
The school used to stand at the intersection of Georgia Highways 54 and 16 between Sharpsburg and Turin. It opened in 1919 and closed in 1954.
The school used to stand at the intersection of Georgia Highways 54 and 16 between Sharpsburg and Turin. It opened in 1919 and closed in 1954.
Oak Hill Cemetery started in 1833, but it didn’t get the name Oak Hill until the local newspaper ran a contest to name the cemetery in 1887. As an active cemetery with over 15,000 burials, the different markers represent funerary art over the years.
There are many notable people buried, many of whom were early settlers of the area. Several Victorian monuments grace part of the cemetery. I’ve visited the cemetery twice, 2014 and 2016. In that time, a major restoration has been done on several monuments. Photos of the changes are shown below.
The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
Built in 1937 by Willie Carlyle, the Powell Chapel School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The rural school served the local Black community until 1952.
The school is part of the greater property of the Powell United Methodist Church, but it is owned by a group of trustees.
Built initially as the Powell Chapel, the church, cemetery, and school sit on the land that once was a part of the Powell Plantation. The first church building was completed in the 1890s, but it burned in 1907.
The current brick structure was completed in 1920.
The cemetery is contains different areas with headstones. I am uncertain if cemetery is completely full. It is important because it has graves of many freedmen and women.
Located west of Senoia is this gorgeous, neglected home. James Bailey and his wife, Sarah, were married in 1855. They are indentified as one of the founding families of Coweta County.
In searching the history of the house, I discovered that several generations of the Baileys are buried in the cemetery next door, the White Oak Associated Presbyterian Church. From what I can pull together, descendants of the family occupied the house until the 1990s.
According to the 1860 Slave Census, the Bailey family enslaved 16 people, and there were 3 slave houses located on the farm. Those structures seem to be long gone.
The Carpenter Gothic details make this one of my favorite homes. I hope someone can restore the house. You can see additional photos on Old House Love and an old Redfin listing.
Coweta County
Built in 1832, the Leavell family, one of the first families to settle Turin, used slave labor to build this antebellum home, referred as Dossann Acres. Sitting on many acres of land, this farm was mainly used for cotton. According to the 1860 Slave Census, Leavell used the enslaved labor of 28 people, ranging in ages of 2 to 48, to farm the land.
Leavell willed this land to his stepson, Dr. Herbert Page. Thanks to Traci Muller Ryland of The Adventures in Cemetery Hopping, I was informed of an interesting story of Dr. Page taking care of two Union Soldiers that ended with two Union soldier headstones being placed in Tranquil Cemetery and the attempts to find the families of those soldiers. The Atlanta Journal Constitution shared the story in 1996. You can read the story here.