Everett
Station
Town Named after Fort Valley’s Founder
By
Billy Powell,
author of four books and Georgia Post religious columnist
Everett Station
After the railroad reached Fort
Valley in 1851, the Southwestern Railroad began laying tracks westward toward
Columbus. The railroad placed its first flag stop at Nakomis Creek, seven rail
miles from the Fort Valley. Nakomis Creek flows into the nearby Flint River.
Very quickly a settlement sprang up along the tracks. Railroad officials named
the new community “Everett Station” after James Abington Everett (1788-1848). He
was instrumental in bringing the railroad from Macon to Fort Valley and
subsequently through the southern edge of Crawford County. The rails reached
Columbus in 1853. Everett Station continued to grow until it comprised
approximately 50 people and a dozen structures. At the height of its growth,
the little hamlet included a depot, country store, hotel, post office,
gristmill, and saw mill.
Sidney Goodrich’s grandmother,
Mrs. Jennie Reed, the postmaster at nearby Gaillard (approx. 7 miles north of
Everett Station) and operator of Spillers Country Store there, told Sidney (she
thought) the mail was carried on horseback from Knoxville to Everett Station
during the 1850s. Sidney’s grandmother purchased a new Plymouth automobile in
1950. She and Sidney drove to Fort Valley by traveling down old Cummings Road,
unpaved at the time. When they crossed the dirt road from Fort Valley to the
Flint River, Sidney noticed a gristmill near the intersection. They continued
up Old River Road which led to Fort Valley. “Highway 96 had not been constructed
in 1950,” said Sidney. “You could drive down to the river, but you couldn’t go
across.” Estelle Peed Pyles of Fort Valley, who grew up in Zenith, said there
were only two ways to get to Reynolds from Fort Valley: (1) go through Gaillard
and drive across the bridge on Highway 128, or (2) cross the river on the
Marshallville ferry.
Location of Everett Station
The central area of Everett
Station extended west-to-east from the old Cummings dirt road to the new
Cummings Road, paved in 1979. It extended southward from the railroad tracks to
old Georgia Route 96, which crossed Nakomis Creek. Highway 96 was built during
the 1950s. Etched into the old Nakomis Creek Bridge is the construction date of
1951.
Grist Mill on Nakomis Creek
Susan Cummings, wife of the late
Kay Cummings, and one who has compiled an extensive genealogy of the Cummings
family, said her father-in-law, Felton Cummings, got water from Nakomis Creek
during the early years of Everett Station. The paddle wheel of the grist mill
was driven by the flowing waters of Nakomis.
Avis Cummings Greer, age 90, the
aunt of my wife Beverly, stated her father, Lewis Cummings, worked at the saw
mill at Everett Station and was a good friend of Estelle Pyles’ father. As a
little girl, Avis remembers wanting to go swimming at the grist mill, but family
members wouldn’t let her. Due to construction of Highway 96 and later the Fall
Line Freeway, the water no longer flows underneath Nakomis Bridge as it once
did. Rather, it sits motionless in a vast watery swamp. Nakomis is an Indian
name derived from the Creek Indians who lived in that area until the Indian
treaty of 1821. This treaty forced the Indians off their land and resulted in
their migration to Oklahoma.
Railroad Depot Built
A railroad depot was built at
Everett Station to provide a shelter for travelers. Mary Thomas, who lives a
short distance up Cummings Road, recalls her grandmother, Zadie Thomas
(1910-2007) saying that as a young girl her father would walk her down to the
depot. There 9-year-old Zadie would catch the train at Everett Station and visit
her grandmother near Butler. “Back then,” Mary said, “you could ride to Macon
for 15 cents.” Mary’s great aunt, Clara Stephens of Warner Robins, age 92,
stated her family lived at Everett Station when she was growing up and that it
was a bustling community during the 1930s. She, too, caught the train at the
depot. Stephens remembers a large plantation there owned by the Braswell
family.
