Georgia Natural Wonder #237 - Jefferson Davis Capture Historic Site - Irwin County.

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #237 - Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site - Irwin Co.

You know I saw the brown State Park sign for this site for years going down I-75 to Florida and never pulled off. Always in a hurry to get to the Football Cocktail Party festivities, or the beach if on vacation. No chance in getting the kids or wife excited for a visit. But I had an Insurance Claim in Irwinville, and I managed to loaf a few hours at this lovely, and important spot in American history. I still have a basket of the biggest Pine Cones I ever came across in Georgia.



Adding in a TRD Nugget on these post, this must have been going through Jefferson Davis head as he put on Varina's shawl and tried to abandon her and the Confederacy. Click and play as you read.



The Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site (also known as the Jefferson Davis Capture Site) is a 12.668-acre state historic site located in Irwin County, Georgia that marks the spot where Confederate States President Jefferson Davis was captured by United States Cavalry on Wednesday, May 10, 1865. 



The historic site features a granite monument with a bronze bust of Davis that is located at the place of capture.



The memorial museum was built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration.



It features Civil War era weapons, uniforms, artifacts and an exhibit about the president's 1865 flight from Richmond, Virginia to Irwin County, Georgia.





History

Now I am not going to get in a big ole tangent on Jefferson Davis or the Civil War, just this final act of the capture of Davis and the final threat of the Confederate Government, right here in Georgia.


Left marker


Right marker

Confederate States President Jefferson Davis fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, on April 2. From April 3 through 10, Danville, Virginia served as the capital of the rapidly collapsing Confederacy. Accompanied by several members of his Cabinet (John H. Reagan, , and John C. Breckinridge), and his aide Burton Harrison, along with a military escort, the remnants of the Confederate government fled further south, passing through Greensboro and Charlotte in North Carolina and Fort Mill, York, Abbeville, and Washington in South Carolina. Davis was informed of the surrender at Appomattox on April 13 and of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 18.


Appomattox - Ford's Theater

Davis and his remaining members of his party crossed the Savannah River into Georgia on May 3, 1865, headed for the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters, where Davis hoped to regroup the Confederate military and continue the war. Davis arrived in Washington in Wilkes County on the same day, and dissolved the Confederate government there.


Entering Washington and Signing Acts Of Government By The Roadside.



By May 6, Davis reached Sandersville, and on May 7 he met his wife, Varina, and their children. With Union troops in close pursuit, Davis and his family fled through Wilcox County.



On the evening of May 9, Davis and his party reached Irwinville, in Irwin County, and camped in a pine forest (present-day Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site), unaware that Union soldiers were nearby. 

 
Rebels rested until overwhelmed.

At dawn the next day, they were surrounded by the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry and the 4th Michigan Cavalry. The two Union regiments were unaware of each other's presence and engaged in a brief firefight (in which two cavalrymen died) before the forces realized that they had been shooting at one another. 



Davis attempted to flee to a nearby creek before being arrested by a Michigan cavalryman. 



Captured along with Davis and his wife were his private secretary Harrison, Postmaster General John Henninger Reagan, several other aides, and supply weapons and ambulances.

According to Varina:

    “Just before day the enemy charged our camp yelling like demons. Mr. Davis received timely warning of their approach but believing them to be our own people deliberately made his toilette and was only disabused of the delusion, when he saw them deploying a few yards off. He started down to the little stream hoping to meet his servant with his horse and arms, but knowing he would be recognized, I pleaded with him to let me throw over him a large waterproof wrap which had often served him in sickness during the summer season for a dressing gown and which I hoped might so cover his person that in the grey of the morning he would not be recognized."

    “As he strode off I threw over his head a little black shawl which was around my own shoulders, saying that he could not find his hat and after he started sent my colored woman after him with a bucket for water hoping that he would pass unobserved. He attempted no disguise, consented to no subterfuge but if he had in failure is found the only matter of cavil.”

(Cavil - make petty or unnecessary objections. Had to look that one up.)

 

As the president left the tent, a Federal trooper rode up and ordered him to halt. Davis refused and the trooper raised his rifle toward him. Davis turned as if to charge the man, but Varina came forward and threw her arms around him. The Davises and the trooper exchanged angry words as more troopers rode up. Davis finally said, “God’s will be done,” and sat down at a fire near the tent.

As news of Davis’s capture reached the North, rumors quickly spread that he had been captured while disguised in women’s clothing. 

 

Lord, the Yankees had a Field Day with that.





The CNN or MSNBC of their day.





On and On. Lot of Frustration, relatives dead, president dead.






 
However, Davis actually wore a raincoat and shawl due to the rain. Union troops later recalled:

    “As one of the means of making the Confederate cause odious, the foolish and wicked charge was made that he was captured in woman’s clothes; and his portrait, showing him in petticoats, was afterward placarded generally in show cases and public places in the North. He was also pictured as having bags of gold on him when captured. This charge of his being arrested in woman’s clothes is disproven by the circumstances attending his capture. The suddenness of the unexpected attack of the enemy allowed no time for a change of clothes. I saw him a few minutes after his surrender, wearing his accustomed suit of Confederate gray, with his boots and hat on, and I have elsewhere shown that he had no money.”



