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HISTORIAL BUILDINGS IN THE WHITESVILLE,GEORGIA AREA.
The Hadley-Reid-Short House circa 1830?s It started as a two room house With attic as loft bedrooms with a ladder access. In 1840?s two rooms were built on the back of the house, a stairway to the loft bedrooms and cooking area. The rear roof line was changed to cover under one roof.
In 1860?s the Pastor?s apartment was added on the front of the house. It has it?s own entrance from the porch with no direct entrance to the house other than the front porch. Most Pastor?s served several churches and preached a circuit of a church each Sunday once a month.
Builder-owner Joseph James Hadley?s daughter K.T. Hadley married Joseph Andrew Reid in 1889. Their daughter Ellie Reid married Jessie Short. Their son J.B. Short and his wife Barbara now live in the house. They have restored and improved the old house of late leaving and refinishing the old wood interior,doors ,mantels, staircase and floors.
Joseph James Hadley was born in Halifax, NC in 1816 he got the land in the 1827 Ga. Land Lottery. Since then all owners including the present owner are a direct descendent and were born in the house. J.B. and Barbara have the original Lottery Deed to Joseph James Hadley!
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Historic Midway Baptist Church Mountain Creek Baptist Church Harris County, Ga. (1829-1856) This church was constituted on 20 Feb. 1829 at a meeting in the home of J. W. Cooper and agreed to hold meetings in an existing building on lot 282, north side of the Mill near Mountain Creek.
On 25 March 1836 the church reported to its members that it had been invited to move to Whitesville, but decided to erect its meeting house on its existing lot. The move to Whitesville did not take place until nearly two decades later, on 25 August 1856.
A noted member of Mountain Creek Church in 1856 was B. F. White of Sacred Harp song book fame. In 1857 the church began as Whitesville Baptist Church. In 1921 the church moved to it's present location and began as Midway Baptist Church and is still thriving today.
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IF AND WHEN HONEY
Whitesville,Georgia
As you move around the old Whitesville area as most do, driving Hwy 219 or I-185, you would say, I drove through there yesterday and I didn't see any thing like an old mill or Church. This is true to the normal eye of todays drivers as they move through at high speed going toward the destination of their choice. It's hard to spot much of anything at speeds of 55- 80mph. Slow down to the correct speed of 35mph and look out your side window and you will see a lot of things you had missed. Here is one!
On Hwy 219 in the heart of old Whitesville , there is the old grist mill, and in the yard of the house next to the mill there is a sign with a bee hive on it and it says IF and When Honey. Bee keeping was a craft J.T Cox got into. It was just one of the many crafts he mastered in his 60 or so years in Whitesville.
He passed down his Bee's and skills, to his Daughter Betty Beagle and her son Fred Beagle. They now have many more hives than Mr Cox had in his time but they still provide the loving care he did before he passed away. In the back room of the mill there is a work area containing all the tools needed to get honey from the hive to the jar.
Mama B (Betty), as the locals call her, and Fred usually have two honey flows a summer. This means to us not real aware of the life of Bee Keepers, they rob the hives two times during the spring to fall season. During each flow a lot of labor is involved. I know, as I have helped them on several Honey flows. They smoke the hives to calm the Bee's, then remove from the hive of swarming Bee's, a super or two of honey. They do all the hives then take them to the mill to uncap the wax covered cones, put them in the centrifuge to sling the honey out of the frames, then they clean and put the supers back where they came from on the hives.
They check the health of the bee's as they replace the supers. They add or take away supers depending on each hive population and health. I can remember J.T saying " If you take care of the Bee's they will take care of you". It must work, but for a Bee Keeper it means a lot of work year round just to keep the Bee's happy and healthy. The honey is then packaged in jars of different sizes to be sold to a host of waiting customers from all over.
Fred keeps another of his Grandfather's honey sales practices in place, On the front porch, by the door of the house, there is a table covered with different size jars of If and When Honey ready for you. The price is on the Jar and a Mason jar with some change is there. Pick your jar, put the money in the Mason jar and get your change. THE HONOR SYSTEM IS STILL HERE! Most of the people buy from the porch and have been stopping by for years. Most will see Fred or Mama B in time as they are working nearby, so stop in and say hello, you will get a good conversation going so watch your watch, time will fly! IF we have the money AND WHEN we have the time.
