I took this photo in March 2023 during a downpour as I was heading to Statesboro for work. I assumed incorrectly that the home was being renovated because there was a dumpster to the right and the materials in the front yard. According to Brian Brown, the Lee House, as he identified it, was burned due to a controlled burn.
This beautiful old home is down a dirt road outside of Wrens, Georgia. At one point, there was a double porch on the front and one side of the house.
As of July 2023, this was dismantled.
Ezekiel Congregational Methodist Church has captured the imagination of many photographers curious about abandoned structures. It was struck by lightning which adds to the already fascinating details of it’s Gothic Revival facade.
It sits outside of Waycross near an area called Waltertown. I’ve seen two dates for this church, 1874 and 1899. I believe the congregation was established in 1874 and built in 1899. Manning Thigpen built it. The church was named for Manning and Miriam Thigpen’s son, Ezekiel, who died at the age of 12 in 1889.
The Cumorah Church is a rare rural church for practitioners of the Mormon Faith. The Hill Cumorah is where Joseph Smith found the golden plates, hence the name Cumorah Church. Founded in 1907, Mormons, by and large, were not welcome to the state of Georgia. Despite this, the congregation met in this building until the 1970s. It is located just outside of Douglas, Georgia.
Update: The church is no longer standing after Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
I photographed this church in 2021, but it seems that it has collapsed based on Google Earth. The congregation was founded in 1878. I am uncertain when the church was built. While the church was in poor condition, I am surprised it collapsed so quickly. There are many churches who are still holding on by a string.
These photos were taken in 2017. Unfortunately, as of 2023, this building is no longer standing.
Constructed in 1903, this brick building served a variety of functions. The worn-out signs reveal some of that history. From grocery stores to barber shops, the space evolved over the years. I even found an advertisement for Lee Military Store where you could pick up needed military gear, and even jewelry was available.
The longest-running tenant, based on newspaper articles, seems to have been the Magnolia Grill, but it was also home to Randy’s Chicken Shack. Its location at a street corner provided the building with a long life and many uses over the years. Unfortunately, those years are now over.
