* THE STORY OF WASHINGTON-WILKES * * AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES * ashinglon- COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY WORKERS OF THE WRITERS ' PROGRAM OF THE WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA Illustrated * Sponsored by the Washington City Council THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS ATHENS I 9 4 I FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY JoHN M. CARMODY, Administrator WORK. PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION HowARD O. HuNTER, Commissioner FLORENCE l(ERR, Assistant Commissioner H. E. HARMON, State Adnzinistrator COPYRIGHTED 1941 BY THE WASHINGTON CITY COUNCIL PRINTED IN U.S.A. BY THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHTS TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM. CITY OF WASHINGTON WASHINGTON. GEORGIA W. C. LINDSEY. MAYOR COUNCILMEN F. E. BOLINE.CL'l:RK J,G.ALLEN A. A. JOHNSON UO KRUHBtltt 105'1 NASH 11. P. POPE DR. A. W. SIMPSON We, the Mayor and Council of Washington Georgia, feel that we are fortunate in having an opportunity to sponsor a History and Guide of our town and county through the Georgia Writers' Froject of the Work Projects Adminis• tration of the state. It is a pleasure for us to add a word of appreciation to this little book which will find its way to all parts of our nation, telling in a quaint and simple manner the story of th1s locality which is so rich in history, and carrying glimpses or the beauty of our homes and surroundinBs. We are happy to sponsor this worthwhile work and are grateful to the Georgia Writers' Project for giving Miss Minnie Stonestreet the task of compiling this important volume. February- 1941 Preface VERY TOWN is different from every other town. E This conclusion constantly comes home to us who are en­ gaged in compiling guidebooks, and its truth is more apparent with each new volume. Written records may supply accurate dates, but the true flavor of history is best brought out by conver­ sation with those who have participated. This flavor, or atmos­ phere, we have sought to put into this book. Other cities may have more industrial variety, more establishments, more contrast between past and present; few so truly embody, without self­ ::onsciousness, the gracious spirit of the Deep South. Some cities show their old houses every day in the year. Washington-Wilkes lives in them. In a community such as this one, where the past is rich but pub­ lished records are few, it was necessary to rely to a great extent on the aid of citizens. This aid was given abundant! y; we cannot speak too highly of the diligence and courtesy of those who gave so much time to furthering our research. A list of these consult­ ants will be found at the end of the book. We ask the indulgence of any who may have failed to receive credit for assistance. Even the greatest care cannot always insure the inclusion of all consult­ ants. When the Mayor and City Council signed the sponsorship papers for. "The Story of Washington-Wilkes," the Writers' Proj­ ect in Georgia had been doing this work for about four years and had published similar books of Savannah, Augusta, and Macon as well as the more comprehensive state guide. Therefore, we had vii Vlll PREFACE had the benefit of some experience. Partly for this reason and still more because of the co-operation we received in Washington and Wilkes County, events moved smoothly toward publication. And so it is to the citizens of Washington-Wilkes that we pre­ sent this book. We hope that those who are still living here will accept it as a token of appreciation and that those who have moved away will find in it something to remind them of home. SAMUEL TUPPER, JuNioR, State Supervisor MINNIE STONESTREET, Research Assistant Contents PAGE FOREWORD V .. PREFACE Vll . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Xl GENERAL INFORMATION CONTEMPORARY SCENE I HISTORY IO SETTLEMENT IO IN THE REVOLUTION GROWTH UNDER THE STATE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES AND RECONSTRUCTION .. CLOSE OF THE CENTURY THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY MODERN TIMES POINTS OF INTEREST POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS 117 CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 121 CONSULTANTS BIBLIOGRAPHY 127 INDEX 131 lX List of Illustrations FACING PAGE E. B. CADE HousE 16 INTERIOR E. B. CADE HousE SHOWING RosA BoNHEUR PAINTING 16 F1cKLEN-LYNDON-JoHNSON HousE 17 INTERIOR ALEXANDER HousE 17 PoRcH DETAIL OF SEMMES-PETEET-CLEVELAND-JORDAN-LINDSEY HousE 32 CHARLES E. IRVIN HousE 33 H1LLHousE-CALLAWAY-TooMBs-Woon HousE 33 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 48 RoBERT TooMBs HousE 49 PouLAIN-CoLLEY-Snv1s HousE 49 MARIA RANDOLPH HousE 64 TowN SQUARE 65 OLD SLAVE CABINS NEAR WASHINGTON 65 ELLINGTON HousE 80 McRAE-TUPPER-BARNETT HousE So SEMMES-PETEET-CLEVELAND-JORDAN-LINDSEY HousE 8r GILBERT-ALEXANDER HousE 81 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH