In 1892, Liberty County saw its fate as residents regretfully reflected as cascades of railcars rushed by, bound for lands of alleged potential then blooming in Florida or for cotton growing regions in the west. The railcars seldom stopped, let alone slowed down as they screeched through the communities of Liberty County.
During the early 1900s era there were several logging roads and short rail lines in Liberty County. After the turn of the century, two roads emerged only to die away from memory, following an effort to serve an area too poor to support serious railroading. Sometime around 1906, the Georgia Coast and Piedmont consolidated the rails of the Darien and Western, the Collins and Reidsville, and the Reidsville and Southwestern railroads and built a connecting link from Ludowici (then Liberty City) to Reidsville. After extending the way to Brunswick in 1914, the railroad line declared bankruptcy in 1916. In 1911, the Savannah Southern Railroad was constructed from Glennville to Lanier, but in 1923 this ne'er-do-well line was abandoned.
Another wretched idea was the Flemington, Hinesville and Western Railroad, built around 1910 from McIntosh off the main line to Hinesville, a distance of approximately five and a half miles. A private home was transformed to serve as a train depot, and after the road failed in 1917 the house reverted to its original use on North Main Street in Hinesville.
Times remained hard as the late 19th century rush of New South fervor failed to arrive on Georgia's coastal plain. As the new century commenced what few ambitions the railroads had delivered in Hinesville washed out into the depressing realism of poverty, ignorance and yearning.
Highway 84 to Hinesville remained a dirt road until 1934. The county did start to pulsate with vitality six years later after the federal government decided to create Fort Stewart in 1940. And a rail spur was pushed near Hinesville, built from the main line at Allenhurst onto Fort Stewart in 1941.
Correction to my last article: I wrote how the railroad brought Liberty County out of poverty, but the sentence was supposed to read, did NOT bring Liberty County out of poverty.
During the early 1900s era there were several logging roads and short rail lines in Liberty County. After the turn of the century, two roads emerged only to die away from memory, following an effort to serve an area too poor to support serious railroading. Sometime around 1906, the Georgia Coast and Piedmont consolidated the rails of the Darien and Western, the Collins and Reidsville, and the Reidsville and Southwestern railroads and built a connecting link from Ludowici (then Liberty City) to Reidsville. After extending the way to Brunswick in 1914, the railroad line declared bankruptcy in 1916. In 1911, the Savannah Southern Railroad was constructed from Glennville to Lanier, but in 1923 this ne'er-do-well line was abandoned.
Another wretched idea was the Flemington, Hinesville and Western Railroad, built around 1910 from McIntosh off the main line to Hinesville, a distance of approximately five and a half miles. A private home was transformed to serve as a train depot, and after the road failed in 1917 the house reverted to its original use on North Main Street in Hinesville.
Times remained hard as the late 19th century rush of New South fervor failed to arrive on Georgia's coastal plain. As the new century commenced what few ambitions the railroads had delivered in Hinesville washed out into the depressing realism of poverty, ignorance and yearning.
Highway 84 to Hinesville remained a dirt road until 1934. The county did start to pulsate with vitality six years later after the federal government decided to create Fort Stewart in 1940. And a rail spur was pushed near Hinesville, built from the main line at Allenhurst onto Fort Stewart in 1941.
Correction to my last article: I wrote how the railroad brought Liberty County out of poverty, but the sentence was supposed to read, did NOT bring Liberty County out of poverty.