FOLKLIFE OF WIREGRASS GEORGIA

Wiregrass and longleaf pine forest at Ichauway, Baker County. Most of South Georgia’s remaining native forests are located in hunting plantations and military preserves.

ABOUT

Many black and white photographs in the exhibit were taken in 1977 by folklorists from the American Folklife Center at the Library of congress working in cooperation with the Arts Experiment station and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton. Additional photos were collected by the South Georgia Folklife Project at Valdosta State University. This exhibit combines new material with text and images from an earlier exhibit of the same name produced by the Arts Experiment Station in the late 1980's.

ECONOMY

The early economy also tapped the piney woods for the production of turpentine. Southeast Georgia continued turpentine production longer than any other place in the nation, first with native pine and later with crops of commercially planted trees. The stories and hand skills of woods workers are an important part of local lore.

Major Phillips working turpentine in the final season of commercial production in Georgia, near Soperton.

Photo by Bill Godfrey courtesy of Georgia Forestry Commission, 2001

CATFACE

Elliot West of Folkston applies chemicals to a chipped "catface" so the raw "gum" (used to make turpentine) will bleed into the cup, Ware County.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1998.

TURPENTINE

"Everybody can't turpentine. There's an art to it.... A good chipper's a professional man in my book. You can stop there and look; every face is smooth all the way from the ground up." (Alton Carter of Racepond, speaking of these catfaces by Elliot West on Hwy. 1 and 23 south of Waycross.)

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1998.

HEART-PINE CABINS

"Because wiregrass covered the forest floor, the area came to be known as Wiregrass, Georgia, and its settlers were said to be as tough and wiry as the grass. They felled one-hundred foot trees to construct crude heart-pine cabins in a typical style . . ." Janisse Ray, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, 1999.

Photo: This saddle-notched log cabin from Irwin County, built by Henry Fletcher in 1898, is typical of Wiregrass Georgia's early folk housing.

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Photo by Carl Fleischhauer,1977.

THE GOPHER TORTOISE

Laurie Mizell of Charlton County rides a gopher tortoise at Camp Cornelia, 29 May 1929. The gopher tortoise, native to the wiregrass ecosystem, has been on the threatened species list since 1992.

Photo by Francis Harper courtesy of Delma Presley

WIREGRASS FOLK MUSIC

This 1926 flyer advertises one of many events, groups, places, and businesses that have used the name "wiregrass."

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Courtesy of Luther Oakes, Jr.

OF FARMS AND FARMING

The farmer's landscape in South Georgia presents gently rolling pine and oak forests and savanna punctuated by cypress swamps and sandy bottoms. The soil of the region is rich and fertile and has for generations supported fine, productive farms. The varied crops of the area include peanuts, cotton, bright leaf tobacco, spring wheat, field corn, soy beans, pecans, slash pine, fruits, and vegetables. Cattle, hogs, and goats graze in pastures, woodlands, and pecan groves.

Watermelon Harvest, Cook County, Georgia.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2001.

COTTON

"Years later I had the chance to work beside the best picker in the field. My 'opponent' was taking two rows at a time and I was steadily losing ground. The day ended, and I weighed in at one hundred and twenty-five pounds while she had over four hundred. That was the last time I seriously tried to pick cotton." Milton N. Hopkins Jr., In One Place, The Natural History of a Georgia Farmer, 2001.

Sign painter Curtis Everett of Donalsonville depicts an earlier era when cotton was Wiregrass Georgia's sole cash crop.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1998. West Jakin Convenience Mart, 1999.

PEANUT COUNTRY

With the arrival of the dreaded boll weevil in the early 1920's, many Wiregrass farmers began to look to cash crops other than cotton. The peanut quickly became a leading cash crop in the region. South Georgia farmers had grown peanuts prior to the 1920's but generally only for stock feed. At that time farmers baled the vines for cattle feed and left the peanuts in the ground for the hogs to root.

Irwin County Agricultural Extension Officer Gary Tankersley, left, inspects peanuts on Charlie Fletcher's farm. Marvin Hood helps while Charlie Fletcher looks on.

