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Greek Revival House, Ocilla
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Mobley House, Ocilla
This Craftsman bungalow has always been one of my favorites. According to Trish Lilly Jones, it was owned by Ms. Lillie Mobley (1898-1983) until her mother, Barbara Wilkinson, purchased it in 1986. Trish lived here when she was in high school and notes that it had a “great Sweet Potato Parade-watching porch”. Trish lives in beautiful Madison, Georgia, these days, and publishes a blog, The Old Post Road. She’s an accomplished artist and I think you’ll enjoy her paintings.
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Single-Pen Farmhouse, Irwin County
I was amazed that this house on Five Bridge Road is still standing. I began photographing it around 2005 and it look essentially the same today.
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E. G. M. Fletcher House, 1880s, Irwin County
If you’ve ever traveled Georgia Highway 125 between Fitzgerald and Tifton, you probably recognize this house, situated slightly west of Irwinville. I’ve been seeing it my entire life and only learned some of its history today. It was the home of Elbert George McClellan Fletcher (1866-1952), likely built around 1889, when he married his first wife, Mary Jane Elizabeth (Polly) Hobby Fletcher, who died in 1916. Upon Polly’s death, Elbert married Ruth Turner Fletcher (1870-1956) in 1917. The house was built as a dogtrot, and originally contained an annexed kitchen, which has since been removed. It would have been a “fancy” dogtrot compared to the cruder log structures usually associated with the style.
Winston McDuffie shared these memories of the house: Elbert was quite dignified, handle-bar mustache, and walking stick, sitting on the front porch in his rocking chair. I can’t remember him talking much, and Toby and Ruth were together talking so there was not too much for a 5-6 yr old boy to do. There was a fence across the front, the gate had a chain with a weight to pull it closed, and there was a pomegranate bush beside the gate, always a pleasure to pick one. There was a cane-grinding set-up in the right-hand corner (towards Tifton), under the Oak tree. We attended a cane-grinding a couple of times. There was a barn on the left side, back behind the house. I remember Mama and Deal would pick cotton for John (son) all during school. The house had a dog-trot hallway, with 4 doors (2 per side), and opened onto a porch all across the back of the house. There was another dog-trot off the porch to the separate kitchen. The first door on the left was the sitting room, and the other 3 were bed-rooms. Toby and I slept in the one adjacent to the sitting room when we spent the night. There was a full grand-father clock in the room, but I can’t remember what any other furniture was like. No grass in the yard, it was swept clean with gall-berry brooms.
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Church of Deliverance, Ocilla
Karen Phillips writes: For most of its history this was known as the Free Will Baptist Church, located on 7th Street between Oak Street and Maple Street. It was probably built in the early 1900s. It was moved to its present location in the mid-2000s and is now occupied by an African-American congregation. To me, it’s the most unique church building in Ocilla. I hope it can be preserved in its present appearance.
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Lichens & Mosses, Irwin County
The sandy ridges of the Alapaha River bottomlands are abundant with these lichens and mosses. On Crystal Lake Road, near the river, they blanket the right of way for nearly a mile.
I don’t know enough about these species to say much about their biology, but they’re a beautiful sight and seem almost otherworldly. The dominant blueish-green variety in most of these photos is known as Dixie Reindeer Lichen, or reindeer moss locally, (Cladonia subtenius). It’s widespread in protected areas throughout South Georgia.
The species seen below is known as British Soldiers (Cladonia cristatella), for the bright red “blooms”.
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Tenant Farmhouse, Irwin County
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Abandoned Farmhouse, Irwinville
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McMillan’s Jewelers, Ocilla
Mr. Emory McMillan (along with Mrs. Eula) and his jewelry store were synonymous with style and good taste in Ocilla for much of the later half of the 20th century. He was a no-nonsense gentleman who, like the best of small-town merchants, knew his community and his customers well. Since his passing in 2012, the storefront has been repainted and another business located here. To many, it will always be remembered as McMillan’s Jewelers.
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Tenant Farmhouse, Irwin County
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Giddens Farmhouse, Irwin County
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Demolition of the Irwinville Hotel
There’s just something unsettling about this picture of the Irwinville Hotel. Many people have contacted me with complaints about the destruction of this mid-1880s landmark. The most common comments (and they’ve been numerous) have been: “Just what the world needs, another Dollar General” and “Dollar General is a plague on the landscape“. I tend to agree. While I agree that anyone has the right to sell their land to anyone whom they wish to, I’m amazed that the community couldn’t come together for a better solution. In the past few years, Irwinville lost their post office, can barely keep the capture site of Jefferson Davis open, and now, is losing this. All this while a local state representative and state senator made no overtures to do anything about it. I don’t believe it’s the government’s responsibility to “save” these places, but a little input would have been nice.
While I’ve seen interior shots of the hotel posted on other sites, I was unable to get such images. At any rate, the property has long been used as a residential rental and retained very little of its historic interior appearance.
Progress is never a bad thing, as I’ve said numerous times over the past ten years. But the loss of landmarks in our smallest towns shouldn’t be a part of that progress.
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Brown-Leaphart House, Irwin County
This simple gable front farmhouse has been a landmark in my travels between Fitzgerald and Irwinville all my life. Angie Sheffield Winn writes: The house originally belonged to Marshall Brown. He deeded it, along with five acres, to Jack and Gussie Leaphart to build a tractor repair shop on, in order to keep a tractor mechanic in the neighborhood. This is an edit of a film photograph made in 2001.
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Board-and-Batten Tenant Farmhouse, Irwin County
This film photograph was made in 2001. This structure was demolished by 2013.
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Hay Barn, Irwin County
This barn was located on Highway 32, a few miles from the Coffee County line. I made this photograph in 2002 and am not sure if it’s still standing.
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Deberry Tobacco Barn, Irwin County
This film photograph, from 2002, is an earlier view of the barn near Spring Hill Primitive Baptist Church, seen here. It was the first tobacco barn I was able to document over a long period of time. Nancy Harper Redman writes: Hoke Deberry owned this property, which includes the spring from which the church gets its name…My Dad (the late Marcus F. Roberts of Berrien County) was related to some of the Deberrys. He played in that spring and woods when he was a small boy.
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Craftsman Farmhouse, Irwin County
This large Craftsman farmhouse and row of barns on Peach Road were obviously the center of a busy farm at one time. I made these photographs in 2001 and the structures were all gone by 2010-12.
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Hay Barn, Irwin County
This was photographed in 2001 and razed by 2010.
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Ross House, Ocilla
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Dismuke & Willis Sanitarium, 1914, Ocilla
Ocilla’s first hospital, with 20 beds, was opened by Dr. Herman Dismuke* and Dr. Gabe Willis in 1914. It originally featured wrap-around porches. Jamie Wilcox Lovett and Cindy Griffin note that this was built by their great-grandfather, Robert Toombs Woolsey. It was replaced by a newer facility in the early 1930s and is now a private residence.
*Dr. Dismuke was the most beloved physician in Irwin County during his lifetime. He delivered thousands of babies, promoted modern health and sanitary practices through his work with the clinic at Irwinville Farms during the Great Depression and served as the county doctor.
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