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Also visit and read my stories posted on "Columbus, Georgia, Online", (Ins and Outs of Harris County) hosted by Mike Duke, every Sunday Morning.
Ron Rollins
WHITESVILLE PICTURE SHOW 1934
AGAIN AS TOLD TO ME by J.T.Cox, with a memory refreshing by Betty Beagle his daughter,who stills lives in Whitesville, Ga. Betty is a retired Harris County School Teacher. She taught at The Old Mountain Hill School till she retired. Her father was a jack of all trades and was called on by one and all from time to time to invent, fix or build all things needed or that went wrong or quit working during the time he lived in our historic community.
J.T. moved to Whitesville area in the 1920's after graduating from the University of Ga. He worked as a Extension Agent for Harris County; married a local girl ( Miss Mary Hopkins a school teacher at Sunny Side School) in June of 1925 and raised 6 children. In 1932 he bought the Daniel's place in down town Whitesville. It included a country store, the old griss mill (originally located on mountain creek and moved) and a home.
J. T. built a canning plant and portable hammer mill; to make feed on site at local farms, from grains raised there; later on. The home also came with a DELCO power plant that produced 32 Volt power for lights and appliances. It ran on Gasoline and so did the large ( hit and miss) motor that ran the griss mill. They ran on this electricity till REA came into being and he then put an electric motor on the Mill and also a motor on the maytag washer to do laundry from conventional power and did away with the Delco Power Plant that had served them well.
In J. T.'s travels and trading J.T. came up with a silent Movie Projector, some movies, and a location to get more movies. I hope to get for copy on site here, of a receipt on movies he showed and ordered for the theater.
AND THE STORY GOES: In the summer of 1927 after getting the projector J.T. Cox got the idea of what to do with it. As customers and neighbors always came by the store and mill he announced that on Saturday at dusk he would show a free movie to anyone who wished to come .
J. T. placed two large white sheets on the wall of the Mill which was 40ft east of the Cox Store and cut a hole in the wall of the store above the counter. He figured he could stand on the counter and run the projector as well as read the writing for all who attended, as not all could read. It was powered by the Delco system and power was in the store. Also, (the light bulb came on in his head) it made it convenient during intermission to sell candy and refreshments from the store as most that came to view the movie had an account at his store.So it began; every Saturday night at dusk as many as 30 to 40 people came to the movie. They walked, came by horse and wagon from near and far. Three benches sat at the front of the store, they were moved to the store side, some sat in wagons, put so they could see, some brought blankets to sit on and some just sat on the ground. They watched cartoons( Betty Bee remembers from her childhood) and movies while visiting with friends, family, and some strangers every Saturday of the summer. ( when it didn't rain!) Modern Times had come to Whitesville, Ga. and Harris County.
Sometimes in the early 1940's when times were hard J.T. went out like many others and went into saw milling. It caused him to travel to other states to find work. The Movies stopped being shown. The Mill , Store,and Cannery stop being publicly used. This was in early 1950,s as his children left for school or jobs and J.T. working out of town.
The Road was paved trough Whitesville. now GA. HWY 219 as car and trucks race by not even seeing the old mill still standing there as they go by. The Spirit of the small town is still alive, neighbor still helps neighbor,and the honor system is strong.
If you want a little taste of the honey stop by , drive slow and look. You will still find in the Cox home a sign in the yard that reads" IF AND WHEN PURE HONEY".Stop in and go to the front porch, on a table there you will see jars of Honey and a mason jar with a sign price is on the honey put money in the Jar we still use the honor system here. You may meet a new friend as people stop in all the time for honey and have been doing it for years You see J.T. Cox's grandson lives there now and Fred and his mom Betty still work the Bee's as done when J.T lived there. "Good Whitesville Honey".
Please visit "Columbus, Georgia Online", hosted by Mike Duke. My stories are appearing every Sunday Morning. Look for the block that has "Ins and Outs of Harris, County, by Ron Rollins.
Thanks for visiting my site ,Ron Rollins, <
Neighbors helping neighbors.
Plan: What to do next.
Picture taken January 2005, Pine Lake Drive, Whitesvile, Georgia.
Fred B. couldn't find his shovel.
Tommy, Ron and Freddie.
Plan number 2 short discussion.
NOW WHAT????
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