Jake’s Places has been an important cultural center in Darien’s historically black Mentionville neighborhood for decades. Built by Army veteran Jake Mention and his brother Carl, along with Parker Theis, Oren Porter, and Frank Mann. It was a once a stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit and legends like Percy Sledge, The Temptations, Pigmeat Markham, The Main Ingredient, Junior Walker, and Jackie Wilson all played here. The Todd Grant High School also held their proms here for many years.
These ruins caught my eye. It appears they’re all that remain of Erick, a lost community situated along the Seaboard Rail line in western Wheeler County.
Joseph Summer writes: This was my great grandfather’s store. His name was Joshua R. Sumner. He died in 1937 at which time my great uncle, Will Sumner, ran the store. He died in 1964. My great grand father also had a cotton gin that was located next to this store.
This house is a bit of a landmark on US 17, north of Brunswick. I notice it every time I drive past it, because it seems so out of place. Its condition is rapidly deteriorating. It appears to have been built in the American Foursquare style, with slight modifications. I’m sure it’s one of the oldest houses on US 17 in Glynn County.
Update: As of late 2019, this house has been demolished.
I admire this house every time I’m in Norwood. Sherie Shivers Luffman writes: The “Gothic Revival House” in Norwood, GA, belonged to my grandmother, Lucinda Hill Sisson (Miss Tinnie) and her husband, Edwin Sisson who owned Sisson Mercantile in Norwood for many years. “Miss Tinnie” had two sons by a previous marriage to a Wilkes, and her son, John Wilkes, who was a rural mail carrier, inherited the house. “Miss Tinnie” also had 4 children by her 2nd husband after she became widowed. They were Edwin Sisson, Jr., Jim Sisson, Helen Sisson Cole and my mother, Martha Sisson Shivers.
Update: Charlotte White writes: Unfortunately, this beautiful old home burned to the ground in the Spring of 2019.
Sadly, Leary’s small commercial core on Main Street is greatly endangered. The only building that appears to be in really good condition is the Masonic Lodge (brick building with arched windows).
As of late 2016, I understand the building on the left has been razed. Bob Kemerait shared this photo.
The Mission Revival style saw its greatest popularity between 1890-1915. Once relatively popular in South Georgia, few examples survive in good condition. I don’t know if this was always a hardware store; the Ace sign likely dates to the 1970s, indicating it was open until at least that time.
I first though this was a juke joint, considering its small size and location just outside the city limits of Morgan. Shawn Weathersby wrote that it might be associated with the Milner Grist Mill but Toni Milner writes: It is an old beer joint. My grandfather Sonny “Plunk” Milner sold beer out of it back in the day. The Grist Mill is housed in the building to the left of this building.
The grand two-story plantation home of Mr. & Mrs. Allen Stevens once stood at this site on the Medway River. All that remain are a few outbuildings. I’m not sure when the house was built. I got the impression from the present owner, Allen Fillingame, that the site was never a working plantation in the historic sense and wasn’t even built until the late 1950s.
Meredith Belford writes: This was owned by my grandfather John Porter Stevens’ brother Allen to whom he had given money to purchase the property as a straw buyer. Allen refused to sign the property over and decided to keep it. According to my mother and her best friend who were there, the brothers had a brawl over the deal at the property on December 7, 1941. Obviously, other events that day overshadowed the brothers’ altercation.
My understanding of the property’s history is that it contained the site of the main square in colonial Sunbury at the head of the Sunbury Road. As the town declined in the 19th and early 20th centuries, many of the town lots were consolidated resulting in a larger tract including the home site you are discussing and the area known as The Pointe.
It was separated from the Screven family’s Seabrook Plantation by a few other parcels. Seabrook Plantation included the area around the boat ramp all the way south along Dickinson Creek to Springfield and Palmyra Plantations (owned by the Stevens, Baker, and Maxwell interrelated families since the 1750s). Seabrook was subdivided into 7 parcels in the 1800s by Screven descendants. The northernmost parcel—running from Marshview Drive to around the boat ramp—was sold and subdivided prior to 1930. My grandfather purchased the other 6 contiguous parcels in 1930. These are now under permanent conservation easement.
The entrance was quite elaborate, among the most ornamental on the coast. The two enclosed terraces were once filled with oleander, surely a fantastic site when they were in full bloom. The view of the river hearkens to a time of much grander properties, more akin to those on the Mississippi River than the Georgia coast. The house burned at some point, many years ago, and these outbuildings are all that remain.
Garage
Ostrich Barn/Kennel
Storage Barn
Guest House
Cold War Fallout Shelter
I understand (as of 2021) that the site has been completely cleared of the remaining structures.
Jerry Whigham writes: This is my grandfather’s (Jim Whigham) house that he built by hand in 1951. He lived here until 1990. In 1951 power lines were run down this highway. He was already living on this property in an older house near the old barn about a quarter or half mile back from the highway, but it was cheaper for him to build a new house near the road than to have electrical service run back to the existing house. He used his own trees for lumber which he took to the sawmill. He used his own labor. He also used parts and pieces from the old house. My father (Joseph Neal Whigham) wired or helped him wire the house.
Update: As of 2018, this house has been torn down.
