The Lunch Box Journals

Leaving Savannah and beginning the long trek west we strike out across the heart of rural central and southwestern Georgia. The weather is increasingly a factor with waves of tornadoes and thunderstorms sweeping across Dixie Alley, a bank across the South from Vicksburg to Savannah which just happens to have been my proposed path. So I now head for a more southernly path through the Lower South. Relatively sparsely populated, this is an area where people live off the land, whether it be farming, ranching or harvesting the vast forests that blanket the landscape.

Initially the dense forests are occasionally punctuated with fields. Around the town of Vidalia are fields of the famed Vidalia onions.

Lyons, a small town outside of Vidalia, is pretty typical of small towns along the way. Historically the railroad was the heart of the community and the small town center spreads out on either side of the railroad tracks.

Central and southwestern Georgia was initially settled by pioneers carving out small farms from the vast forests of longleaf pine that covered the land. The rugged landscape did not allow for large scale farming so far away from markets so the area remained essentially worthless until after the Civil War when the growing industrialization of the rest of America demanded vast supplies of timber. Suddenly the forests of southwestern Georgia became quite valuable. Farms and ranches begin to become more numerous as the forests were cleared of their timber. For the most part I can’t tell what is growing, the exception being the occasional cotton field.

Large numbers of African Americans migrated to the area to work in the turpentine and lumber mills as well as the cotton fields. Jobs in the cotton mills attracted landless, poor whites. Latinos followed the seasonal crops as migrant workers. All contributed to the growth of Tifton, the largest city in central Georgia. Tifton was founded in 1872 at the junction of the Georgia Southern and Brunswick railroads by timber sawmill owner Samuel Tift. Within a few years five different railroads converged on Tifton, making it a major center for rail transportation in the South.

Tifton

The Georgia Southern and Atlantic Coast Line came together at the point of a narrow rise and the main street of Tifton parallels the two railroad tracks. This view is up and down Main Street which is lined with buildings from two boom eras, the 1890’s and the 1930’s in an interesting mix of traditional and Art Deco Architecture.

Main Street angles to the northeast at the end of downtown and becomes Love Avenue heading northeast. The angle is marked by the 1917 Bank of Tifton building. Across the street is the 1906 Myon Hotel building, now housing a variety of occupants including the Tifton city administration.

The narrow rise that holds the downtown area still is marked on three sides by the old train depots. The Georgian Southern Depot is just across the tracks from the Tifton Bank building, the Union Depot is northwest across a different set of tracks from the same bank building, and the Atlantic Coast Line Depot is one block east of the bank building behind the eastern line of buildings on Main Street.

Sprinkled around downtown are small statures of Uga, the bulldog that is the mascot of the University of Georgia.

The narrow strip of land between the two railroad tracks was not enough to meet the needs of a growing Tifton in the early 1900s so East 2^nd Street became a secondary focus.

The 1912 Tift County Courthouse rises on the corner of E. 2^nd Street and Tift Avenue, across Tift Avenue from the 1917 Tifton High School building and a couple of the remaining railroad warehouses.

Love Avenue heads northeast from the intersection of E 2^nd and Main Street away from the railroad tracks. This is where the wealthy of Tifton worshiped at the massive 1906 First Baptist Church complex and built their homes.

At one time or another the agricultural products of southwestern Georgia passed through the railyards on Tifton on their way to the world. In order to enhance and assist in that effort, a college specializing in agriculture was established in Tifton in 1908. When Georgia organized all of its public colleges into one university system in 1933 the Tifton college was named the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. In 1976 a 19^th century living history museum was established outside Tifton as part of the college’s mission to educate the public about the history of Georgia agriculture. Spread out over 95 acres the complex contains original and restored structures, most staffed by an actor portraying the people who would have lived and/or worked in the structure who explains how they would have functioned. Between the corona virus, the weather and the time of year that I am visiting, most of the displays are not staffed. None the less, it was an interesting journey into the “real” rural Georgia.

Georgia Museum of Agriculture

The museum is of a striking modern design in sharp contrast to its contents.

A large central hall and adjoining rooms highlight various aspects Georgia’s agricultural history.

The oldest piece in the collection is a Chair Table, made in New England sometime between 1730-1770. The chair can be converted into a table, the table top is on a wooden dowel hinge and simply utilizes the chair arms and legs as a base when needed.

