This historic depot is nearly identical to the Central of Georgia facility located in Toomsboro.
http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.com/2012/07/31/central-of-georgia-depot-1869-toomsboro/
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Central of Georgia Depot, 1869, Tennille
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Shearwood Railroad Depot & Commercial Ruins, Nevils
Though I pass through Nevils from time to time, I hadn’t photographed there since 2009. In fact, not long after my first images were made, a subscriber, SJ, wrote on 22 December 2009 that a wall had literally just collapsed on the building in the foreground. Here’s what it looked like before, not much better but it gives you an idea:
http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.com/2009/09/01/abandoned-store-2-nevils/
The Jack N. & Addie D. Averitt Foundation, a real credit to Bulloch County and the pursuit of history in general, recently placed this historic marker, entitled Nevils Station & Shearwood Railroad. It reads: This is the site of the Nevils railroad station. The paved road from Denmark to Nevils is the original bed of the Shearwood Railroad that existed from 1912 to 1937. John N. Shearhouse of Brooklet and George Brinson of Stillmore owned Shearwood Lumber Company in Brooklet. The began by opening the line from Clyo to Claxton. Farmers in the Nevils area promised to pay a large sum of money to run the line through the Sinkhole District. The railroad acquired right-of-way from Jake Nevils, the first merchant in the area.
Farmers depended on the Nevils Station for shipping carloads of watermelons and receiving tons of fertilizer. Here many residents began excursions to Savannah and Tybee, after buying picnic supplies at Mr. Nevils’ nearby store. The SR established a morning passenger-freight train leaving Egypt and serving Leefield, Brooklet, Denmark, Nevils, Claxton, and Hagan. Mr. Shearhouse was killed and his son seriously injured in a railroad accident in 1926. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the railroad declined and dissolved. The tracks and equipment were removed and sold for scrap. Although the depot served as a country store after 1945, it was eventually deserted.
I don’t know of any other surviving architecture of the Shearwood Railroad, but would love to know if any exists. I believe this building deserves depiction from many angles.
The yellow brick building with the Coca-Cola ghost mural below was a grocery/general merchandise store, but I don’t have any further background yet.
The town isn’t completely gone, though. There are a couple of stores and churches, as well as some nice old houses. I need to explore the area further sometime.
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Station No. 11, Central of Georgia Railroad, 1859, Bartow
One of the few antebellum railroad structures surviving in Georgia, this landmark has been restored and is used as the Bartow Museum. Among lots of local history you’ll learn about the unusually large number of famous people from this little town, including Roy Evans, inventor of the general purpose (g.p.) vehicle. It’s better known today as the jeep. To schedule a tour, call Peggy Jordan at (478) 364-4030.
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Railroad Avenue, Bartow
Bartow is a nice place to just get out of your car and walk around. There’s much I didn’t photograph on this trip but I’ll return as soon as I can.
The marble-front bank on the right was built in 1900.
The typical storefronts above appear to date to around 1900.
At the far end of Railroad Avenue, across from the depot stands this more modern structure with elements that would lead me to guess it was built in the 1920s. The old post Bartow post office was located in the far right section.
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Hotel Willard, Circa 1893, Helena
Truly one of my favorite structures in all of South Georgia, the venerable Hotel Willard with its fanlights and exotic turret is a real architectural gem whose future remains quite uncertain. I know little of its history, but just learned it was known for the longest time as the Hotel Willard, but also was called the Brick Inn and the Telfair Hotel, as well as serving for a time as the VFW Hall and at least one restaurant. The serendipitous discovery of an old postcard on Julian Williams’ popular local history page led to these revisions, as I had always labeled it the Telfair Hotel and assumed its construction date to be somewhere around 1911. Here are some clues shared on Vanishing South Georgia on an earlier post about the property.
Becky: “Read in a reference book in Telfair County Library, that it was built by the railroad. It has been called many names..The Brick Inn, The Willard Hotel, the Telfair Motor Lodge just to name a few. It states that it cost just 2 dollars a day to stay. Doesn’t give date of construction, but the railroad come to Helena in 1870s. Another photo dated 1893 of the wooden depot in Helena shows very tip of the hotel’s steeple in the background.”
