The Log Cabin Community, also known as Springfield, did not have a store until the 1930s. The store was run as a community cooperative. It was also a community gathering spot. To the right of the store, once stood a cafeteria that fed schoolchildren who attended the school across the street. While built before the Rosenwald era, the school applied for and received additional funding from the Rosenwald Fund to improve upon and expand the school.
Dr. Benjamin Hubert founded the Camilla-Zach Country Life Center in 1933. Hubert was the son of Camilla and Zacharias Hubert, the first Black landowners in Hancock County, Georgia. Dr. Hubert was president of the Georgia State College for Colored Youth, now known as Savannah State University.
Before he became president, Hubert became involved in the Country Life Movement, which was focused on making rural life attractive as more families relocated to urban areas. After he became president, he established the Association for the Advancement of Negro Country Life. With the backing of Northern donors, he worked to transform Springfield into an exemplary Black community.
Hubert purchased several hundred acres of farmland in the Springfield Community. He opened the Camilla-Zach Country Life Center to host educational seminars on farming practices. It became a hub for community activities.
Zach and Camilla Hubert were one of the earliest Black landowners in middle Georgia after the conclusion of the Civil War. Hubert, along with his brothers Floyd and David, combined efforts to purchase land in Hancock County, Georgia, from a white landowner who was willing to sell his land to the Huberts.
The gravesite of Zach and Camilla Hubert is located in the Hubert Family Cemetery, which is next to the church.
The Huberts, along with several other Black landowning families, created the community of Springfield, also known as the Log Cabin community. Zach and Camilla donated land for the Springfield Baptist Church., which had been holding services in a brush arbor since 1865. The church was built in 1879 by the Hubert brothers.
A historical marker was placed at the home site of the Hubert’s home called Springfield to commemorate the success and dedication of the Hubert family. It says, “Zack Hubert, a former Warren County slave, moved here with his family in 1871. The Huberts were among the first African-American landowners in central Georgia and played influential roles in the area’s African-American community. They named their homesite Springfield. Zack Hubert married Camilla Hillman in 1873. Hubert donated land and helped with construction for Springfield Church and its school, an early provider of technical education to African Americans in Georgia… Camilla and Zack Hubert are buried beside Springfield Church.”
The original Eldren Bailey marker for Dr. Benjamin HubertJency Hubert Reeves was one of the daughters of the HubertsMrs. Jency Reeves’s original marker made by Eldren BaileyThe small cemetery across the road from the Springfield Baptist Church
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