You can go to the Thumbnails page to see a quick sketch from North Lawrence this fall. 

Mount Vernon Church Road

        A little off the beaten path between Atlanta and Macon. Well worth the trip back in there for the Labor Day hike and picnic we had with the kids and in laws. This old Georgia relic just across the park we were spending the day in was quick study on the way out after a nice day with the family. It does not take long to get down a few details of a place like this. Takes a little longer to finish it up later in the peace and quiet of home; but it is done much more easily when you do not have to consider what the owner will think of the work!

        You might think this place came from out in the brush just a piece from where you call home. Minnesota, Kansas, Oregon, Vermont, Colorado... well for some it might be a little stretch. And actually unless you are in the deep south I don't think you will be seeing that particular tin roof any time soon. Am I right? Never have seen one in Kansas that I can remember.  This is the same tin that is on the roof of the Elberta Depot of which I posted a drawing last month.

        Not sure what the purpose of the tarps over the porch are. Probably not protection from the north wind in Georgia in September. Must be protection from prying eyes like mine, standing a few yards across the road; or from eyes coming and going from the park.  

The Full Chimney

          No you can't see it from Kentucky Street. That is where most people are when they buzz past here without a glance. This place has been here longer than Grandma Ruth! She always asks me if “The city of Trees” was founded in 1921- the year she was born. “Well, no Gramma, it was founded before the Civil War – when you were born the town was already almost 70 years old”.

          It is only from behind you can see a full chimney, though I am sure the stacked sun rooms to the south were not there in the first edition. So then, originally you could see the full chimney on the south as well as some fine brickwork. A tall wall that I hope you can still see remnants of inside the sun rooms. I did not study the place from this angle just for the “stack” however. There usually is more interest in the back of an old place than in the front; and besides, there is less landscaping to obstruct the view. 

          There is little doubt what has been going on here at this place for years. It has become income producing apartments. The 2 main extensions themselves were probably not original, let alone the 4 smaller rooms beyond those.  The owner now has a different focus than the original one that built the place. And a different interest. Less interest you might say. Was that why it looks like the drawing itself fades to nothing at the bottom? Maybe the artist lost interest as well, or had a different focus. Or maybe he just ran out of time.

Elberta Depot

        The building in the back of the depot is an old one room store, with 2 attached “privy’s”; one for “white” and one for “colored”, as it would have been said “in the day”. Things have changed a great deal since then, and since the time this depot was full of peaches leaving Middle Georgia for markets all around. The actual new depot building just south was built during the time of the II World war, and is now the museum in downtown Warner Robins. I do not know if the Elberta Depot as it originally stood was raised on piers as now but that is a southern convention. That was about 1918 when it was operated by the Georgia and Southern Railroad. You can hear the steam chugging, the whistles blowing, and feel the weight of the engine as it rumbles to a stop for another load of peaches! Probably no heat in the building. I suppose it actually was a busseling local depot for passenger service year round in a place which now has been pretty much passed over by development. One thing for sure, there are a whole lot less of these classic depots to be found around the country, and it is nice to see this one.

Here is an interesting link to the recent Journal World article that gives some history of more than one church building of interest.  One is about the one I posted a drawing of in in April of 2013.

http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2014/jan/11/old-churches-converted-new-uses/

Ditchin' the 'ol Plant

          They were digging out some of the lines that ran through the old asphalt plant before the dozer and the scrapper take over the job. All the equipment including the scale is gone, but the shack is still standing. The “plumbing” has been dug out to make room for the new South Lawrence bypass. This place has lots of variety that most residential or even public places may not. It is like an industrial Stonehenge with the concrete pillars and landings still standing before the coming of the “hoe”. This drawing was done in late in the summer, when fall was being felt, on a windy rainy day. It was before they fenced off most of the area for the 3 year construction project. I was somehow able to get over there on the bike with a sketch pad, and make it back home without getting me or the drawing too wet.