With the capture of Jefferson Davis, all that was left of the Confederate government ceased to exist.


Prison wagon passing through Macon. Found not guilty of assassination of Lincoln, but never tried for Treason.


Davis was charged with treason and held in Fort Monroe, Virginia for two years, before being released.



Jefferson Davis Capture Site

The site was owned by Judge James Bagley Clements (1869-1936), who deeded four acres to the State of Georgia in 1920, "for the purposes of creating a state park." His father had bought the land after the war to ensure that "no Yankee would ever own it." Clements wrote a history of Irwin County, which included a chapter on the Davis capture and site.

Book Judge JB wrote.

Built after the Civil War (likely 1870s) by 1st Lieutenant Reuben Walton Clements (1836-1899), this plantation house remains one of Irwinville’s most prominent landmarks. 


House that Judge JB's dad built and image of his dad, 1st Lieutenant Reuben Walton Clements.
 
1st Lieutenant Reuben Walton Clements was commissioned 1st Lieutenant of the Irwin Volunteers, Company F, 49th Regiment of Georgia Infantry on 4 March 1862 . Though he resigned on 30 July 1862 due to measles, he re-enlisted as a private in Company H, 4th Regiment of Georgia Cavalry (Clinch’s,) on 2 March 1863 . He surrendered at Tallahassee on 10 May 1865. [Ironically, this was the same day Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops on nearby property also owned by Clements. That property today is home to Jefferson Davis Historic Site] R. W. Clements’ son, James Bagley (Jim) Clements, resided here for many years. He was the author of History of Irwin County (Atlanta, Foote & Davies, 1932). Clements was a member of the Irwin County school board, an appointed and elected judge, and subsequently served in the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia State Senate.

Monument 1936.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy erected a monument on the exact spot where Davis was captured. It consists of a granite stele set upon a stepped granite base, the stele features relief panels and inscriptions, and atop it is a bronze bust of Davis modeled by Atlanta sculptor Laurence Tompkins. The relief on the front depicts a captured Davis flanked by two Union soldiers; the relief on the back depicts a battle scene; the reliefs on the sides depict the Confederate flag. The monument was dedicated on June 3, 1936.

(Stele - A stele, or occasionally stela when derived from Latin, is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument. The surface of the stele often has text, ornamentation, or both. These may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. Stele - another word TRD had to look up.)

The Works Progress Administration built the memorial's Civil War Museum, completed in 1939. Additional parcels of land were added, bringing the size of the park to nearly 13 acres by 1952.

WPA built Group Shelter too.

The site ceased to be a Georgia state park in the mid-1970s, and was deeded to Irwin County in 1976. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.


The monument is now surrounded by a square bed of gravel and enclosed by a low iron fence.

The Natural Wonder

All Trails reports a hike at the park, and this segues from an Historic Wonder to a Natural Wonder, just look at these giant Long Leaf Pine trees.



Now I have a basket of Pine Cones right here by my computer, that I collected during my visit to this park years ago.


They have the best view of Midtown.


Oh, look there is one for each 4 National Championships.

Jefferson Davis Nature Trail

Enjoy this 0.3-mile loop trail near Fitzgerald, Georgia. Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 6 min to complete. 



This trail is great for hiking and walking. Dogs on leash.




Boardwalks, which you know I always like.


Some reviews say it is over grown. Watch out for snakes, every bad snake known is here in South Georgia, except Egyptian Cobra maybe.

Revisionist History

Now I don't want to get this post moved to the Political Forum, but I do want to mention the Elephant in the room. I've done deep dives on Robert Toombs (GNW #128 - Part 2) and Alexander Stephens (GNW #130 - Part 1) in earlier post. I am a Civil War Buff. We all know the history of the recent trends to removing Jefferson Davis memorials. List of memorials to Jefferson Davis. The modern effort to remove them was sparked by the Charleston church shooting of 2015. The effort was renewed July 2020, amid the George Floyd protests.

The 1907 Statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia was toppled by protestors June 10, 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd.




Pink Davis, Older Davis.

University of Texas at Austin removed a statue of Jefferson Davis on August 30, 2015. It had been erected in 1919 on the campus South Mall. Now in Museum.



A statue of Jefferson Davis that stood in a Memphis Tennessee Park was removed in 2017.



A 1920 life-sized statue at the corner of Jeff Davis Parkway and Canal Street in New Orleans was removed May 11, 2017. A crane had to be brought in from an unidentified out-of-state company as no local company wanted the business.

 

Texas leads the Country with 31 Confederate memorials removed. Lest we forget our own Civil War Monument in Athens.


Removed to some local park out by Bypass.

Jefferson Davis still causing trouble in Georgia.

Woo, that was fun. Spent all day Saturday on that one. Get a Life TRD.

Irwin County Georgia

Irwin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,666. The county seat is Ocilla. The county was created on December 15, 1818. It was named for Governor Jared Irwin.



In the last years of the American Civil War, Irwin County gained the nickname of the Republic of Irwin due to the Unionism of many of its residents. The location where Jefferson Davis was captured is located in Irwin County near Irwinville. As of today Irwin County, Georgia is 205 years old! As of 2024, Irwin population is over 10,000. In 2025 the expected population will be at 13-14 thousand.

