Jewels, Who Would Have Known?

   Talbotton, GA…..does that ring a bell? I thought not, but we found some jewels there the other day.

   I had looked up the courthouse site for Talbot County before we left on this trip and found out that there were some old churches, and an old, still-in-use courthouse, so I thought it could be a nice little place to look around.

   First of all we spotted the courthouse, standing as it most always does in these smaller towns right on the high point, overlooking the rest of the area.

   This building was built in 1892 and was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday by the time we rolled into town. The clock tower, occupied by a 3,000 lb. Seth Thomas timing mechanism, was also typical of others we had seen as it told at least 3 different times. I missed the fourth side somehow and could not find it on any of my shots.

   I had a vague address for the older church in town, Zion Episcopal, but had no trouble finding it right out from the courthouse. This church was built in 1848, no longer had a congregation, but was kept up by others from the diocese and some local folks. A beautiful church structure, and , as an article stated, it had a slave gallery and a striking interior. Unfortunately, it was also closed and locked (I checked).

   While circling the block to get back on our route out of town, we saw a large columned white building on our right. Thinking that it might have been an early home in town, we stopped and found another jewel.

   I had wondered when I noted that the Zion Church had been located just north of college street, could it be that there was, or had been, a college, in this town?

   The sign out front indicated that this building was a part of LeVert Female College, a school that was under the umbrella of the Methodist Church and had been founded there in 1856. It was named for Octavia Walton LeVert, the granddaughter of George Walton, one of three signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia.

   This college had to close its doors in 1907 because of the decline of cotton in the area, but the town keeps up this building for concerts and other events.

   The Straus family were donors to the school and one of the sons of the Jewish immigrant moved to New York and founded a business that became the Macy Department store chain.

   All of these jewels from a small town in West Georgia. Who would ever have known?

   There was also one other structure that I photographed as we rode out of town.

   Someone once farmed here, lived and worked here, but went someplace else. He was a part of this community, too, at one time.

   Maybe another jewel, who knows?