This home was built by Sycamore Gin owner Grady Sconyers. Bill Adams recalls: [The house] came down through Cortez’s family. It was a large red brick home with a porch and steps facing East towards the church, and the South side (now the front) was rather plain. Grady had the changes made to model it after a house which he saw on the road between Palatka and St. Augustin. I don’t recall when it was remodeled…In the years after WWII, as that farm area got electricity, the farmers were able to prosper with tractors, etc. Many remodeled their homes, and often would put out on the porch furniture with marble tops (wash basins and such). If Grady saw one, he would stop and offer to buy it. He saved the marble and later had it converted and used in the house remodel.
Tag Archives: Sycamore GA
Wynn Peanut & Shelling, Sycamore
This nice old warehouse and the garage seen in the next post were among the first places I photographed for Vanishing South Georgia six years ago. They haven’t changed much since then.
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
Wynn’s Garage, Sycamore
Joy Jones Gregory: I remember going to Mr. Julius Wynn’s garage as a young child, with my father. The oil smell, the pot belly heater, an several men always sitting around the warmth. The one other thing I remember was the sign on the wall. It said” if you spit on the floor at home, go home and spit.”
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
First Apostolic Pentecostal Church, Sycamore
This church appears to have been built around the turn of the last century. The front vestibule appears to be a later addition. James Dean notes that it was formerly the Pleasant Hill Primitive Baptist Church.
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
Edwin Smith House, 1888, Sycamore
I received sad news this morning (2 May 2016) that this house, a longtime favorite of mine and a Sycamore landmark, burned last night. According to owner Chris NeSmith, it was built in 1888 by Edwin and Marianna Smith. They came to Sycamore from Somerton, Virginia, when the railroad was connecting here.
The house was built from timbers harvested nearby to resemble their home in Virginia. The modifications to the front were made in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The photo above is the Smith family in front of the house as it originally appeared. Below are the ruins of the house as of this morning. Both photos are courtesy of Chris NeSmith.
For more about the fire, click here.
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
Sycamore Gin, 1940s
Bill Adams writes: When I was approximately 14 years old I spent the summer with Aunt Bert (Henderson) & Cortez and Grady Sconyers. Grady was in the process of building this new Continental Gin. It was powered by a water cooled two cylinder vertical diesel engine in the South end of the building. The engine stood approx. 8 ft high with a ladder to a catwalk at the top. A water vat outside the SE corner of the building cooled the water. North of the engine room were three gins in a row, the overflow room, and two baling presses. Power from the engine was supplied by overhead shafts and belt pulleys. The original building had a shed type roof across the front of the building. The suction tube to unload the trucks was under this roof. There was a concrete loading ramp on the North end by the baling presses. At the start up, I drove a wagon with a pair of mules hauling bales from the ramp around to Gradys’ warehouse at the NE corner of Railroad and Willis Street where they were weighed, and samples taken. In back of the gin was a cotton seed storage building(the seed was blown from the gin to the building). This was considered “state of the art” in the 1940′s.
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
Sycamore United Methodist Church, 1938
A group of members of Prospect Methodist in Chamblee moved to South Georgia in 1907 and soon thereafter established this church. The first church was built in 1908, but was destroyed by wind in 1925. The Bethel school served as the church home in the interim. The present structure was completed in 1938, under the leadership of Rev. E. J. Nottingham.
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
Abandoned Store, Sycamore
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
Sycamore School
This is one of numerous old schools throughout Georgia that stand empty and in real danger of being lost. Their large size often prohibits feasible renovation, as does the outrageously expensive removal of lead paint, asbestos, and other hazardous chemicals.
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA
One-Stop Denham’s, Sycamore
For much of the 20th century, One Stop Denham’s was the busiest store in Turner County. Before anyone ever thought of Wal-Mart, there was One-Stop Denham. Generations of South Georgia schoolchildren from this region made ritual trips to Sycamore to stock up for the year ahead. Nothing like this survives today.
Filed under --TURNER COUNTY GA--, Sycamore GA