History

The territories of Appling, Irwin, and Early counties were land newly ceded in 1814 and 1818. 



These counties were created by a legislative act on December 15, 1818. All or portions of Irwin's five adjacent counties were created from Irwin county along with all of Cook, Colquitt, Lanier, Lowndes, counties and portions of Atkinson, Brooks, Echols, Wilcox, and Worth counties. 



Irwin was divided into 16 districts of 20 miles and 10 chains square with lots of 70 chains square containing 490 acres according to the Act of 1818. In 1820 each lot was priced at $18, but by 1831 the price was down to $5 per lot.

Irwin County had 372 white residents and 39 slaves in 1820, when the census covered a large portion of central south Georgia. In 1825, Lowndes County was formed out of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, and 16th land districts in what was then the southern half of the county. In 1830, the county had 1,066 whites, 109 slaves, and 5 free people of color. In 1840, Irwin County had 1,772 whites and 266 slaves. In 1850. Irwin County had 2,874 whites, 459 slaves, and 1 free person of color. In 1853, Worth County was formed out of part of Irwin County. In 1854, Coffee County was also formed from Irwin. In 1860, Irwin County had 1,453 whites and 246 slaves. It was one of a few counties in Georgia outside of mountainous northern Georgia with slaves accounting for a small percentage of its population.



The first county seat was developed on a location designated by the state legislature and named Irwinville.

From 1820 to 1822 the county’s court hearings were held at the home of resident David Williams, and from 1822 through 1839 they were held in a schoolhouse on the property of a Scots settler, Murdock McDuffie. The first official courthouse was built in Irwinville in 1839 and was followed in 1854 and 1883 by newer buildings. 


Courthouse Irwinville and abandoned Post Office. It is believed that the business of the county was carried on in these buildings, even after the county seat was relocated.

Irwinville was the seat of government from 1831 until 1907, when the county’s voters elected to change the location to the bustling town of Ocilla, ten miles southeast of Irwinville.
Pine logging long been an irwin County Industry.

Ocilla, founded around 1880 and incorporated in 1897, nearly tripled in population soon after it was connected by railroad to Fitzgerald and incorporated in 1897.


Can't make larger, fuzzy enough already.

Today, Ocilla is the only incorporated city in Irwin County. (Irwinville was incorporated from 1857 to 1995.)

Civil War

During the American Civil War, like the United States in general, Irwin County was also ideologically divided. The county was one of the poorest at the time in Georgia. It was home to a number of Southern Unionists who opposed secession and the Confederacy. The county also provided several regiments to the Confederate Army including:

    Company F "Irwin Volunteers", 49th Regiment Georgia Infantry. - No info. or images found.

In May 1863, several companies of Duncan Lamont Clinch Jr's Fourth Georgia Cavalry were charged with searching Irwin County for deserters. They spent a month searching the county, but were only able to find twenty-two deserters on May 22, the day they arrived. The deserters were sent to Savannah for enlistment or prosecution.

 
Private 4th Cavalry - Charge at Olustee - Grave Col. Clinch.

Unionist takeover

A prominent Unionist in the county was Willis Jackson Bone. He lived west of Irwinville, near the Alapaha River. He was a miller and operated a steam-powered mill on what was then Bones Pond and presently Crystal Lake. Because he was a gristmill operator, Bone was exempt from conscription. During the Civil War, he helped a number of escaped slaves, Confederate deserters, and escaped Union prisoners hide in the swamps along the river. In February 1865, Bone and a large assembly of others gathered in Irwinville. Those assembled declared Irwin County part of the Union again. A lieutenant of the local militia protested the action, but was knocked down with a musket by Bone. Three cheers for Abraham Lincoln followed. The assembly then took after the lieutenant and the enrolling officer Gideon Brown. They and other Confederate sympathizers were chased out of town and threatened with death if they should return. Willis Jackson Bone was hanged near his pond in late April 1865 after he killed a local justice of the peace named Jack Walker while Bone was bringing food to an escaped slave named Toney. Walker had tried to take Toney into custody.


Bone Grave. Bone Pond and the Grist Mill sank into Limestone Sink Hole, and later became Crystal Lake once they found a way to retain the water. Now abandoned as will be discussed and linked later in post.

A few months later, Irwinville became the site of the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Davis was on his way from the capital of the Confederacy at Richmond, Virginia to board a ship with his family and flee to safety in England, Davis stopped at a hotel in Irwinville owned by Doctor G.E. White on the evening of May 9, 1865. There he conversed and socialized with the locals and no one had suspected that they were in the presence of a man of such esteem. 


Irwinville Hotel was torn down for a Dollar General Store.

Davis and his family moved to an encampment beside a nearby creek bed only a couple of miles from the hotel after they were done talking with the citizens of Irwinville and sometime in the early morning of May 10, the encampment was alarmed by the sound of gunfire. Davis tried to escape towards the creek wearing an overcoat and his wife had tied her scarf around his shoulders, but members of the First Wisconsin and Fourth Michigan Cavalry Regiments captured him. He was taken to Fortress Monroe, Virginia and held for two years. The location is now the Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site. We covered all that above.