The first side gallery highlights a large collection of Spatterware and Spongeware, a very durable form of pottery. Spatterware originated in the Staffordshire district of England around 1750 and was made by dipping a tube into colored powders and then blowing the tinted dust onto the ceramic. Spongeware was created by dipping a sponge or cloth into paints and dabbing the pottery.

The processing of cotton for shipment was the topic of a gallery with a cotton press on the right used to compress the cotton into bales and a cotton scale on the left.

The great southern pine forests were not only valued for their timber be perhaps even more so for their sap which was processed into turpentine. The timber industry gallery included this display of products over the years which contain some form of product made from turpentine. It’s a surprising display!

Of course, we couldn’t pass through the turpentine display without admiring the collection of calendars, complete with turpentine pin-up girls, printed by the American Turpentine Farmers Association in the 1950s.

This photograph showers a farmer scoring a pine tree so that the sap would drip into the collection container.

Finally, in the peanut gallery, the first mobile peanut combine, created in 1948 and featuring used aircraft tires, is on display.

The inside museum is interesting but the real attraction is the living history museum outside. Leaving the museum one walks past the restored home of Samuel Tifton, founder of Tifton.

A small rural community of the late 1800s unfolds next to the railroad station. Heading towards the station we pass by the doctor’s office (white building) and the blue Masonic Temple, built in 1909.

The doctor is out but her assistant is available.

The train is just arriving at the station. The steam engine required water, the water tank is in the center of the picture with the station on the left and the print shop on the right.

East of the station is the general store and assorted businesses.

The north eastern edge of the community is the location of the blacksmith shop, turpentine still and a family cabin on the right.

The fully functional blacksmith shop is not operating the day I visit but all the tools are on display.

The turpentine still sits at the edge of the clearing while the sawmill is just west.

I cross the railroad tracks and creek to get to the grist mill, which is built over the creek with the water wheel under the mill.

A road heads south from the grist mill with homes on the left and farms on the right. One of the houses is open and on the back porch the mother is reading to children.

Across the road from the house is a string of farm buildings.

Nearly completing a circle I find the village church and school near the Masonic Temple.

The simple church has no steeple but a bell outside to ring in the service. A member of the church is present to tell me about the role of the church in the community.

The school house sits by the edge of the pond and inside Miss Eva Beckham talks to me about the challenges of teaching eight grades in one room.

An interesting visit, though shortened by being off-season. During prime tourist time all of the various locations would be staffed by actors displaying their skills and elaborating on their life around the end of the 19^th century.

The drive takes me towards far southwestern Georgia, a more open land of forest and larger farms.

Moultrie, a town of about 16,000 people, serves the surrounding farms and businesses.

Moultrie

Founded in 1879 as the county seat of Colquitt County, Moultrie was named after the Revolutionary War general. In the late 1890s the railroads came to the area allowing for the vast forests to be harvested. The combination of rich soil and plentiful forests lead to an explosion of economic activity and rapid growth. The city center of Moultrie reflects this prosperity with solid brick buildings lining the borders of the town square, dominated by the 1902 Colquitt County Courthouse, complete with a Confederate War Memorial erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1909.

Just outside of downtown Moultrie a WW II hero, Robert Moss, dug a pool on his farm so his children could learn how to dive. This was the genesis for the development of a world class diving club and facility in an unlikely place. Moss Farms Diving Club has produced diving champions at all levels from high school to world championships. The facility sits in the middle of a residential area next to the local junior high.

True testimony to the power of one man’s vision.

Leaving Moultrie I return to the patchwork of forest and farm until reaching Thomasville, largest city in southwest Georgia with a population of around 20,000 people.

Thomasville

Thomasville was founded in 1825 as the county seat of Thomas County and named for Major General Jeff Thomas who led forces in the War of 1812. The remote location of the town contributed to slow growth until the arrival of the railroad in 1861. During the late 1800s Thomasville was the southern terminus of the railroad and northerners flocked to the area to enjoy the mild climate. The town became a popular resort area with numerous hotels to cater to the tourists but the wealthy soon discovered that it was cheaper to build their own homes. Broad Street is the center of the historic district and continues to be a thriving commercial street.