In my last column I shared an interview about Allenhurst that William Cox did Wardlaw Griner. This is another interview Cox did 1995 with Molena Johnson, wife of Wesley and mother of Carl Johnson, a former Liberty County Commissioner.
"White people lived on Bean Row. Black folks lived this side of the railroad...
"Dr. Gibson from Burke County was our first doctor and a very good one whom all the local people used. His office was in the present Dennis Waters' office. My family would go from Riceboro to take malaria mosquito shots.
The next building was the paymaster office. The workers were paid with metal checks. Sometimes they received money. The metal checks kept the people from going anywhere else to trade. So the mill money stayed with the mill people. They made their purchases at the commissary, a building 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. Mr. W. L. Black was commissary manager.
"Next was the post office and the Wethsones twins, Ruth and Naomi, worked there. They had two brothers. One used a crutch and was not able to work. Mrs. Amber Kiddy was postmistress at one time before W. Williamson. A swimming pool was located between the Troha house and Donald Downs' house.
The Jones Hotel had two stories and a porch that ran all across the front. Mrs. Green was the manager. In 1917-18, weekly rates were $5 which included room and three home-cooked meals a day.
"One Saturday afternoon a friend and I were in the Jones Hotel playing records on an old phonograph which you had to wind up to play. Wesley Johnson came in and Mrs. Jones introduced him to me. As Wesley left the hotel he said to himself, 'That's going to be my wife!' Later, the same fellow playing music charged him $3 a mile to come to see me.
"After a year's courtship we were married on Feb. 24, 1924. We spent our honeymoon in Allenhurst, Georgia! It was a big town then. Wesley could not get off work. He was the planing mill oiler and the lumber had to keep rolling.
"On the right the schoolhouse set on a hill. Mrs. Grace Hendry was the teacher. We used the schoolhouse for preaching on Sunday.
"On Sunday nights, Malcolm and Herbert Moody and Wilhelmia Hutto entertained us with their musical talents. They had plays and Wesley had a part.
"The sawmill was behind the commissary parallel with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. Logs were brought in by big trucks and work train to the half-acre vat full of water and some chemicals to remove the pine bark before sawing trees into lumber.
"A ballpark was between the vat and Mr. Dunlevie's home. A group of men formed a baseball team and Mrs. Dunlevie bought them baseball uniforms. They played games in Savannah, Jesup and Ludowici. They won some games. Wesley played with them. I was told that Mr. Dunlevie could sit on his back porch and watch the games being played...
"People would go down to the depot to see who was coming in or out. They had four tracks. Number 21 train went south about 4 p.m. and Number 57 came north about 9 p.m. Seems like there were two more trains, Number 22 and Number 58 coming and going.
"The present Sapp house was built for Charlie Robinson. He was in charge of the supplies, shop and shipping. The house on the other side of Donald Downs was at one time a store owned by Mrs. Marlowe (Davis Darsey's mother). It was sold to Mrs. Bet Williamson (Warren Williamson's mother) who operated it until her death. The store was then closed...
Several of the houses still exist in Allenhurst from the lumber era. But, now, one could never tell it had been such a bustling little town around 1920.
"White people lived on Bean Row. Black folks lived this side of the railroad...
"Dr. Gibson from Burke County was our first doctor and a very good one whom all the local people used. His office was in the present Dennis Waters' office. My family would go from Riceboro to take malaria mosquito shots.
The next building was the paymaster office. The workers were paid with metal checks. Sometimes they received money. The metal checks kept the people from going anywhere else to trade. So the mill money stayed with the mill people. They made their purchases at the commissary, a building 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. Mr. W. L. Black was commissary manager.
"Next was the post office and the Wethsones twins, Ruth and Naomi, worked there. They had two brothers. One used a crutch and was not able to work. Mrs. Amber Kiddy was postmistress at one time before W. Williamson. A swimming pool was located between the Troha house and Donald Downs' house.
The Jones Hotel had two stories and a porch that ran all across the front. Mrs. Green was the manager. In 1917-18, weekly rates were $5 which included room and three home-cooked meals a day.
"One Saturday afternoon a friend and I were in the Jones Hotel playing records on an old phonograph which you had to wind up to play. Wesley Johnson came in and Mrs. Jones introduced him to me. As Wesley left the hotel he said to himself, 'That's going to be my wife!' Later, the same fellow playing music charged him $3 a mile to come to see me.
"After a year's courtship we were married on Feb. 24, 1924. We spent our honeymoon in Allenhurst, Georgia! It was a big town then. Wesley could not get off work. He was the planing mill oiler and the lumber had to keep rolling.
"On the right the schoolhouse set on a hill. Mrs. Grace Hendry was the teacher. We used the schoolhouse for preaching on Sunday.
"On Sunday nights, Malcolm and Herbert Moody and Wilhelmia Hutto entertained us with their musical talents. They had plays and Wesley had a part.
"The sawmill was behind the commissary parallel with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. Logs were brought in by big trucks and work train to the half-acre vat full of water and some chemicals to remove the pine bark before sawing trees into lumber.
"A ballpark was between the vat and Mr. Dunlevie's home. A group of men formed a baseball team and Mrs. Dunlevie bought them baseball uniforms. They played games in Savannah, Jesup and Ludowici. They won some games. Wesley played with them. I was told that Mr. Dunlevie could sit on his back porch and watch the games being played...
"People would go down to the depot to see who was coming in or out. They had four tracks. Number 21 train went south about 4 p.m. and Number 57 came north about 9 p.m. Seems like there were two more trains, Number 22 and Number 58 coming and going.
"The present Sapp house was built for Charlie Robinson. He was in charge of the supplies, shop and shipping. The house on the other side of Donald Downs was at one time a store owned by Mrs. Marlowe (Davis Darsey's mother). It was sold to Mrs. Bet Williamson (Warren Williamson's mother) who operated it until her death. The store was then closed...
Several of the houses still exist in Allenhurst from the lumber era. But, now, one could never tell it had been such a bustling little town around 1920.