INTERIOR 96 WASHINGTON WoMAN's CLUB BuILDING 96 PoRcH AND BALCONY DETAIL OF BERRY-HAY-POPE HousE 97 xi General Information Transportation: Railroad Station on Railroad Street for Washing­ ton branch line of Georgia Railroad. Bus Station at Green's Drug Store on south side of Public Square for Southeastern Stages and Bass Bus Lines. Emergency landing field for airplanes at the rear of the C. E. Irvin House on Lexington Avenue. Traffic Regulations: Right and left turns permitted at all inter­ sections except at the corner of Main and Spring Streets on the west side of the public square; right turns may be made on red lights. Stop and slow signs and parking limitations are plainly marked. Accommodations: Two hotels; several boarding houses; and one tourist home. Moderate rates. No hotel for Negroes but two private homes take roomers. Shopping: Shops around the Public Square and on Robert Toombs A venue for a block each side of the square. Information Service: No bureau of information, but clerks in shops, especially those in the drug stores, and the city clerk in the City Hall gladly give information and directions. Recreation: Golf: Washington Golf Club, 4 miles east on US highway 78, 9 holes with sand greens; visitors may obtain permis­ sion to play from some member. Tennis: Courts at Boline Home on South Spring Street; no charge. ... Xll1 . XlV GENERAL INFORMATION Swimming: Concrete pool at Boline Home on South Spring Street; 10 cents for children, 15 cents for adults. Theaters: One motion picture theater on west side of Public Square. Annual Events: Spring: Daffodil Garden Club Flo,ver Show; April 26, Confederate Memorial Day exercises. Fall: Washington High School Carnival. Contemporary Scene As A MARKET center for the farmers of the surrounding middle fi Georgia countryside, Washington is so important that the town and Wilkes County have become almost interdependent, and the municipality is distinguished from the many other cities of that name by the local appellation of Washington-Wilkes. In recent years this town, one of the oldest settle1nents in Georgia, has become widely known for the beauty and authenticity of its ante-bellum houses. Here may be seen not only numerous fine examples of the columned, porticoed "Southern Colonial" or Greek Revival houses, found frequently enough in other towns of this section, but many earlier, simpler clapboard structures that have more right to be called Colonial-houses that are only a few years younger than the American Revolution. To the visitor these homes have a particularly intimate charm because they are not arranged for tourists' inspection but look "lived in." Here is the Old South at its most natural best, sometimes slow-rnoving and remote but with plenty of assurance and alert strength be­ neath its old-fashioned graciousness. In these homes, old ways are kept up not as a memorial ceremony but _as an energetic habit of daily living. Washington does not live in the past but brings the leisurely and hospitable manners of its heyday into the present. The town has been touched but lightly by commerce and scarcely at all by industry. The center of activity is the square, dominated on the north by a grandiose late Victorian courthouse of cream brick and red tile. Shops enclose the other three sides of the square, which is bisected by a long grassy park overlooked by I 2 THE STORY OF WASHINGTON-WILKES the figure of a Con£ ederate soldier standing on a granite shaft. All day from Monday through Friday this area is a scene of quiet activity, but early in the evening the square is deserted except for the movie crowd returning home, the traveling salesmen in their sidewalk rockers be£ ore the hotel, and a few grocery clerks dressing their windows for the next day's trade. On Saturdays, however, the square and business streets present a scene of bus­ tling movement when farmers come to town to buy their weekly supplies. At this time the area is filled with blue overalls and wide-brimmed "cornfield" hats; with gay Negro laughter; and with the deliberate drawl of farmers with peanuts, bottled drinks, and cartons of ice cream; with trucks, dilapidated automobiles, a few buggies, and many wagons, their wheels caked with the red clay of country roads. The Negroes are especially evident, for Saturday has been their holiday since the time of slavery. Many, in their Sunday best, have come from "Sat'day meetin'" at their rural churches. Standing on corners and gathering to visit with one another, they linger long after dark, for on Saturday the stores stay open until eleven. Across the southern end of the square, US High\vay 78 follows Robert Toombs A venue, which, with the parallel Liberty Street and the cross thoroughfares, Spring Street and Alexander Avenue, forms the main residential district of Washington. This section is filled with stately trees, green lawns, and a luxuriant growth of shrubs and flowers as a foreground for dwellings of diversified architecture.