation Store, 1911. This is where Pebble Hill Products were sold to plantation workers and others.
During this period, Kate oversaw an expansion of the built environment at Pebble Hill, commissioning numerous support structures and landscaping that reflected her passion for the property.
Overflow Cottage, Circa 1917. This accommodated guests when the main house was full.
Abram Garfield, son of President James A. Garfield, designed a complex of service buildings, including a dairy, cow barn, stables, and a carriage house. Apartments and offices for workers were also constructed at this time.
Nurses’ Station, 1929
Besides Easter and Christmas celebrations for the employees and their families, Black workers were feted on Emancipation Day. This was unheard of in the rest of the South, but Northern Republicans of this time were quite progressive and it was the norm at Pebble Hill and other plantations in Thomas County.
Nurses’ station, interior
Perry Harvey died in 1932, and in 1934, the historic plantation house was destroyed in a fire that left just a 1914 expansion wing intact.
Dog Hospital, 1920s
Kate Harvey again called on Abram Garfield to build a new residence, and V. Ethylwyn Harrison, one of the few female landscape architects in the nation, designed new gardens and landscape features to complement the house.
Fire House, 1920s. The constant danger of fire made a working fire engine a necessity.
Another innovation at the plantation in the early 1930s was felt throughout Thomas County, thanks to Kate Harvey’s foresight. The Pebble Hill School and Visiting Nurse Association was ahead of its time and was encouraged and supported by other plantation owners. At a time when simple medical care was out of reach for many in this region, Kate Harvey provided registered nurses who traveled throughout the county tending to sick plantation workers and other laborers.
‘The Waldorf’, 1929. This was the plantation laundry.
In May 1936, just four months after the completion of the house, Kate Harvey died.
‘The Waldorf’, interior
Elizabeth ‘Pansy’ Ireland inherited the estate and spent the rest of her life preserving its legacy, especially the improvements her mother had made during her ownership.
Kitchen garden shed, 1920s
She also inherited her mother’s love of the outdoors and of Pebble Hill itself, and continued many of the traditions associated with the property.
Kitchen garden, 1917
She was one of the few female polo players of her era, and kept several champion thoroughbred horses on the property.
Mrs. Poe’s ‘speed limit’ sign
She also owned over a hundred hunting dogs at one time, even building a dog hospital and luxury kennels.
Pump house, Circa 1929
She married Parker Barrington Poe (1914-1991) in 1946 and at the time of her death in 1978, had established a foundation to preserve Pebble Hill in perpetuity and to open it for public visitation.
Kennel Cottage, Circa 1928. Also known as ‘Mack’s House’, for kennel manager Mack McQueen, this housed the kennelman and his family.
Mr. Poe oversaw this transition and the site was opened in 1983. It remains the finest example of the hunting plantations that put Thomas County on the map.
Learning Center
Pebble Hill not only offers a rare glimpse into plantation life, but is a living museum of two centuries of agriculture, architecture, social change, and preservation.
Traveler’s Rest was built upon land granted to Major Jesse Walton in 1785 for his service in the Revolutionary War. Walton was killed by indigenous people near this site in 1789. The Walton family sold the land to Gen. James Rutherford Wyly (1782-1855), who built the original section of the house between 1816-1825. The property was purchased by Devereaux Jarrett (1785-1852) in 1838. Jarrett expanded the original structure to ten rooms. He opened it to the public as an inn, trading post, and post office, to meet the needs of a growing population made possible by the Unicoi Turnpike, an early public road in the area. Among its early guests was G. W. Featherstonehaugh, and English scientist who served as the first geologist for the U. S. government and a surveyor of the Louisiana Purchase.
This 1934 photograph by Branan Sanders for the Historic American Buildings Survey shows Traveler’s Rest looking much as it does today, albeit a bit overgrown. Courtesy Library of Congress.
It was known as Jarrett Manor during that family’s ownership. Notably, the last owner, Mary Jarrett White (1870-1957), was the first woman in Georgia to vote. The site is open, with limited hours, as a state historic site today.