Irwin County also has an important place in the history of shape-note music. Mystic is the site of the first documented shape-note singing convention in Georgia, the South Georgia Singing Convention, which was founded in 1875 by William Jackson Royal.

  
Royal and some South Georgia Singing Conventions back in the day. Below are the actual 1920's events at the site in Mystic.


There is a memorial that reproduces the plan of the original tabernacle at full size. A low brick perimeter wall supported wooden posts which held up a massive roof.


Today granite cubes indicate where those posts were located. The singer’s stages is recreated with the monument to “Uncle Billy”.

Other communities in the county are Abba, Holt, Lax, Mystic (incorporated from 1903 to 1995), Osierfield (incorporated from 1912 to 1995), and Wray.  According to the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Irwin County is 9,666.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Irwin County, Georgia

Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site

See above, but I did find these tidbits from the National Register of Historic Places application for Historical significance and qualifying.

Northern and Southern newspapers alike had been following avidly the flight of Davis. Everyone was well aware of the significance of the capture of the President of the Confederacy. According to the New York Times on May 15, 1865, Davis "stands before the world as the foremost figure in this great rebellion. He has wielded all its power and put in execution all its desires...." The next day, the Times, speaking for Unionists everywhere, editorialized that, "the arrest of the arch-traitor [Davis] is the event which, of all others, has been most earnestly longed for by our people since the surrender of Lee. Every loyal mind has tried to calculate its chances, and the progress toward it has been the most frequent inquiry of every loyal tongue." Although no convincing evidence was later presented, during those few weeks since April 14th, Jefferson Davis had been widely accused of conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. After his capture, Davis was taken to Fortress Monroe and, on May 26th, indicted by the Grand Jury inthe District of Columbia for treason. The following day, the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy ended all possibility of the continuation of war.


And these two more qualifying images.

This site is significant in the history of the veneration of Civi War sites. Since the actual event of 1865, local people have preserved it and shown it to visitors as a hallowed site. The landowner virtually dedicated his remaining years to its preservation. When he failed to have it "properly" recognized by state authorities, he passed the mantle of family leadership to his son, who did succeed in getting the state to accept ownership. Although only recently has scholarship definitely proven this to be the capture site, several generations have visited the site, first in its totally unmarked, wilderness state, and later in its commemorated condition. Its veneration is similar to many other Georgia battle sites, dating from the Revolutionary War era, where the local landowners and community leaders have seen to their preservation long before any historic-preservation programs were undertaken.

Irwin County Courthouse

The Irwin County Courthouse is located in Ocilla, Georgia. The current courthouse (the county’s fourth official one) was completed in 1910. It was made out of blond brick in the Neoclassical style at a cost of $52,000. Major renovations were made to it in 1972.



It has a domed clock tower with four hooded clocks. Additions have been made to the rear side. Some interior walls are marble and painted plaster. 


Floors are made of wood, tile, carpet, and marble.

Ocilla Public School

The Ocilla Public School, also known as Irwin County Elementary School, is a historic school building in Ocilla, Georgia, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.



Description

The main building is a one-story U-shaped building with 17 classrooms, a library, a 700-seat auditorium, and more. 



It has Colonial Revival details. It was built in 1934 to serve as both elementary school and high school. In the early 1950s, it became known as the Irwin County Elementary School when a separate high school was built about three blocks away.


A one-story brick cafeteria and classroom building was added in c.1960, and has International Style design.

Historical Markers and War Memorials in Irwin County, Georgia

Irwinville


Marker has been reported missing. Marker was on Jeff Davis Road, on the right when traveling north.

Jefferson Davis / Jefferson Davis / Jefferson Davis

We already showed the main Jefferson Davis monument above and also the two Historical markers in the Park.

Jefferson Davis Memorial State Park

Now this is a Marker telling you how to get to the Jefferson Davis State Park. I am leaving this oversized for easier reading.


The intersection in Irwinville, with Georgia Highway 32, the Irwinville Highway, on the left, and Jeff Davis Park Road to the right.

Confederate Memorial




Leaving these oversized for easier reading.



Dorminy's Meeting House Young's Meeting House Brushy Creek

 

Irwin County

See Irwin County Marker above.


Located Courthouse by Confederate Monument.

Irwin County Veterans Memorial



Dedicated to the men and women who served our country in the Armed Forces.

God bless all those who died and especially those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so we might live openly.

World War II Honor Roll

World War I, Korean War, Vietnam War Honor Roll

Jefferson Davis Memorial State Park


A different Marker telling you about the capture and directing you to the State Park. Different lettering, different location. Looking east at the junction of Georgia Highways 32 (left) and 35 (right) at the western edge of Ocilla.

Old Coffee Road

Marker is in Ocilla, Georgia, in Irwin County. Marker is at the intersection of Old Coffee Road (Georgia Route 158) and Georgia Route 90, on the left when traveling west on Old Coffee Road.



Veterans of All Wars Memorial


On grounds of Courthouse.

Communities

City

Ocilla

The city of Ocilla is the county seat of Irwin County, Georgia, United States. 