Janice Green Scruggs: “Our family history story is that my great-grandfather, William Henry (Bill) Strom was a good stonemason and was brought from Edgefield, South Carolina, to help build the hotel for the railroad. This would have been around the 1880′s as he married my great-grandmother in 1885. There’s no proof this story is true and I”ve had no luck in finding info on when this hotel was built. It seems to me I did find a block on corner of building with a date of 1911…”
JoAnne Baldwin: “I was told the chandelier in the dining room was so large it took a boom from a Georgia Power truck to get it placed and installed. I was also told In the late 40′s the American Legion or VFW leased part of the building and had a bar/restaurant there.”
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Laura Finch: “My Uncle operated it the 1950,s. His name was Grady Finch. I visited here in the summer from Jacksonville, Florida. It was very nice. I remember helping set the table.Wish I could go inside one more time.”
Allen Ryals: “I was in this hotel six or seven years ago. It is structurally unsound to the extreme–almost falling down on the outer wall. If you look carefully at the current photo, you can see one section of the upper right brick wall has been rebuilt to prevent it falling down–and it is a crude, ugly job.. The hotel guest rooms themselves had some beautiful wood trim, floors, and paneling that may be salvaged. It would be a monumental and expensive task to restore this building–probably requiring tearing it down and completely rebuilding it . The building attached to it on the far right was my grandfather Clay Saunder’s garage and gas station in the 40′s. There was a hotel manager’s apartment in the back on the ground floor that had a lovely garden just outside. The manager’s wife was a friend of my mother’s, and I remember going over there to play in the garden as a small child in the late 40′s.”
John Smith: “My Uncle operated the Pure Oil service station that was on the back side of the hotel, facing us 341. The VFW club was located in the building and had a separate entrance. It moved to a location west of McRae and Mr. Finch opened a restaurant where the VFW had been. Eaten there many times as a young boy. The hotel sits about 100 yards south of where the Seaboard RR crossed the Southern RR and where the passenger depot was situated.”
http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.com/2009/12/08/telfair-hotel-helena/
On his excellent local history forum, Old Jacksonvilile, Ga: Where History Lives, Julian Williams shared Danny Harbin’s postcard of the hotel, then known as the Hotel Willard, dated 1910.
Real Photo Postcard by M. L. McGee, McRae, GA
http://www.pbase.com/jacksonville_ga/old_jacksonville_ga
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Seaboard Depot, Milan
This historic Seaboard Air Line depot has been restored.
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Brian’s Service Center, Jesup
Due to its location beside the depot, I believe this structure was first used for something related to the railroad.
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Southern Railway Caboose, Roberta
A marker at the caboose is dedicated to the memory of Clarence Moseley “Ribs” Peel (8 November 1897-8 October 1955) and his wife Jessie Blackwell Peel (5 May 1907-18 October 2001). Mr. Peel, who was a trainman with the Southern Railway for 38 years, died in a railroad accident near Hazlehurst. After receiving information (which later proved to be incorrect) that another train was fast approaching his, he made the supreme sacrifice of staying with his train so that his co-workers could disembark and be safe. Mrs. Peel considered this spot hallowed ground as her husband spent so much of his career here. The moving memorial was placed by their children, Bettie Jane Rigdon, Claudine Peel, Juanita Goodson, Carlise Moncrief, and Claire Mattox, in 2010.
Roberta Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
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Hawkinsville & Florida Southern Railway Caboose, Pineview
Chartered in 1896, the Hawkinsville & Florida Southern first ran from Hawkinsville to Worth, about three miles from Ashburn. They also operated a 15-mile branch line from Davisville to Fitzgerald. In 1907 the railroad was leased to The Gulf Line Railway and the two lines merged in 1909, retaining their names. The H&FS was bankrupt by 1922 and its tracks abandoned in 1923. It was an important presence in Pineview in its heyday. Due to the fact that the railroads retained their own names (Gulf Line and Hawkinsville & Florida Southern) this caboose is a commemoration and not an actual relic.
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Augusta Southern Railroad Depot, 1886, Warthen
Warthen Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Though the rail line was abandoned in 1933, this historic depot has remained a landmark of Warthen for over eighty years since. It’s been used as a private residence and retail space in that time. I’m not sure as to its present purpose, but it’s likely a municipal use.
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Vintage Railroad Sign, LaCrosse
It’s amazing that these old hobnail crossing signs are still in use.