Photo by Carl Fleischhauer, 1977

Peanut City, Cook County

Worth County claims the title "Peanut Capitol of the World," and Sylvester, the county seat, has hosted the Georgia Peanut Festival since 1963. Fresh boiled peanuts and peanut brittle are delicacies throughout Wiregrass Georgia. At Peanut City in Cook County you can hear some good stories while buying peanuts and fresh local produce. Here, David Kelly, grandson of proprietor Billy Martin, bags boiled peanuts for a customer.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2001.

BRIGHT LEAF TOBACCO

Beginning in the 1910's, tobacco demonstrators came to South Georgia from the Carolinas to introduce commercial bright leaf tobacco as an alternative cash crop. Here, members of the Akins family of Berrien County hang tobacco to cure in a stick tobacco barn

Photo by Carl Fleischhauer,1977.

BULK BARNS

Since the 1970's, more labor intensive stick tobacco barns have given away to modern bulk barns with gas-powered ovens. Farmers must properly pack the leaves in the cooking barns and then carefully monitor barn temperature over the seven days of the tobacco cooking process. With reduced quotas and increasing uncertainty in the tobacco industry, the future of tobacco-based agriculture is unclear.

Rodney Singleton, left, and Lester Jackson remove cooked tobacco from a box-type bulk barn at the Gary Walker farm in Ty Ty.

Photo by Laura Densmore, 2000.

TOBACCO AUCTIONS

Through the 2000 season, sheets or bales of cured tobacco were sold at auction. Now tobacco companies contract directly with farmers. The cries of a skilled tobacco auctioneer, like Jimmy Parker of Planters Warehouse in Nashville, are only a memory.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997.

TOBACCO CREW

Allen Shellhorse poses with tobacco crew after they have unloaded "sheets" of freshly cured tobacco near Tifton, 1977. These days, many tobacco farmers hire Hispanic crews.

Photo by Howard Marshall, 1977.

GEORGIA PEACHES

Most farmers once relied on family or local labor. Now a growing migrant and seasonal work force brings new customs and cultures, as with these workers at the Burton Brooks Orchards in Barney.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1999.

CANE SYRUP

Cane syrup once was a major cash crop in the Georgia Wiregrass. Traditionally, cane grindings have been family gatherings during cooler fall weather. At one time, most farmers made syrup for their own use and perhaps to sell. These days there are fewer producers, but locally made syrup is still the sweetener of choice for biscuits or cornbread. The art of syrup making lies in the grade of cane grown in the field and in skillfully cooking the raw juice into syrup.

At Puddin' Creek Syrup in Willacoochee, Carlos Perez, assisted by Roberto Perez, adds raw cane juice to the kettle to cook into syrup.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997.

HONEY

Honey is also an important local product. A mild climate and the abundance of gallberry bushes for pollination make southeast Georgia the state's leading commercial honey producing region. Beekeepers develop a keen knowledge of the woods, the habits of bees, and the rhythm of the seasons.

Honey stand of Dicie and Walter Henderson, Manor.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2000.

COUNTRY HAM

Country ham is a southern tradition. Before refrigeration, farm families butchered hogs when the weather turned cold. The meat was cured with salt or other preservatives, then smoked and aged in the smokehouse. A properly cured ham is good up to seven years. Today, government regulations and changing lifestyles have shifted most fresh meat processing from home smokehouses to commercial operations.

Country cured ham at Jones Country Meats of Climax. The business grew out of a family backyard barbecue and meat curing operation.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1999.

HAM AND EGG SHOW

The tradition of raising hogs and curing the hams is encouraged yet today at the annual Ham and Egg Show in Lowndes County, pictured here. Ham and Egg Shows began in Fort Valley as an educational program for black farmers to improve the quality of livestock and home-produced meat. Today, Lowndes County hosts the only ham and egg show remaining in the state.

Photo by B.K. Lilja, courtesy of Ft. Valley State University Cooperative Extension Service, 2004.

OF RELIGION AND SACRED LIFE

Churches and religion have dominated the spiritual and social life of Wiregrass Georgia for generations. Community churches are often the hub of activity for rural farm families. Rural communities are often identified by the name of the oldest and nearest church. Congregations gather for regular worship, and many churches also meet for study and fellowship during the week. Although Protestant beliefs dominate South Georgia's religious culture, other religious traditions also have deep historical roots.

High Bluff Primitive Baptist Church outside Hoboken, organized in 1819.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2001.