There are no known contemporary images of a woman enslaved by Stephen Heard known simply as Mammy Kate, but early references described her as imposing, over 6 feet tall, very strong and fearless. She also declared herself to be the daughter of an African king. These firsthand accounts are part of an oral tradition among the descendants of Stephen Heard that have elevated Mammy Kate to near mythological status for her bravery in freeing Heard from his British captors at Augusta during the American Revolution.
On 14 February 1779, Heard was present at the Battle of Kettle Creek and was subsequently captured and imprisoned at Fort Cornwallis in Augusta. He would have been executed had he remained there. Hearing of his capture, Mammy Kate set out on his horse, Lightfoot, and after reaching Augusta, gained the trust of the British soldiers at Fort Cornwallis by doing their laundry, and therefore got close to Heard. The story goes that she convinced him to get into a basket and she carried him out on her head. This part may be apocryphal, but is central to the story. She did in fact get Stephen Heard safely back to Fort Heard, (present-day Washington, Georgia). Mammy Kate was given her freedom for this daring act, as well as a small plot of land and a four-room house. She continued to live at Heardmont alongside her husband, Daddy Jack, who remained enslaved and worked as Heard’s gardener. Ironically, Mammy Kate left her nine children to Stephen Heard’s children upon her death. It does raise questions as to the broader relationship dynamics at work but there is nothing to be found, even in genealogical resources that I’ve consulted.
Published accounts of this story emphasize that Mammy Kate lived in “freedom from care and want” and that she loved her “kind” master. It should be pointed out that, ultimately, African-Americans, even free African-Americans, didn’t have carefree lives or a sense of self determination at this time and such accounts should be taken at face value and within a broader context.
Daddy Jack (Heard)-Birth and death dates unknown, Heard Cemetery, Elbert County
Even less is known about Daddy Jack than Mammy Kate. I was unable to find any mention of their countries of origin in Africa or their children.
A 2011 article in the Athens-Banner Herald notes that Mammy Kate was the first Black woman in Georgia honored as a patriot by the Sons of the American Revolution and Daughters of the American Revolution. Daddy Jack was also afforded this honorific. Heard’s descendants, who have diligently worked to preserve family stories over the centuries, were happy to see the recognition for Mammy Kate and Daddy Jack.
Mammy Kate (Heard)- Birth and death dates unknown. Heard Cemetery, Elbert County
The very presence of two marble slabs bearing their names in the Heard Cemetery is proof that Mammy Kate and Daddy Jack were held in high esteem. Unfortunately, there are no birth or death dates on their memorials. They were likely installed at the same time, possibly years after their deaths. I can’t think of another enslaved man or woman who died before Emancipation that are honored in this way, though I imagine there could be a few in existence.
Just past the group shelter as you approach the cabin, you’ll see this marker, noting the location of a spring on Nancy Hart’s property at Wahachee Creek. It was erected by the New Deal Works Progress Administration and the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1936, as part of ongoing work inside the Nancy Hart park.
Though to my knowledge she never made a flag, Nancy Hart (c.1735-1830) is the Georgia equivalent to Betsy Ross, in the sense that she’s the best known woman of the Revolutionary War era in the state. As a spy and combatant, she far exceeded the expectations of her gender at the time. She’s also the only woman to be the namesake of a county in Georgia; nearby Hart County was so named in 1853. The city of Hartwell, and Lake Hartwell also bear her name. At the outset of the Civil War, a group of wives of Confederate soldiers in LaGrange formed a militia group to protect the home front and called themselves the Nancy Harts.