Its population was 3,498 at the 2020 census. Ocilla is part of the Fitzgerald micropolitan statistical area.

History

Ocilla was founded in 1880, incorporated as a town in 1897, and finally re-incorporated as a city in 1902. It is not clear whether Ocilla is named for the Seminole Chief Osceola, for an Oswichee Native American tribe, or, as proposed by historian John Goff, it could be an adaptation of the place name Auscilla. A 1981 Fitzgerald Herald-Leader says that "a tribe of Oswichee Indians once lived near the Ocmulgee River on land known in 1818 as Irwin County." There, towns were called Oswitchee and Ocilla, and sometimes Ocichi. The French census shows that a town called Ocichi existed there in 1750. A later census in 1832 gives "Oswhichee as the name of another Indian village close to Osochi." It goes on with "The town's name was changed seven times. It was called by the Indians Assile, next Aglie, Axilla, Agulu, Ochile, and lastly Ocilla." This theory is less popular today.

Ocilla.

The most popular theory is that Ocilla is named for Chief Osceola, who had a prominent role in the Second Seminole War. Allegedly, he camped in the area known as Western Heights in Ocilla and frequently could be found in the area until his capture and imprisonment at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. 



Osceola is probably the reason that the sports teams in Irwin County are now known as the Indians.


Osceola stabbing the treaty with his dagger. Statue in Silver Springs, Florida. Osceola's grave at Fort Moultrie South Carolina.


A. T. Fuller House, 1955, Ocilla. 

Mr. Fuller’s grandson, Richard Owens, notes that the home was designed by prominent architect William Frank McCall, Jr., who was working for the Macon firm of W. Elliott Dunwoody at the time.


Dr. Robert A. Hingson House, Circa 1914, Ocilla

Robert Andrew Hingson was a pioneer in the field of public health who made important contributions to anesthesia for safer, easier childbirth and to mass immunizations with the ”jet” injection… his fame was assured well before this relief work. His invention of continuous caudal — posterior — anesthesia and perfection of lumbar epidural anesthesia to prevent pain in childbirth earned him worldwide recognition.


Dismuke & Willis Sanitarium, 1914, Ocilla

Ocilla’s first hospital, with 20 beds, was opened by Dr. Herman Dismuke and Dr. Gabe Willis in 1914. It originally featured wrap-around porches. Jamie Wilcox Lovett and Cindy Griffin note that this was built by their great-grandfather, Robert Toombs Woolsey. It was made obsolete by a newer facility in the early 1930s and is now a private residence. Dr. Dismuke was the most beloved physician in Irwin County during his lifetime. He delivered thousands of babies, promoted modern health and sanitary practices through his work with the clinic at Irwinville Farms during the Great Depression and served as the county doctor.


Paulk House, Ross House, and other Ocilla homes.


Irwin County Commission - Church of Deliverance -  Baptist Church in Ocilla.

Christmas Lady of Ocilla

In the 1980s and 1990s Marie Watson was known in Ocilla as the "Christmas Lady." Watson would intricately decorate the property around her home on Cherry Street with lights and Christmas decorations and each year "Santa Claus" would visit the property, taking wishes for gifts from children. Watson became famous for her Christmas cheer but eventually stopped due to the hassle of decorating and because of her older age. 


Marie then and parade today.

Today, her tradition is somewhat carried on every year as the City of Ocilla now decorates Cumbee Park, the public park directly in front of Watson's former home, and holds a yearly session with Santa Claus.

Ocilla Raceway or New Veterans Memorial Track

On the outskirts of town, Ocilla once hosted the New Veterans Memorial Track (commonly known as the Ocilla Raceway) which was a 3/8 mile layout racing track. It was inaugurated on April 23, 1950. Governor Herman Talmadge was scheduled to attend but was unavailable and the former Governor M.E. Thompson appeared instead. On opening day 2,500 people watched the first program featuring five separate races. James Bennett of Macon, Georgia won the 20-lap featured race and Lucy Stacks of Fitzgerald won the women's race. VFW would eventually take over the track after the original owner, Marion "Buddy" Green, decided that its liabilities were too great.

 

The races eventually began to run from January to December and hosted drivers from as far away as Atlanta and Northern Florida, as well as some local drivers. It was eventually shut down and the track survives in severe disrepair.

Railroad

The railroad was a prominent factor in the development of Ocilla and Irwin County in the late 19th and early 20th century, with multiple railroads bearing the name of the town. A March 20, 1981 Fitzgerald Herald-Leader article said that at one time, fourteen passenger trains stopped in Ocilla each day. According to Frank Crouch, "The Seaboard passenger trains stopped two times a day," and there was also a railroad shop where trains would have gone for repair.

Satilla to Lowndes.

While no tracks currently connect any industry or passenger service to Ocilla, the remnants of the "Iron Horses" that once whizzed through the area are still visible from track embankments in Irwinville, Georgia to the historical red caboose prominently overlooking Cumbee Park. There were at least four railroads that connected directly to Ocilla.