JEWISH COMMUNITY

Jewish believers came to the region as early as the mid-nineteenth century. Here, Ben Broomberg receives the gift of a tallit, or prayer shawl, from his grandparents at his bar mitzvah held at the Fitzgerald Hebrew Congregation.

Photo by Connell Studios, 1989.

CATHOLICISM

As South Georgia becomes more culturally diverse, new religious customs enrich the region's sacred life. At the Knights of Columbus Hall in Valdosta, Hispanic Catholics celebrate the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997

GOSPEL MUSIC

Perhaps the richest form of religious expression is demonstrated through musical performance, a time when individual and community talent merge with tradition. Spirituals, shape-note hymns, a cappella hymns, and modern gospel songs accompanied by instruments are sung throughout the region. Annual singing conventions and anniversary gospel concerts are popular events in Wiregrass Georgia, providing an opportunity to share music and faith, and to gather in fellowship with friends and family members from far away.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers

HYMNS

Worshippers sing words from Primitive Hymns by Benjamin Lloyd using tunes learned by ear, Sardis Primitive Baptist Church, Folkston.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997.

Freewill Baptist Church

Many African American churches continue traditions of worship which result from the blending of European and African religious practices. The African aesthetic is evident in singing and preaching styles which include improvisation, dramatic presentation, body movement, hand clapping, shouts, and moans. The importance of hats in church attire can be traced in part to the importance of head adornments among African ethnic groups at the time of the slave trade.

The preacher of the Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church leads his congregation.

Photo by Beverly Robinson, 1977.

Albany Civil Rights Movement

Albany native Rutha Harris, one of the original SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Freedom Singers, leads the way singing "freedom songs," many based on spirituals and congregational singing of the black church, at historic Mt. Zion Baptist Church, now home of the Albany Civil Rights Movement Museum.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2000.

Royal Family Singing Convention

The place of worship is often a center for community social life. Occasions like church anniversaries, homecomings, singing conventions, or religious holidays often include a "dinner on the grounds" or other special meals prepared, brought, and shared in fellowship. These gatherings often feature the best of local food traditions:

Members of the Royal Family Singing Convention in Mystic take a break from the singing to fill their plates with home cooked food and enjoy another year's "dinner on the grounds."

Photo by Howard Marshall, 1977

HOME COOKING

"It was a noonday meal of late field peas, ham hocks, sweet potatoes cured in the sun and sweetened until pure drops of candy would come out as they were baking. Great rounds of sun cured beef and the best red-eyed gravy to go on the steaming rice cooked to perfection, flanked on the sides by cucumber pickles and spiced pickled peaches and plate after plate of lightly puffed buttermilk biscuits. Sometimes fresh mustard greens or turnips and good cornbread could be had. The last thing on the menu would be Aunt Sara's pound cake or old fashioned jelly cake or egg custard." Martha Mizell Puckett, Snow White Sands, 1975.

Photo by Carl Fleischhauer, 1977.

HOMECOMING

Bethel Baptist Church Homecoming, Worth County.

Photo by Carl Fleischhauer, 1977.

BAPTISMS

"She walked to the water's edge and gave to the preacher her hand, as she had already given to God her heart. And as the congregation sang "There is a fountain filled with blood" she sank beneath the waters, to arise to a new life of consecration and service." -- J. L. Herring, Saturday Night Sketches, Stories of Old Wiregrass Georgia, 1918.

Baptisms in ponds, creeks, and rivers have been a part of local religious tradition for generations. Here, members of the Lee family are baptized at Blue Hog on the Satilla River, Brantley County.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2001.

SINGING CONVENTIONS

Singing conventions are nondenominational associations of singers who convene regularly to sing out of songbooks that use specially shaped note heads as an aid to the singers. The convention typically lasts one to two days, with informal hymn singing by those in attendance, and "specials" or performances by soloists and groups. In many places these older singing traditions have been replaced by gospel sings and musical performances which feature more professional artists in concert settings.

Members of the Convention Quartet (from left, Edgar Walker, Fred Johns, Luther Oakes, Jr., Joyce Oakes, and Leroy Vickers) perform gospel songs during breaks in the group singing, Royal Family Singing Convention, Mystic.

Photo by David Stanley, 1977.