According to Mary’s brother,
Marcus Thomas, the old depot structure, built circa 1860, eventually caved-in
and was carried off in 1980 by the land owner, Mr. Halley of Taylor County. The
depot, located between old Cummings Road and the new paved Cummings Road, sat on
the south side of the tracks. Please note photo that pinpoints its location
based on Sidney Goodrich’s measurements using his 1939 map.
Also remembering the depot was
Estelle Peed Pyles of Fort Valley, who graduated from Zenith High School in
1944. Estelle said the Everett Station depot was slightly smaller than the
railroad depot at Lee Pope, which is still standing. The Lee Pope depot--with a
train passing--was pictured in the 28 January 2010 edition of “The Georgia
Post.”
My good friend and Fort Valley
historian, the late Fred Shepard, corroborated that Everett Station had a depot.
He was a railroad aficionado who had ridden the train through there many times.
Mr. Shepard sparked my initial interest in Everett Station, ultimately resulting
in my doing the research and writing this story
Calvin Weaver, age 85, who lives
at the end of Magnolia Road, off Cummings Road, told me that he loaded logs on
rail cars at Everett Station during the early 1940s. He vividly remembers the
“big news” of a military plane crash in the Flint River swamp, some 3 miles west
of his home. This area of the swamp is called the Magnolia Place. “The crash
occurred during World War II and everyone in the plane was killed,” said Weaver.
“I saw them bringing out parts of the plane’s motor and its wings.” With Mr.
Weaver’s help, this will be the subject of a future story if Sidney Goodrich and
I can obtain essential information from newspaper microfilm archives.
Saw Mill run by Felix Peed
Estelle’s Pyles’s father, Felix
Peed, ran a saw mill at Everett Station. It was owned by Will Buck Pearson of
Fort Valley. The saw mill was built on the headwaters of Nakomis Creek, north of
the depot. Estelle’s father built a table and benches there so his family could
visit and picnic. Estelle recalls her first time fishing in Nakomis Creek near
the saw mill. After seeing a snake rapidly swimming across the water, she
dropped her pole and fled, never to fish there again.
Remembrances of Country
Store and Hotel
Robert Cummings, born in 1954,
who still lives near the railroad tracks and whose father R.S. Cummings was a
pioneer of Everett Station (wish he were still around to share his memories),
recalls a country store on old Cummings road. It sat between the railroad tracks
and old Highway 96. He said that Marlon Maddox, co-owner of a large farm there,
operated the store. Robert also said his father, R.S. Cummings, who passed last
year at age 89, carried the family’s water during the 1920s and 30s from a
spring at Everett Station. He said a well could never be dug that produced any
appreciable water. Robert also said a hotel/boarding house that catered
primarily to seasonal workers once sat near old Cummings Road. Mary Thomas, as
a little girl, recalls baptismal services being held at a pond fed by the
headwaters of Nakomis Creek. She, too, saw a snake in the water, and refused to
be baptized that day.
Everett Station Appears on
Georgia Map
Everett Station first appeared on
the Georgia map in 1883, some 18 years after the Civil War. It continued to be
reflected on the map for 27 years. It dropped off the map after 1910. Why?...
Everett Station Renamed
Nakomis
Between 1910 and 1915, the town’s
name was changed from Everett Station to Nakomis. Before advent of the railroad,
we believe the area was originally called Nakomis, an Indian name derived from
the Creek Indians who once lived there. When the railroad shut down the depot
after 1910 and it was no longer a railroad station, the town reverted to its
original name. Nakomis popped up on the Georgia map for the first time in 1915.
Nakomis is reflected on Sidney Goodrich’s 1939 Crawford County map and his 1955
Georgia map.
Was it spelled Nakomis or
Nokomis?
In all likelihood, the railroad
officials who renamed the community misspelled this Indian name. Evidentiary of
this is that the Central of Georgia Railroad used “Nakomis” sometimes and
“Nokomis” at others on its railroad maps. “Nokomis” is the name of an American
Indian girl. It means "daughter of the
moon.”
It is the name of
Hiawatha's
grandmother in Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow's
epic poem, “The
Song of Hiawatha.” Familiar lines from Longfellow’s poem published
in 1855 read:
By the
shores of
Gitche Gumee,
By the
shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the
wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of
the Moon, Nokomis.