The Ocilla and Irwinville Railroad

The Ocilla and Irwinville Railroad was incorporated on October 4, 1900 or earlier and operated 11 miles of track between Ocilla and Irwinville. The railroad owned one locomotive, one passenger carriage, and 46 freight carriages. The railroad was purchased in 1903 by the Brunswick & Birmingham Railroad, which later leased it to the Fitzgerald, Ocilla, & Broxton Railroad in 1911. The 11 miles of track originally built by the Ocilla & Irwinville Railroad were abandoned in 1916 and later removed.

The Ocilla and Valdosta Railroad

The Ocilla and Valdosta Railroad was chartered in 1903 with plans to connect Valdosta with Macon. By 1906, the railroad had completed its first line from Broxton to Ocilla and had begun the construction on its line from Ocilla to Fitzgerald. It also purchased a line between Broxton and Hazlehurst in 1905 and had started to absorb the Fitzgerald, Ocmulgee, and Red Bluff Railway. Due to financial issues, it sold the Broxton-Hazlehurst line in 1907. In 1908, its remaining properties became the property of the new Fitzgerald, Ocilla, and Broxton Railroad. Like the Ocilla-Irwinville line, the Broxton-Ocilla line was abandoned in 1916.

Valdosta Depot long gone too.

The Fitzgerald, Ocilla, and Broxton Railroad

The Fitzgerald, Ocilla, and Broxton Railroad was formed in 1907 to take over the failing Ocilla and Valdosta Railroad lines connecting its namesake cities. As it is said above, the railroad also took over the Ocilla-Irwinville route from the Ocilla and Irwinville Railroad by leasing that railroad from its parent owner, the Brunswick & Birmingham Railroad. Like the Ocilla and Valdosta Railroad, the FO&B soon began to fail. It was forced to lease its tracks between Ocilla and Fitzgerald to the Ocilla Southern Railroad in 1911.

The Ocilla Southern Railroad

The Ocilla Southern Railroad was incorporated in 1908 and opened its Ocilla-Alapaha line in 1910, leased the Ocilla-Fitzgerald line from the FO&B in 1911, built an extension from Fitzgerald to Rochelle in 1914, and extended its line from Rochelle to Pope City in 1917. From Pope City, the Ocilla Southern extended its line to Nashville and owned all of the 69 miles of track between Ocilla and Nashville except for the 10 miles of Ocilla-Fitzgerald line that it was leasing. In 1917, the Ocilla Southern also leased a line between Pope City and Hawkinsville from the Hawkinsville and Florida Southern Railway and the line between Hawkinsville and Perry from the Hawkinsville and Western Railroad. 


Southern Railroad and Dixie Flyer.

According to the 1923 Poor's Manual, the Ocilla Southern Railroad wanted to connect Atlanta to Jacksonville, Florida but only ever covered a third of that distance. In 1918, the railroad entered receivership status and by 1923 had begun abandoning most of its lines.

The crash of the Dixie Flyer

On March 25, 1911, the southbound Dixie Flyer running from Chicago, Illinois to Jacksonville, Florida crashed through a trestle over the Alapaha River, only a short distance from Ocilla. 

Dixie Flyer Schedule.

The wreck was found to have been caused by the engine driving wheel axle breaking off. The baggage and express cars, as well as two day coaches, were flung into the water, a steel-construction first class coach car was forced through the sleeper car, the engine stayed on the trestle, and the tender was derailed. 



Ten people perished as a result, and the line was shut down for 36 hours for all trains. The disaster is considered one of the region's worst train wrecks in history

Unincorporated communities
   
Irwinville

Irwinville is an unincorporated community in Irwin County, Georgia, United States.

We talked about Irwinville above so we deleted a bunch of repetitive Wikipedia prose, but it was founded as "Irwinsville" in 1831 as the seat for the newly formed Irwin County. The community, like the County, was named for Georgia governor Jared Irwin. It was renamed to Irwinville (without the S) when it was incorporated as a town in 1857. It is mainly a ghost town now because in 1907, the seat of Irwin County was transferred from Irwinville to Ocilla for the Railroad. Irwinville is best known for its role in the American Civil War as the site of the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who was fleeing Union troops. Today, the site of his capture is marked by a monument as well as a museum and park. All shown above.

It was also a part of the WPA projects in the 1930's. Now if it wasn't for these 1930's WPA Irwinville Farms Project images, I would not have hardly anything to show for Irwinville. A small water park originally called Crystal Lake (later changed to Crystal Beach) operated just outside there from the middle of the twentieth century to 1998. Some people said it was haunted from the story above from the Civil War era regarding the Lynching of Willis Jackson Bone on it's shores. The original Grist Mill sunk into the Lake, like the modern day "Carrie House" from that movie at the end.

 
Then - Today.


Quite a spot back in the day. It appears that Crystal Lake’s reputed “curse” finally caught up with the tourist destination circa 1998. The families of a couple of youths who did drown in the lake sued the resort. Attendance plummeted as South Georgians pursued other newer entertainment venues. The cost of maintaining the lake and ensuring it was full for water recreation became too high. The resort finally closed to the public.

History

We recounted the Civil War history of Irwinville above, mainly the capture of Jefferson Davis and the Lynching of Bone.

