Tag Archives: Vernacular Architecture of Coastal Georgia
LaRoche House Demolished in Crescent
I’ve been photographing the house for nearly a decade. These images were made in the months leading up to its demise.
Filed under --MCINTOSH COUNTY GA--, Crescent GA
Wayfair Primitive Baptist Church, Cox
Wayfair Primitive Baptist Church is the only representative congregation of the Alabaha Association Crawfordites in McIntosh County. It was established in 1873 but little else is known about it. It is no longer active but the cemetery is still used for burials.
Like all of the Crawfordite meeting houses, Wayfair is free of ornament and any modern creature comforts.
Members of this faith believed that such enhancements distracted from worship.
The carpentry skills of the members are on full display in each of these meeting houses, and Wayfair is no exception.
These photographs were made in 2012; they were originally posted on Vanishing South Georgia.
Filed under --MCINTOSH COUNTY GA--, Cox GA
Central Hallway House Ruins, 1894, Groveland
This house is of a form very common in late-19th-century Georgia.
Filed under --BRYAN COUNTY GA--, Groveland GA
Gable Front House, Liberty County
This is a typical house style of early-20th-century Coastal Georgia. This example is located near Midway.
Filed under --LIBERTY COUNTY GA--
Bungalow, 1940s, St. Simons Island
The property surrounding this front gable bungalow has recently been cleared, suggesting it’s likely to soon be redeveloped. This is one of just a few surviving vernacular structures in the scattered community known as Jewtown. The community got its name from the Levison brothers, who had a thriving store about a mile east of Gascoigne Bluff. They called it Levisonton but the name didn’t stick and residents referred to the area as Jewtown. Like the other two historic African-American communities on St. Simons, Harrington and South End, Jewtown is largely indistinguishable from the rest of the island today. I believe the cottage dates to circa 1940-1945, making it a relatively late construction for the community.
Filed under --GLYNN COUNTY GA--, Jewtown GA, St. Simons Island GA
Gable Front Cottage, Carnigan
Vernacular housing of the early 20th century, much of it related to the Gullah-Geechee community, is growing much rarer on the coast. Survivors are important links to the cultural history of the region, though I know of no effort to preserve them or their history.
Filed under --MCINTOSH COUNTY GA--, Carnigan GA
Hip-Roof Cottages, Meridian
Hidden on the edge of the road by thick woods today, these utilitarian hip-roof/pyramidal cottages are some of the last surviving examples of a vernacular style that was once widespread among the African-American communities of the coastal counties, as well as many areas of the state.
Because of their isolation, there is not a good way to photograph them other than showing them in their present state. They will eventually succumb to the ravages of time, but I think they are very important examples.
Filed under --MCINTOSH COUNTY GA--, Meridian GA
