MY MEMORIES OF BAXLEY, GEORGIA
(My grandfather, Judge J. L. W. Baxley was Judge in this court)
My mother was a Baxley, who was daughter of Judge J. L. W. Baxley, son of Mitchell Baxley, who was son of Wilson Baxley, the Founder of Baxley, Georgia.
We moved to Jacksonville, Florida before I started to school but I remember during the summer my older sister, Marie, and I would spend the summer in Baxley working on the farm.
We would pick cotton.
We pulled a big sack behind us, picked the cotton, and placed in the sack. When we had completely filled the sack, back to a weighing station, the sack was weighed and emptied in a big trailer and taken to the cotton gin. Some of the kids were caught putting rocks in their bags to make them weigh more. We worked right along side of the farm hands. My Aunt Mary even worked as hard as we did. The gin would strip the cotton of its seeds. The seeds were carried back to the farm and placed in a large room in the bar for next year’s crop. I remember jumping into the pile of seeds, playing in them.
My mother was a Baxley, who was daughter of Judge J. L. W. Baxley, son of Mitchell Baxley, who was son of Wilson Baxley, the Founder of Baxley, Georgia.
We moved to Jacksonville, Florida before I started to school but I remember during the summer my older sister, Marie, and I would spend the summer in Baxley working on the farm.
We would pick cotton.
We pulled a big sack behind us, picked the cotton, and placed in the sack. When we had completely filled the sack, back to a weighing station, the sack was weighed and emptied in a big trailer and taken to the cotton gin. Some of the kids were caught putting rocks in their bags to make them weigh more. We worked right along side of the farm hands. My Aunt Mary even worked as hard as we did. The gin would strip the cotton of its seeds. The seeds were carried back to the farm and placed in a large room in the bar for next year’s crop. I remember jumping into the pile of seeds, playing in them.
We cropped tobacco. We walked through the tobacco fields behind a sled pulled by a mule, cropping the lower leaves that were ripe, placing the large leaves (that were sticky) in the sled. This would continue throughout the season, only cropping the mature leaves on the bottom, until the field was clean.
Then we would string these large tobacco leaves on a stick (with a string on one side and then the other side) until we had completely filed the large stick with tobacco. And then came the cooking.
Then we would string these large tobacco leaves on a stick (with a string on one side and then the other side) until we had completely filed the large stick with tobacco. And then came the cooking.
The sticks were placed inside a big barn on hooks that hung at various levels. Someone stayed awake all night and rotated the sticks from top to bottom to create an even cooking of the leaves.
The tobacco was taken to market, spread on a large sheet so buyers could feel it, smell it, bid on it. We would stay at the market all day until our tobacco was sold to the highest bidder.
The tobacco was taken to market, spread on a large sheet so buyers could feel it, smell it, bid on it. We would stay at the market all day until our tobacco was sold to the highest bidder.
A tobacco barn. It was stoked all night long with wood burning so that the tobacco could be cured enough to take to market to sell. At market, our tobacco was placed on a large sheet so a buyer could touch it, taste it and bid on it.
We made sugar cane syrup.
Workers would go through the fields cutting large stalks of sugar cane and they were brought back to be put through the grinder. The juice from the sugar cane was drained in a bucket below the grinder and then carried to a large vat to be cooked until it was the right texture for syrup. It was then bottled and taken to market to sell.
Workers would go through the fields cutting large stalks of sugar cane and they were brought back to be put through the grinder. The juice from the sugar cane was drained in a bucket below the grinder and then carried to a large vat to be cooked until it was the right texture for syrup. It was then bottled and taken to market to sell.
We had a smokehouse. Of course, there was no refrigeration on the farm in the 1930s or 1940s so when we slaughtered a pig or cow, the meat had to be covered in salt to cure it. It would hang in large slabs in the smokehouse and be cut as the family needed.
Milk, Butter, etc.
Our milk was carried and placed down in a spring near the house. We drank well water. We “churned” our own butter. We had a large cook stove that had 6 burners on it and we stoked it with wood cut from our trees. From our milk came butter, cream, buttermilk and “clabber” which today is called yogurt.
Trips into Baxley
The trips to town on Saturday were on a large flatbed pulled by a horse.
Our milk was carried and placed down in a spring near the house. We drank well water. We “churned” our own butter. We had a large cook stove that had 6 burners on it and we stoked it with wood cut from our trees. From our milk came butter, cream, buttermilk and “clabber” which today is called yogurt.
Trips into Baxley
The trips to town on Saturday were on a large flatbed pulled by a horse.
The East Coast Railroad.
My gggrandfather, Wilson Baxley, donated the land for the portion of the Macon and Brunswick Railroad being built through Appling County in 1870. Originally, it was a railroad depot known as Station Number 7, but it soon was named Baxley after Wilson Baxley who had a general store that was the stop along the line. This picture is of the first train that came through. Chester Bedingfield who worked on the railroad is in the picture.
My gggrandfather, Wilson Baxley, donated the land for the portion of the Macon and Brunswick Railroad being built through Appling County in 1870. Originally, it was a railroad depot known as Station Number 7, but it soon was named Baxley after Wilson Baxley who had a general store that was the stop along the line. This picture is of the first train that came through. Chester Bedingfield who worked on the railroad is in the picture.
Homecomings.
We would go back to Baxley on many occasions for family reunions. This one was at Aunt Mary’s (it was actually Grandmother Rebecca Baxley’s place and Aunt Mary lived with her) on one weekend. I am the second person from the right and next to my left is my Aunt Maudie who married Jewel Willard. My mother, Beatrice Baxley is on the left of Aunt Mary in between two people. It looks like it was someone’s birthday. I thought it was Aunt Mary’s but she was born in July and I have on a jacket - so - who knows?
We would go back to Baxley on many occasions for family reunions. This one was at Aunt Mary’s (it was actually Grandmother Rebecca Baxley’s place and Aunt Mary lived with her) on one weekend. I am the second person from the right and next to my left is my Aunt Maudie who married Jewel Willard. My mother, Beatrice Baxley is on the left of Aunt Mary in between two people. It looks like it was someone’s birthday. I thought it was Aunt Mary’s but she was born in July and I have on a jacket - so - who knows?
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Baxley Cemetery.
Wilson Baxley, donated this land to be used as a cemetery. |
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