OF COMMUNITY ART AND LIFE

"Whether or not you know it, community culture is all around you! Sometimes called 'folklore' or 'folklife,' community culture is the living expression of culture in everyday life--anyone's culture--learned and passed on informally from person to person....Everywhere people take the experiences of their lives and transform them into song, story, decoration, ritual and celebration--examples of what folklorists call "expressive culture." When such expressions communicate the shared experiences, thoughts, and feelings of a group, and are passed on to others, they become traditions." Explore Your Community poster, American Folklife Center and Rural School and Community Trust, 2001.

Wooden toys made by Clyde Paul of Irwin County.

Photo by David Stanley, 1977.

FIDDLE AND STRAW

For generations family and community members have gathered to hear folks like John Griffin of Lenox play the fiddle. As he learned his tunes from others before him, so have others learned from him. Here, John Griffin plays a tune while his brother Arthur "beats straws", adding a staccato rhythmic drone by striking the violin strings with a broom straw.

Photo by Carl Fleischhauer, 1977.

QUILTS

All traditional communities express their aesthetic values through a variety of material craft objects. Quilts provide needed warmth and artistic expression. Here, quilter Fannie Lee Teals of Tifton shows her "Wheel of Fortune" and "Bicentennial" quilts.

Photo by Beverly Robinson, 1977.

BASKET WEAVING

Throughout the Wiregrass, families decorate their yards with "spent" farm objects, and work in wood to make whimsical carvings and functional baskets. Here, Sam Davis works to make another white oak basket. Baskets of this kind traditionally were used to pick cotton.

Photo by Carl Fleischhauer, 1997.

ARCHITECTURE

Built environments mark the landscape throughout the Wiregrass, creating a strong sense of place with such features as fences, roads, bridges, garden layouts, and farmscapes. At the center of the built environment is the home. Folk houses take on the personality of their builders. Often these were local carpenters or farmers who used local materials, floorplans, and techniques which had been passed on by family members or neighbors. Folk houses are constantly adapted to suit the needs of later inhabitants. Most folk houses in the Wiregrass were built prior to World War I; after the war commercially-produced plan books became available for home construction, many based on older traditional designs.

An abandoned frame central hall house near Live Oak Church in Turner County, with a semi-detached kitchen to protect the dwelling from fire.

Photo by David Stanley, 1977.

FOLK HOUSES

The shotgun is a type of folk house with antecedents traceable to West Africa and the Caribbean. This restored example is from Valdosta.

Photo by James Horton, 2000.

FISH FRIES

Community celebrations throughout Wiregrass Georgia often feature local foods, music, and crafts along with the wares of commercial traveling concessionaires. A focal point for ethnic pride or community identity, these festivals and gatherings often focus on a central theme--such as a local crop or industry--or commemorate a significant event, holiday, or time of the year.

Fish fry at the Valdosta Juneteenth celebration.

Photo courtesy of the Valdosta Daily Times, 2000.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Employees of China Garden perform a ceremonial dance for luck while celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Photo courtesy of Valdosta Daily Times, 1999.

TIMBER

Loggers and timber industry workers compete with an old-time hand saw at the Timberland Jubilee, Homerville.

Photo by Billy Rowe, 1999

CREEK FRY BREAD

Different ethnic groups in Wiregrass Georgia each cherish food traditions that reflect the preferences of their families and communities. Folk cooks learn to prepare a traditional food by imitation and trial and error without using a formal written recipe. Perhaps no food is more basic than bread, which can be found in many varieties both for everyday use and for special occasions.

Vernie "Desert Flower" Martin prepares fry bread at the Cherokee Tribe of Georgia pow wow in St. George, using techniques learned from her mother.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1999

MAMA'S BISCUITS

"Mama made biscuits the old-fashioned way, hollowing a well in the bowl of flour and cutting the shortening in with her fingers, then pouring milk into the reservoir and stirring until she had a ball of dough. She pinched the biscuits off one by one, rolling them into small balls and pressing them out on a cookie sheet. Each biscuit bore the mark of the back side of her knuckles." Janisse Ray, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Milkweed Editions, 1999.

Nell Snowden (right), a skilled traditional cook with deep roots in the Swamper culture of the Okefenokee, prepares a tray of homemade biscuits at the Chesser Homestead Open House near Folkston.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 1997.

HISPANIC CULTURE

Maria de los Angeles prepares fresh corn tortillas at Los Laurelles in Moultrie.

Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2000.

