While you see more of this sort of witnessing in urban areas, it’s gotten to be quite unusual in rural towns. Whether it reminds you of Flannery O’ Connor or Doomsday Preppers, it’s an interesting aspect of folklife. This man can often be found displaying his placard on the busy corner of U. S. Highways 341 and 84, in downtown Jesup.
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.”
–Flannery O’ Connor
Filed under --WAYNE COUNTY GA--, Jesup GA
The first depot in Odum was built by the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad in 1888. (The area was first known as Haslam, and for a time as Satilla, for the nearby Little Satilla Creek, and finally came to be known as Odum, for pioneer settler Godfrey Odum, in 1880). After being destroyed by fire in 1904, it was replaced with this structure in 1905. In 1969, a Southern Railroad official bought the depot and moved it to Jesup, where it remained for over 30 years. An effort to relocate it in Odum began in 1992 and with a Transportation Enhancement Grant and lots of community donations and enthusiasm, it was returned to its rightful home in 2002. I’m always amazed by what a little civic pride and love of place can do for a community; nearby Ludowici has recently decided not to save their old depot in any meaningful way, which is a shame. I hope they will find a way. Many others have taken the same path and it speaks to a the larger loss of cultural landmarks everywhere. They can’t be replaced.
Filed under --WAYNE COUNTY GA--, Odum GA
There are several nice old homes in Odum, which I will photograph on another trip.
Filed under --WAYNE COUNTY GA--, Odum GA
This Romanesque Revival courthouse was designed by S. A. Baker.
Filed under --WAYNE COUNTY GA--, Jesup GA
This is located near the forgotten community of Piney Grove. All that remains of Piney Grove is a church, a 1950s school lunchroom, and the ruins of an early 20th-century schoolhouse.
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These two views show the front porch; note the hand carved whimsical posts in the first image.
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Note the difference between the painted walls in the first image and the unfinished walls in the second. This was actually quite common in rural farmhouses at the turn of the last century.
Thanks to Sharon Mallard for the identification.
Filed under --WAYNE COUNTY GA--
This is a difficult house to photograph, as it’s always shaded by an old oak tree growing in the middle of the road just in front of the structure. It’s located near the crossroads community of Madray Springs.
Filed under --WAYNE COUNTY GA--
Thanks to Constance Riggins and Deborah Sheppard at Altamaha Riverkeeper, I recently made a flight over the Altamaha River on a mission to photograph Paddle Georgia participants kayaking the stretch of the river near the Rayonier mill in Jesup. Rayonier is a vital part of the economy of the entire Wayne County area, but regardless of their protection by DNR and EPD, state agencies charged with enforcement of established standards, they continue to pollute the air and the river. Relaxed enforcement due in part to politics and in part to economic woes has begun to show on our rivers and waterways. Look no further than King America in Screven County for evidence of this trend: discharge from their facility into the Ogeechee River culminated in the deaths of over 35,000 fish last year.
Paddle Georgia, the Georgia River Network, and Altamaha Riverkeeper aren’t a bunch of fringe environmentalists hellbent on shutting down facilities and interfering with good businesses, but rather they’re normal people who care more about the earth’s future than they do about minimization of profits. They come from all socioeconomic backgrounds and their politics run the spectrum. They all love rivers. It’s strange to me how when I was growing up, Southerners made fun of the Rust Belt cities up north for not caring about their resources and for being such bad stewards of God’s earth. I saw the South as being above that sort of irresponsibility but the bad economy has forced businesses and government agencies charged with protection of natural resources into a “deal with the devil”. It’s clear that the powers that be are choosing jobs and the immediate economy over the long-term health of the environment and how that will effect the lives and well-being of future generations.
I was hesitant to post these photographs, as I’m not on some sort of mission to smear Rayonier or the government, but I think it’s time everyday people made their voices heard. When someone accuses you of caring more about rivers than you care about the ability of people to make a living, just say it’s not about choosing one over the other. It’s about balancing the two in a way that gives a damn about this messy world we’re leaving behind.
The image above, showing Paddle Georgia participants making their way through the Rayonier discharge near Doctortown in Wayne County, was published on the front page of the Savannah Morning News, 23 June 2012.
http://savannahnow.com/news/2012-06-23/pollution-colors-view-altamaha-ogeechee-rivers#.T-XCxZHhe6I
Filed under --WAYNE COUNTY GA--, Jesup GA