Though details about her life are varied and sometimes in conflict, most historians believe Nancy Hart was born Nancy Ann Morgan in the Yadkin River Valley of North Carolina circa 1735. She was a cousin of Daniel Morgan, who commanded a successful American force at the Battle of Cowpens. She married Lieut. Benjamin Hart (1732-1802), himself a relative of Thomas Hart Benton and Henry Clay. Her family came to the Broad River Valley of Georgia in the early 1770s, just as tensions between Tories, English soldiers and other British sympathizers were coming to a head. As to her personal qualities, Clay Ouzts writes: “…Aunt Nancy,” as she was often called, was a tall, gangly woman who towered six feet in height. Like the frontier she inhabited, she was rough-hewn and rawboned, with red hair and a smallpox-scarred face. She was also cross-eyed. One early account pointed out that Hart had “no share of beauty—a fact she herself would have readily acknowledged, had she ever enjoyed an opportunity of looking into a mirror.” And, her “physical appearance was matched by a feisty personal demeanor characterized by a hotheaded temper, a fearless spirit, and a penchant for exacting vengeance upon those who offended her or harmed her family and friends. Local Indians soon began to refer to her as “Wahatche,” which may have meant war woman“.”
The greatest legend about Nancy Hart was that she killed six Tories who had come to her cabin looking for a patriot (Whig) leader whom she’d just help escape. Details of the event have emerged as fact and folklore, but the story goes that the Tories killed one of her turkeys, ordered her to prepare it and feed it to them, and became drunk on the wine she served. After killing two of them with their own weapons, she held the others captive while reinforcements were gathered. The survivors were then hung from a nearby tree. Some proof of this may have been uncovered, literally, when railroad crews unearthed six human skeletons near the site of the original cabin, in 1912.
A bronze plaque notes that this replica of Nancy Hart’s cabin was built by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1932, at the approximate site of the original and using some of the original bricks in the chimney.
After the war, Nancy became quite religious, later moved to Brunswick and upon Benjamin’s death in 1802, returned to her Broad River homesite, which had at some point flooded and washed away the cabin. After briefly residing in Athens with her son, John Hart, they settled near relatives in Henderson County, Kentucky, where Nancy spent the rest of her life.
I’m glad that such a fascinating character in Georgia history is remembered. There may be as many myths as truths in her story, but she certainly embodies the spirit of resistance that flowered in Georgia during the Revolutionary War.
The Welaunee Mill was built on the site of the old Phillips Mill, the oldest mill in Porterdale, and is similar to the Porterdale Mill across the Yellow River but on a smaller scale. The architecture is the same, incorporating continuous rows of segmental-arched windows and a four-story tower. Welaunee was the third and last facility built in the modern mill era that defined Porterdale.
Porterdale Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Osprey Mill was built on the north side of the Yellow River, west of downtown Porterdale. It was the second mill build in the modern era and with a large complex of supporting structures, was the largest mill in town. I believe it was the last of the three, still in operation, and while originally similar in appearance to the Porterdale and Welaunee Mills, was modernized at some point to accommodate changing work requirements.
Porterdale Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Built as a gift to the people of Porterdale by James H. Porter in memory of his father and Porterdale founder Oliver Saffold Porter (1836-1914), the Porter Memorial Gym was one of the main gathering places in the community until the decline of the mills. It was designed by one of Georgia’s first female architects, Ellamae Ellis League.
Though a 2005 fire destroyed much of the structure and collapsed the roof, the foundation and walls remain were re-enforced and the site is occasionally used for gatherings and community events.
Porterdale Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
As evident in this photograph, and the one below, the Julia A. Porter Church commands a high point in downtown Porterdale, dominating the skyline when seen from the Yellow River bridge.
According to a church history, Rev. Firley Baum was appointed the first pastor of the “Porterdale Mission” by the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1903. 35 charter members joined the Porterdale Church and first met in the Community Building, and from 1917 until the construction of the present structure, the met in the Porterdale School. Rev. J. J. Mize led a capital campaign for the construction of the new church, which was completed in 1925. James Hyde Porter (1873-1949) was the largest benefactor and asked only that the church be named for his mother, Julia Antoinette McCracken Porter (1838-1926), which it was. Mrs. Porter was known for her charitable work within the mill community and was turned the first shovel of dirt and was present at the dedication. One source states she died a year later but her gravestone records the date as 1926. Her charitable works continue not only within the congregation but through a foundation that still sustains the community.
Porterdale Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
