I have finally merged all my websites under the new vanishinggeorgia.com banner. If you subscribe to this site or subscribe to comments, please go to the new site and follow there. The posts and comments from here are all there now. This site will only be online a few more days.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND I HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE NEW SITE.
After 13+ years of managing multiple websites, I have begun the process of merging them into one site. This process should be complete within the next few weeks.
Vanishing South Georgia, Vanishing North Georgia, and Vanishing Coastal Georgia will soon become Vanishing Georgia, to consolidate searches and to make all of my archive available in one space. The new site will feature nearly 7,600 locations with approximately 25,000 individual images. The site’s appearance and functionality should remain relatively consistent with a few new additions.
There may be some small glitches during the process, but I’m doing everything I can to make it a clean transition.
Oak Grove was established by the city of Brunswick in 1838 as its first public cemetery and was originally designed to encompass ten acres. I received a nice message from Oak Grove Cemetery Society President Robert M. Gindhart III and he updated some of the history of the site: The cemetery was finally reduced to the size we see today in 1901 to make way for the new Brunswick and Birmingham Railroad roadbed. This greatly altered the western boundary of Oak Grove, moving the fence 50 feet eastward. Fifty graves were exhumed and most of those were brought within the new cemetery boundary. Were all exhumed? Recently, OGCS, using Ground Penetrating Radar, identified hundreds of unknown graves. We have added those to our electronic map found at: www.oakgrovetour.com identified by beginning with letter U and a blue dot.
Oak Grove contains a nice variety of Victorian funerary monuments and is one of Brunswick’s most fascinating public spaces. It shouldn’t be overlooked.
The memorials that follow were randomly selected and appear in no particular order
Oak Grove is open from dawn until dusk. Parking is free, on the street beside the cemetery.
This unassuming commercial storefront, now little more than a shell, was home to the Boblo Records Studio, an obscure label which actually churned out a few recordings in the 1970s. Chet Bennett designed the studio for owner Bobby Smith, and is credited as producer, as well. One of the best known artists to record here was Jimmy “Orion” Ellis. Two of the first records to bear the Boblo Records label were “Mr. Boogie Man” and “Feel Like Being Funky” by Avalanche.
The studio was relatively short-lived, but its mere presence in Brunswick was quite amazing.
The sacred ground on St. Simons known as Village Cemetery is one of the most important African-American burial grounds in Georgia. Closely watched over and maintained by the First African Baptist Church of St. Simons, it is the final resting place of countless souls who worked nearby plantations from the early 19th century to Emancipation, and their descendants. It should be noted that until World War II, and perhaps a bit later, African-Americans were much more numerous on St. Simons, living in various historical communities scattered around the island.
I found the cemetery by accident and was so moved by its beauty that I felt an urgency to document its most important monuments. Though there are countless unmarked and unknown burials, the oldest surviving section of the cemetery contains numerous vernacular headstones. These nationally significant treasures represent the resourcefulness and perhaps shed light on some of the traditions of the first and second generations of freedmen who remained on the island after emancipation. In early 19th century Georgia, slave burials were decorated with the last object used by the deceased. It is likely that the decorated graves in Village Cemetery are a continuation of that tradition. The cemetery is active so modern headstones and markers are also present.
I hope that the church or others with more knowledge of the cemetery’s history will work to have it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A survey was published by the Golden Isles Archaeology Society in 2000 and the cemetery has been documented on Findagrave. I am unable to share the location of the cemetery but those interested may wish to contact the First African Baptist Church.
It’s obvious that the porch, in its present configuration, is a later addition to this house. I’m unsure as to its original style; the date of 1895 is from a resource survey and may only be a guess. I hope to learn more.
Brunswick Old Town Historic District, National Register of Historic Places