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Rocky Ford Landing & The Foy Railroad, Ogeechee River
One of the first things you’ll likely notice at Rocky Ford Landing is this abandoned railroad trestle. Damaged by an Ogeechee flood in 1902, it represents a tangible link to an era of South Georgia lumber barons who would do anything to distribute their product, even if it meant building their own railroads. A 10-mile “shortline”, it was constructed in the early 1890s by the E. E. Foy Lumber Company to connect his naval stores operations in Portal to the Central of Georgia line at Rocky Ford and was abandoned by 1905. The business was highly profitable but ultimately unsustainable. After extracting turpentine from the rich forests of the region, Foy cut the timber and sold off the property, but not before making a boomtown of Portal, still known today as the Turpentine City. A 1903 Statesboro News article noted “A quarter of a century ago, Bulloch was a great pine forest and majestic pines covered every hill and dale from the Ogeechee to the Canoochee. Enough pine timber was in the county to have built a modern New York…The turpentine men came first and the big and little trees were all boxed until today only a few tracks of virgin timber are standing and it looks like an oasis in a great desert. After the turpentine operations came the sawmill men and the standing timber was slain at an alarming rate, until now timber is a scarce article. The naval stores men are moving away to Alabama and Mississippi and the saw mills will soon have to follow them, yet it had its benefits in the way of opening hundreds of new farms and a great influx of population so that where the stately pines used to grow and sing their weird songs, cotton and corn now grow in wealth in their place.”
It’s interesting to make a link to the history of the place while enjoying its natural charms. It’s a great spot to take a swim when the water is low enough and also a good put-in for a leisurely day of canoeing or kayaking.
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Savannah, Florida & Western Depot, Circa 1888, Metcalfe
Metcalfe Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Now home to a lumber company office, the old Metcalfe Depot is a wonderful survivor. It’s design was the standard of the short-lived Savannah, Florida & Western Railway (SF&W), known as a combination station for its use as a passenger and freight facility. Henry Plant built a line from Thomasville to Monticello, Florida, as part of the SF&W in 1888 and this depot likely dates to that year. Metcalfe was officially “founded” in 1889, likely a result of the coming of the rail line. After Plant’s death in 1899, disputes among his heirs lead to the break-up of the SF&W and the Atlantic Coast Line took over this route in 1902.
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Wrightsville & Tennille Depot, 1878
This landmark was restored in the 1990s and was recently updated with a coat of red paint. An effort should be made to have it added to the National Register of Historic Places.
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Seaboard Air Line Depot, Circa 1889, Parrott
Parrott Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Built circa 1889 for the Columbus Southern Railway, this small depot first saw service for Seaboard Air Line in 1890.
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Alma Depot, 1906
Built for use by a branch of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Alma’s depot has played an integral role in the history of Bacon County. A local credit union, which later became the Alma Exchange Bank, was founded here in 1930 and was housed in the depot until 1939. Though some restoration has been done, the building is not being utilized today, as far as I can tell. Read more here.
National Register of Historic Places
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Southwestern Railroad Depot, 1868, Butler
Soon after its construction in 1868, the first depot at Butler burned but was immediately rebuilt within its surviving walls. The Southwestern Railroad was later absorbed into the Central of Georgia line.
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Central of Georgia Depot, 1890, Montezuma
After falling into disuse after passenger service ended in the early 1970s, the depot was used as a warehouse for a number of years. In 1980, it was donated to the Macon County Historical society, and in 2002 architect W. Lane Greene completed a rehabilitation of the property, which is now home to the Macon County Historical Museum.
National Register of Historic Places
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Millen & Southern Railway Depot, 1890s, Twin City
The Rogers & Summit Railway was established in 1889 to bring rail service into eastern Emanuel County. Its replacement, the Millen & Southern Railway, was completed by 1892; the depot likely dates to around that time. In 1897, the railroad’s name was changed to the Millen & Southwestern. The Georgia & Florida Railroad purchased the line, along with several others, in 1906 and in the process of linking these to form an Augusta-to-Madison-Florida route, built new tracks and bypassed Summit. Summit and Graymont merged to become Twin City in 1920. Decreasing rail traffic lead to the closure of the line in 1950. For more, see Steve Storey’s railga.com.
Twin City Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
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Bradley House, 1893, Glennville
Dylan Edward Mulligan writes: This house was built in 1893 by J. B. Seckinger and was originally a single story house. It was purchased in 1916 by John Daniel Bradley, Sr., who was the president of the Collins & Glennville Railroad. The Bradleys remodeled the house in 1932, adding the second floor and the columned porch. It is still owned by a member of the Bradley family who does not reside in Glennville.
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