Ocilla & Irwinville Railroad

The Ocilla & Irwinville Railroad was incorporated on October 4, 1900 or earlier and operated 11 miles of track between Ocilla and Irwinville. The railroad owned one locomotive, one passenger carriage, and 46 freight carriages. The railroad was purchased in either February or March 1903 by the Brunswick & Birmingham Railroad which later leased it to the Fitzgerald, Ocilla, & Broxton Railroad in 1911. The 11 miles of track originally built by the Ocilla & Irwinville Railroad were abandoned in 1916 and later removed. A failed 11 mile railroad with no images. I thought the county seat went to Ocilla because there was no train in Irwinville.

As county seat

Irwinville served as the official county seat of Irwin County from the formation of the county in 1831 until August 17, 1907. A total of three courthouses had been built in Irwinville over its 76-year tenure as county seat. The first courthouse was built by Benjamin Baker at a cost of about $1,500.00. Little is known about the first courthouse other than that it was a story and a half tall. It had a shingle roof, common with rural courthouses during this time.

No images of of these Civil War Era Courthouses

In 1854, Loam Brown built a new courthouse at a cost of $1,323 to replace the courthouse built by Benjamin Baker. There is no known description available for this courthouse. In August 1883, a notice was placed on the door of the courthouse stating that it and the public square in which it sat would be sold to the highest available bidder within 10 days. John Clements won the courthouse at a sum of $40.50, to which there was significant public outcry because the citizens of Irwinville did not want to see the building go.

The last courthouse in Irwinville, 1883

During the summer of 1883, the third and final courthouse in Irwinville was commissioned at a cost of $4,080. 

As shown above.

This courthouse was of an elongated design and would have sat in about the same location as where Moorehead's County Store stands today. It was of plain white siding on the exterior with a tin roof. Old Post office was used for government meetings. Both long gone.

Morehead has passed away, but store still there.

In 1897, a petition to move the seat of Irwin County to Fitzgerald, was submitted but not approved. However in 1905, Irwin County was divided into Irwin, Ben Hill, Turner, and Tift counties. The Spring of 1907 saw the county seat moved to its present location in Ocilla although the courthouse in Irwinville was still used for its original purpose until the new courthouse was completed in 1910.

As a town

Irwinville was once the largest town in Irwin County and contained several stores, a bank, and a jail.

Irwinville Community Center today.

Jails

Similarly to the courthouses, Irwinville had three jails throughout its history. The first jail was built between 1849 and 1850 at a cost of $800.00. The building was of log construction although nothing much is known past that. In 1856, an African-American prisoner named Josh Williams was imprisoned for the murder of two European-American men, Daniel and Bill Luke. On the night that Williams was arrested, someone set fire to the building and although the jailer lived only a mile away, neither the jail nor the prisoner could be saved. Josh Williams' remains are buried in a field cemetery behind the Masonic Lodge.

The jail was rebuilt in nearly the same way and reportedly had not been sealed well. In 1880, R.W. Clements had jailed another African-American man on the basis of a misdemeanor. According to witnesses, the inmate was said to have been "screaming and hollering as if all kinds of demons were after him." When Clements arrived at the jail, a rattlesnake had entered the cell that the prisoner was in. The prisoner was removed and the jail sealed so that nothing else could find its way in.


An Irwinville Farms Project family living in the second Irwinville jail during the 1930s.

In 1890, the county built another jail in Irwinville. It was of brick construction, contained eight steel cells, and cost $3,395.00 at the time of construction. All three jails in Irwinville were built around the same area as the courthouses and where Moorehead's Country Store presently stands. 



We know from historical records that the Oak trees that stand around Moorehead's were once used for the hangings of criminals jailed at the jailhouses and convicted at the old courthouses.

Hotel

The only surviving hotel building in Irwinville is the one built by Dr. G.E. White in the mid-1800s. Little is known about this building but it once welcomed visitors from many places and had played host to the American Confederacy's first and only leader, Jefferson Davis.

As shown above.
Irwinville Hotel was torn down for a Dollar General Store as noted above.

Bank

There have been several banks in Irwinville. The original bank operated until sometime near the 1920s or 1930s. 



The building still exists with the safe still inside, although a newer bank once operated in Irwinville until the 2000s.

Health Department

The Irwinville Farms Project brought a Health Department to Irwinville during the Great Depression era. 


Irwinville Farms Health Clinic, Circa 1938

It was considered to be very useful for the people of Irwinville who visited it. The building, originally the bank, is still standing and is now used as a shop.

Post office

Irwinville had its own post office up until 2012, although it had operated without a postmaster since 2010. 


The post office was closed by the United States Postal Service due to the cost of keeping it open.

Irwinville Farms Project

Between 1935 and 1939, the Works Progress Administration began a program centered around Irwinville. The project came to be known as the Irwinville Farms Project and its main goal was to rejuvenate the area around Irwinville that had suffered greatly during The Great Depression. The Irwinville Farms Project resulted in the construction of a cooperative cotton gin (at the stoplight in Irwinville, directly across from Quick change #50 store).


Leon Vera Bradford House

They built the monument in the park at the Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site, school playground, and a health clinic. 


Lot of School Kid images 1930's.