The Downtown Market

The Downtown Market in Valdosta serves a growing Indian and Pakistani population and introduces long-time Wiregrass residents to new tastes and recipes.

Photo by #

The Ole' Time Country Store

The Ole Country Store in Faceville, 85 years old, serves as a general store for this small community, including Mexican products for local agricultural workers. Inside, Myrna Finney points to Mexican products.

Photo courtesy of Valdosta Daily Times, 1999.

BAR-B-QUE

Dorsey's Service Center and Bar-B-Que was a well known landmark in Ty Ty.

Photo by Tom Adler, 1977.

FISHING AND HUNTING

Fishing and hunting have been important sources of food and recreation since the early settlement of the region. Fishermen and women often have fish fries at the water's edge or take their catch home for dinner. Local stores and restaurants sell fish from local waters. Fishing and other outdoor experiences feed local narrative traditions and become incorporated in craft traditions such as nets, fish decoys, and fishing boats uniquely adapted to local waters.

Billy Payne and Henry Overton fish the Alapaha River in a pond boat built by Mr. Payne.

Photo by David Stanley, 1977.

SUCKERFISH

Dennis Mock of Bainbridge learned from his father how to make nets used to catch suckers in the Flint River.

Photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, & Tourism, 2001.

HUNTING

Hunting is deeply rooted in Wiregrass Georgia heritage. Local fish and game have been an important food source for many Wiregrass families. Regional folklore is full of hunting customs and techniques, from training skilled hunting dogs to annual Thanksgiving-time dove shoots. Southwest Georgia is particularly known for hunting plantations that feature wing shooting of native dove and bobwhite quail and cater to corporate clients or wealthy northerners. The slow pace of the hunt wagon allows for guests to exchange hunting stories and enjoy the autumn scenery while trained dogs locate the birds. Much of the workforce on these plantations has traditionally been African American.

Quail hunt at Myrtlewood Plantation.

Photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, & Tourism, 2000..

BIRD DOGS

"I had one of the best coon dogs going across them woods you ever saw. And he struck this durn coon and that coon went right out and across the open field. And they just looked like he was going, going to catch that coon every minute. He was just biting at him. Woof, woof. And he quit. And he never did bark no more. I took my lantern and went out across there, see could I find him, find out what was wrong. That dog was laying out there dead. And do you know - that coon was running so fast until them rings on his tail slipped off from his tail and went over that dog's neck and choked him to death." Luther "Lying" Bailey, Turner County, recorded August 12, 1977 by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Bird dog retrieving quail. 2000.

Photo by Diane Kirkland, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, & Tourism.

CREDITS

This version of FOLKLIFE OF THE GEORGIA WIREGRASS combines an exhibit from the late 1980's with new material. The negatives for photographs in this exhibit are housed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and at Valdosta State University. We wish to thank all the people of the Georgia Wiregrass who tirelessly gave of their time and knowledge, helping to make this body of documentation available to the general public.

Production and funding: Arts Experiment Station of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, the Georgia Folklife Program of the Georgia Council for the Arts, and the South Georgia Folklife Project of Valdosta State University with funding from the Georgia Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Valdosta State University, and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly.

Exhibit Directors and Curators: Tom Rankin (original 1980s exhibit) and Laurie Kay Sommers

Exhibit Design: James Hornsby, Fred Sanchez

Archivist: Deborah S. Davis

Webmasters: Patrick J. Taylor (2007) and Dallas A. Suttles (2014)

Project Directors: Syd Blackmarr (original 1980s exhibit) and Laurie Kay Sommers Photography: Thomas A. Adler, William Lightfoot, Howard Marshall, Beverly Robinson, David H. Stanley, and Carl Fleischhauer, Laurie Sommers, Diane Kirkland, Billy Rowe, B.K. Lilja, Mike Tanner, Paul Leavy, James Horton, Tommy and Sharon Connell.

Special Thanks: Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections, American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, Stacey Wright, Jennifer Johnson, Katrina Rash, Michael Holt, Carl Fleischhauer, Dr. John Burrison, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Valdosta State University College of the Arts, Bank of America, Evaline Ervin, Valdosta Daily Times, Marvin Broomberg family, Connell Studios, Lowndes County and Ft. Valley State Extension Services, Melva Morfaw, John Crowley, Diane Howard, Donald Davis, and Luther A. Oakes, Jr.