St. Helena Parish Chapel of Ease, c. 1740, Beaufort County, SC

Photographer facing south

Located on Lands End Road, SW of Frogmore, SC on St. Helena Island, The Chapel of Ease was built c. 1740 for planters that lived in the area, but found the trip to the parish church in Beaufort, SC to be too burdensome for regular attendance. By 1812, the population of the area was such that it was made a parish church.

Photographer facing NE

The Union Army occupied the area early on during the Civil War, and the church was basically abandoned in 1861. A year later, just north of this site, the Penn Center was established to educate newly freed slaves (350 planters fled the island ahead of the occupation leaving behind 3,000 slaves). Some of the northerners that came as teachers and trainers used the church. It eventually burned in a forest fire in 1886 and was never rebuilt.

The construction of the chapel is classified as mid-18th century colonial tabby construction. Tabby is a building material that consists of sand, water, lime, and crushed oyster shells. The construction type, and the period of historical significance led this site as well as the Penn Center to be included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photographer facing east

Old Duck Chastain Store c. 1950, Dawson County, GA

Photographer facing northeast from Hwy 183

According to the Tax Assessor's website, this structure was built in 1950, and is currently listed as a storage building. It sits on the NE side of Hwy 183 (Elliott Family Parkway) with a pull off area in front of the structure. There is also a house that sits not too far behind the building that is listed as having been built in 1957. These two features led me to believe that the structure functioned as something other than a home.

Thanks to Mr. Philip Burt of Dawson County, it was identified as the old Duck Chastain Store. An internet search located a W.L. "Duck" Chastain that was born in 1910 and died in 1978, and was laid to rest in the Goshen Baptist Church Cemetery, also in Dawson County. His headstone includes the "Duck" nickname.

Mr. Burt remembered stops there as a boy and getting cold bottles of coke out of an old fashioned coke coolers, the kind with a bottle opener on the side. He recalls that Mr. Chastain actually had his home in one part of the structure and operated the store out of the other part. Which side was which, I'm not sure.

Pardue Mill, c. 1930, Habersham County, GA

Mill and dam on Pardue Mill Creek

This site is located on Pardue Mill Road, roughly a mile west of the large Habersham Mill Complex. Pardue Mill was built in the 1930s, where corn was ground into meal until the 1960s. The original mill complex included not only the mill, but a barn and house where the operators lived. The house and the waterwheel are the only missing pieces. The water wheel was 18 feet in diameter and 4 feet wide. The dam is 7 feet high and 48 feet in length.

The only information I could find on this location is from the website where the current owner is attempting to sell the property. Obviously not high on the list of historic sites in Habersham County, but a remnant of southern architecture, nonetheless. 

Howser Mill, Dawson County, GA

Photographer facing north.

Photographer facing east, Shoal Creek in the foreground.

Howser Mill is located on Howser Mill Road in Dawson County, GA, on the eastern bank of Shoal Creek. Some research is in order as a google search covering 15 pages revealed very little.

In the City of Dawsonville Comprehensive Plan 2008-2030, even though the mill is outside of the city limits, it is mentioned as the first producer of electricity to the city through the use of a turbine water wheel.

Winter is the best time to see the mill, as the foliage that is creeping up virtually covers the SW wall in the Summer.

FitzSimons-Hampton House, c. 1815, Augusta, GA

Photographer facing north, 2/8/2015

 7/3/2018 - Update: A trip to the SC coast this past May took me through Augusta, GA, and sadly I saw that this home has been completely demolished. What a loss for Augusta, and the State of Georgia. Apparently this happened almost two years ago. You can read about it here.

This home has also been known as the Goodale Inn, though the home apparently never functioned as an inn. It is located on the two remaining acres of land that was a plantation once as large as 700+ acres. The original owner of the plantation was Thomas Goodale who received a land grant of 500 acres, later discovered to only be about 460 acres. He operated a grist mill on the property, grew grain, and operated the Sand Bar Ferry.

 He sold the property to Francis Macarten and Martin Campbell in 1754. The property eventually ended up being sold to Christopher FitzSimons of Charleston, SC in 1799. It was then that the plans were drawn up for the construction of the home. The home and plantation was given to FitzSimon's daughter Ann as a wedding gift when she married Wade Hampton, Jr. in 1816. The home stayed in the Hampton family until 1835, even though they never lived in the house.

There is an extensive history of the home written in 1976 by Martha Norwood for the nomination form to have the property placed on the National Register of Historic Places. See http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/76000645.pdf  The nomination was successful, however things have taken a turn for the worse in recent years.

Collapsed wall, photographer facing east, 2/8/2015

After being operated as a restaurant called The Goodale Inn, in the 70s and 90s, the home has slowly deteriorated. It was sold for $15,250 in 2009 to an investor whose heart seems to be in the right place, but whose pockets are not deep enough to ensure that the necessary restoration and maintenance are performed.

In 2011 one of the chimneys on the north wall collapsed bringing down most of the wall with it. Four years later, the wall is still open and exposed to the elements. It appears that the preservation of this Georgia landmark is in serious jeopardy. In 2014 a judge ordered that the property be repaired or torn down. Neither has been done. Lets hope for the former and not the latter.

Girtman Farm Tenant Home, Jeff Davis County, GA

Ocie Kea (Durden) Rowland on the front porch.

This photo was taken in the late 1970s, by my mother. It was her childhood home from 1947 until about 1955, before the family moved to Brunswick, GA. Their stay in Brunswick was short lived and they eventually returned to Jeff Davis, County. She remembers that the roof was covered with hand-made wooden shingles, instead of the metal roof in the photo. My grandmother is the lady sitting on the front porch.

My grandfather worked on the Girtman Farm as a sharecropper, with my grandmother and their six children. I have never been to the farm, but I plan on heading down south with my mother, hopefully in the spring to see the condition of the old home. Word is that it has been used as a hunting camp for several years and that if I want to see it I better hurry because it won't be around much longer. An update will be posted.