The project brought sports and ultimately resulted in the famous Irwinville Farmers basketball team, a May Day-health festival, and it saw the old courthouse converted into apartments for farm families.



It was one of numerous resettlement communities overseen during the Great Depression by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Resettlement Administration (RA). As today, there was much debate over the role of the government in dispensing what many considered welfare, but the FSA and RA were much more than that. 



They brought modern agricultural practices and equipment where there had been none, and they brought vaccines and health awareness in much the same way. 


In the process, they fostered a strong value system and sense of community that remains among descendants and survivors of the project.


Carver Farm, 1936, Irwin County


Irwinville Farms Tobacco Barn, 1930s, Irwin County
    
Mystic

Mystic is an unincorporated community in Irwin County, Georgia, United States. 



The community is located on Georgia State Route 32, 5.4 miles west-northwest of Ocilla. Mystic has a post office with ZIP code 31769, which opened on July 6, 1896. 

 
Old Mystic High School.

It is described as a "tight-knit community" where "everyone knows everyone", 2.5 hours south of Atlanta.

History

A post office was established at Mystic in 1896. The community was named after Mystic, Connecticut, the former home of an early settler. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Mystic as a town in 1903. The town's municipal charter was repealed in 1995. One reference states that Mystic was the original home of Nelson Tift, founder of Albany, Georgia, but it is perhaps equally likely that the homestead was that of Henry Harding Tift, for whom nearby Tift County was named.


Mystic was struck by a tornado on December 17, 2019, which did significant damage to the community and several buildings.


Negro Industrial School, Mystic


Frank & Rachel Parrish House, Circa 1891, Mystic


Cliff Fletcher House, Mystic
   
Waterloo

Waterloo is an unincorporated community in Irwin County, in the U.S. state of Georgia.

History

A post office called Waterloo was established in 1896, and remained in operation until 1903. According to tradition, the community received its name from the failed business dealings of a first settler, i.e. he "met his Waterloo".


Waterloo Masonic Lodge & School

This enigmatic building, the only remaining symbol of Waterloo’s past, was used as a Masonic lodge and a church, at least through the 1940s.


Precinct House, Waterloo

These old precinct houses, or precincts as most locals call these little buildings, are quickly fading from the landscape in South Georgia.

Wray

Wray is an unincorporated community in Irwin County, Georgia, United States. The community is located near the county's eastern border, 3.1 miles northwest of Ambrose. Wray has a post office with ZIP code 31798.


Wray School, Circa 1910, Irwin County

This rare surviving country schoolhouse has been used as a barn for years, but is relatively well-maintained.

Vintage image.
Harper Farmhouse, Circa 1916, Wray

As of late 2016, this house has been razed.


Wray Store, Irwin County
   
Abba

Abba is an unincorporated community in Irwin County, in the U.S. state of Georgia.

History

A post office called Abba was established in 1884, and remained in operation until 1954. Besides the post office, Abba contained a railway depot.


Abba Baptist Church, 1907

Though the congregation is exclusively associated with Irwin County, the church building itself is actually located in Ben Hill County, due to boundary changes in 1906.

Oh come on, there is a town named Abba AND Waterloo in Irwin County Georgia? 

   

That calls for a Top Row Dawg Musical Nugget.



Notable people

Paulene Myers (November 9, 1913 - December 8, 1996) was an American actress. She was a pioneer among African–American actors who performed on Broadway stage and appeared on many television series throughout her long career. Myers' career spanned over six decades.



Dennis Dove (born August 31, 1981), is a former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Dove graduated from Irwin County High School in Ocilla, Georgia in 2000. He went on to Georgia Southern University and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round of the 2003 amateur draft and was signed on June 30, 2003. He is currently a high school technology teacher and coach to the Jenkins County War Eagles baseball team.



Justin Anderson (born April 15, 1988) is an American football guard who is currently a free agent. He was selected in the seventh round, 208th overall, by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2012 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia. He now coaches for his hometown team, the Irwin Indians.



Amy Blackmarr, a Georgia Author of the Year for 2004.



Tyler Harper, Georgia State Senator, from Ocilla.



Newt Hudson, Georgia state legislator, was born in Ocilla.



Dave Prater, of the soul duo Sam & Dave, was born in Ocilla in 1937 and grew up singing gospel in the church choir.


Prater on the Right.

Dr. Robert Andrew Hingson, humanitarian and promoter of the Jet Injector which made mass immunization economical, lived in Ocilla from 1984 to his death in 1996.



Jack Smith, American football player.

Can not find images for Eagles or Memphis or Troy State.

Rodney K. Miller, television host for Small Town Big Deal.



Walt H. Sumner, outfielder and defensive back for Florida State University. Later inducted to FSU Hall of Fame.



Tara Grinstead, former Irwin County High School teacher who mysteriously disappeared.



I thought that would be an easier post with fewer Historic Sites and Markers for Irwin County, but it took all weekend till noon Sunday. Squeezing the County and the Wonder into one post unlike 4 post Hall County and 3 post Coweta County. Anyway, no creative ideas for the GNW Women, so I'll just present some GNW Girls instead. Irwin County High Cheerleaders who know how to play DEFENSE.