As I’m re-editing my entire website, I keep locating photographs I’ve never posted. These structures have been renovated a bit since I made this shot, but Major’s Barber & Beauty Shop is still located here. The Supersonic Record Shop next door has closed.
Fort Valley Downtown and Railroad Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
I’ve been collecting Georgia postcards since I was a teenager and have several thousand now. Besides my hometown, my favorite area to collect is the coast, Jekyll Island especially. This is just a small sampling of my Jekyll Island collection. Besides interesting glimpses into an earlier time, the cards are important primary historical sources. All of these images are in the public domain.
Having spent countless vacations with my parents on Jekyll, it’s a part of my history. Hand-colored Albertypes are my favorite cards and are among the most sought-after of the Jekyll Island cards.
The island was a haven for millionaires and some of the most famous American families during the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras, and the postcards produced for members of the Jekyll Island Club were quite special. You’ll note that on some of the cards, Jekyll is spelled “Jekyl”. I’m not sure why the distinction, since the island’s namesake, Sir Joseph Jekyll, spelled his name with two “l”s.
Many of the Albertypes focus on the natural and undeveloped aspects of the island, which luckily, can still be seen today.
Bicycling was all the rage in the early 1900s. The card pictured below shows one of several bicycle paths maintained for the enjoyment of club members.
The beach buildings in the card below were for use by members of the Jekyll Island Club. They look quite primitive by today’s standards.
Golf was first brought to Jekyll by members of the Jekyll Island Club and remains a popular pastime today.
Women were as involved in golf on Jekyll as men, as this view suggests.
Golf was probably more popular than sunbathing in the Club Era, at least with adults.
Mistletoe, as the house was known, is virtually unchanged today.
This multi-view card was published by Brunswick booksellers Fleming & Bryant. Along with H. O. Lederer, they were the primary publishers of early Jekyll Island cards. Featured are Solterra, which burned in 1914, Goodyear Cottage, and Mistletoe.
Like H. O. Lederer, Fleming & Bryant focused on the club grounds, as well as natural scenes like the one below.
On of my favorite cards is this moonlight view of the Jekyll River.
Several commercial publishers besides the Albertype Company were also distributing nice views of the island.
The Clubhouse features prominently in many of them. The view below, showing Solterra Cottage and its dovecote* on the left and Faith Chapel on the right, is a nice perspective, possibly made from the turret on the clubhouse. *-The dovecote survived the fire and is still standing.
The grand appearance of this home belies its simple beginnings circa 1842. Within a few years of its construction, a second floor was added and the house given a Greek Revival treatment. In 1885, Judge John S. Bigby bought the home as a wedding gift for his daughter, Callie Bigby Parrott. Around this time, the house was converted to its present Stick Style Victorian appearance. Some might think it looks like The Addams Family house from television, and stylistically, it’s quite similar. But the similarities end there. This house is well-maintained and while it too has been called into service by Hollywood as a haunted house, it’s one of the most iconic addresses in Newnan.
In 1936 the house was bought by the Camp family who sold it to Chuck and Doris Soucy in 1984. The Soucys completely renovated the house and grounds and operated it as a nationally known bed and breakfast for many years.
When I made this photograph in 2017, the house had been repainted for its use as a set location in the movie The House with a Clock in its Walls. It was also a set location in The Odd Life of Timothy Green. It is generally painted a lighter color.
Greenville Street-LaGrange Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Macon was going through a bit of an architectural renaissance in the first decade of the 20th century and Neoclassical Revival mansions were being built throughout the city’s historic neighborhoods at a brisk pace. One of the finest was this yellow brick beauty, with a bowed portico, built for George Turpin. Later owners were Walter Grace and J. Freeman Hart, Jr. It was during the Hart’s ownership that the organization meeting of the Middle Georgia Historical Society was held in the home in 1964.
Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
J. Neel Reid was perhaps the busiest architect in the state when W. J. & O. J. Massee commissioned a large residential building in Macon. The resulting apartment tower, completed in 1924, quickly became a source of pride for the city.
In Reid’s papers, the Massee Apartments, as they’re known today, were referred to as the W. J. & O. J. Massee Apartment Hotel. The Georgian Revival landmark was one of the tallest buildings in Macon at the time of its construction, and remains a fashionable residential address in the College Street neighborhood.
Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This house, built circa 1845, has evolved over the years. Looking it the central section of the house, it appears to have originated as an Italianate or Greek Revival townhouse. It’s decidedly Second Empire in its present form [or, at least, Second Empire adjacent], and that style wasn’t in vogue in America until around 1860. My guess is that the mansard roof was added sometime after the Civil War and the brick veneer came even later. I haven’t been able to find the house in any of my books on Macon architecture, but I’m still looking.
Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This fine home is a good illustration of the transition from the Greek Revival to the Italianate style that became fashionable in the 1840s. This was accomplished by the addition of features such as overhanging eaves and buttresses or brackets. A recent survey dates the house to circa 1841, while the Middle Georgia Historical Society [MGHS] dates it to 1869. I believe this was when the Italianate features were added. The Neoclassical-inspired porch posts were likely added around the turn-of-the-century, reflecting the popularity of that style at the time. The MGHS states that it is, architecturally, one of the most important houses in the High Street area.
The first known owner was Virgil Powers, superintendent of the Southwestern Railroad, surveyor for the Macon-to-Savannah rail line in 1834, a city alderman, member of the Board of Education, and the board of the Orphanage of Bibb County. Considering Powers’s early presence in Macon, its not a stretch to imagine that he built the house as a Greek Revival, around the 1841 date, and altered it to the Italianate appearance in 1869.
Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Of the myriad early-20th-century architectural revivals, Tudor and English Vernacular are among my favorites for their functionality and simple design. This example displays a hallmark of the Tudor Revival, the timbered gable.
Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Rose Hill was the third cemetery established in Macon, after Fort Hill and the Old City Cemetery. Simri Rose (1799-1869), a Macon pioneer who helped in the planning of the city, was given a burial site of his choosing in return for designing the new cemetery. It was named in his honor. [NOTE: The images that accompany the text are randomly chosen. I plan on a much more extensive documentation of the cemetery this fall and will update here at that time.]
Rural, or garden, cemeteries in urban centers were growing in popularity in the mid-19th century and Rose Hill may be one of the first of its kind in the Southeast. In describing the cemetery’s location to the city council, Simri Rose, who had a horticultural and aesthetic background, wrote, in part: …situated about a half mile above the city on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, mostly on elevated ground, the highest point being 142 feet above its bed. Its entrance is through a lofty arched gate, constructed after the Doric order of architecture. The area of ground comprised within the enclosure is about 50 acres. Another spot could scarcely be found in any section of our country so much diversified, and comprising so many distinct objects and combinations going to form a perfect picture of rural beauty.
Rose continues: Many who have visited the cemeteries of the North, and even the far famed Mount Auburn, think it far inferior in natural beauty and location to Rose Hill. A prominent feature in its scenery is the Ocmulgee River, along which it extends nearly half of a mile. The banks are from thirty to sixty feet high, and generally rocky and precipitous, and form an impenetrable barrier to its approaches. The higher parts of the ground are nearly level, and laid out as places of interment; other places have been selected by many in the wildest parts almost overhanging the deep valleys. From the river deep and narrow dells penetrate the ground from fifty to two hundred yards, one of them divides it entirely near its center, through which a rivulet murmurs over a steep and rocky bed to the river. This is supplied by four springs, one at the head, outside the ground and three within it. The water of one is reputed to be the coolest and purest in this vicinity. It is most beautifully located, and is the most attractive spot for visitors...
During the Civil War, Macon was second only to Richmond in numbers of wounded soldiers in Confederate hospitals. Many of those men were buried near the places they died and the Macon Ladies Association facilitated their reinterment at Rose Hill in 1866.
The cemetery has grown over the years, and now records over 14,000 gravesites.
Governors of Georgia [including several county namesakes], Confederate Generals, and numerous other politicians and prominent business leaders are buried here. As the final resting place of several members of the Allman Brothers Band, Rose Hill has become a secular shrine, and one of the most visited places in Macon.
The roads that lead down to the river are quite steep and narrow. It’s best to park near the entrance gate and walk, if you’re able.
National Register of Historic Places
This is a great example of the more subtle Victorian styles popular in the mid-19th century, albeit a later example. Houses of this type tend to be more utilitarian than the higher style Queen Annes.
Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places