We believe
“Nokomis” is correct. However, after a century of misspellings—much like Fort
Valley should have been Fox Valley--it’s best to leave it alone.
Who was James A. Everett?
James
Abington Everett (1788-1848) moved to what is now Peach County from North
Carolina early in his life. During the 1820s, he established a trading post at
the intersection of two major Indian trails: (1) extending from Fort Hawkins in
Macon to Barnard’s Crossing near Montezuma, and (2) from the Creek Indian Agency
north of Reynolds to Old Hartford near Hawkinsville. These two trails intersect
at Fort Valley.
The
Creek Indians, who fought against the United States in the Creek War of
1813-1814, roamed the land that is now Fort Valley. This area had been a vast
hunting ground for the Indians. Following the treaty with the Creek Indians in
1821, the Creeks migrated westward, eventually to Oklahoma. This forced
migration was called the “The Trail of Tears.”
The
first Fort Valley post office was established just inside the Crawford County
line on the Atlanta road (now U. S. Hwy 341) on December 7, 1825, with Everett
serving as first postmaster. Everett was originally a Crawford County resident.
In 1834, Everett transferred the post office from his Crawford County house to
his downtown store in Fort Valley, approximately three miles. In 1834, Everett
built a house (oldest in Peach County) less than a mile east of the original
Crawford County post office, just across the Houston County line (became Peach
County in 1924). Everett lived there until his death in 1848. Later it became
known as Jeane’s Antique Shop. Judge Bryant Culpepper purchased this house in
1982, moved it across the woods to 300 Northwoods Drive, and restored it. The
house still stands.
Fort
Valley was located on a strip of cleared land about one mile wide and 12 miles
long, representing the appearance of a valley where red fox were hunted.
Hunters dubbed the settlement “Fox Valley.” In 1825 when application was made
for a post office, the Post Office Department in Washington--due to illegible
handwriting on the application--misread the intended name “Fox” Valley as “Fort”
Valley. This misinterpretation was attributed to the excessive flourishes in
marking the “X” which made the “x” resemble the letters “rt”. Fort Valley was
chartered by the state legislature on March 3, 1856.
James
Everett first married Cussena Barnard, daughter of Timpoochie Barnard, a Creek
Indian leader and signer of the 1825 treaty of Indian Springs (remainder of
Indian land not obtained by U.S. in 1821 treaty) This ensured Everett’s welcome
among the Creek Indians and granted him ownership of a large reserve, which
included the area around Flint River including Everett Station. His second
wife was Mary Beaufort Greene, daughter of Peter Beaufort and Sarah (Ingram)
Greene. At his death in 1848, Everett owned 12,144.5 acres of land, 242 slaves,
and an estate valued at $500,000 dollars (in 1848 dollars). In 1850, Everett’s
widow, Mary, married Dr. William Asbury Mathews, who introduced the legislation
to charter Fort Valley in 1856.
Everett’s signal contribution was purchasing $50,000 in railroad stock and
luring the Southwestern Railroad to come through Fort Valley. The railroad was
completed in 1851, three years after his death. The railroad opened up the
opportunity for Fort Valley to transport its peaches to northern markets on
refrigerated cars, thus Fort Valley became the “Peach Capital of the World” and
during 1922-1927 organized the matchless Peach Festivals that annually drew
forty to fifty thousand visitors to the community. He reportedly gave the
Southwestern Railroad the right-of-way to built the railroad west of Fort Valley
and across the Flint River. Thus, Everett Station was named after him.
Everett
was first buried near the old freight depot in Fort Valley, later moved to an
area overlooking Everett Square near downtown Fort Valley, and finally interred
in Oaklawn Cemetery, which he had given to the city. His monument is the
largest and most impressive in Oaklawn Cemetery.
The Southwestern R.R. Route
to Columbus
The 1882 Southwestern Railroad
map lists ten towns between Macon and Columbus, a distance of 100 rail miles:
Macon to Fort Valley-29 miles
Fort Valley to Everett Station-7
Everett Station to Reynolds-6
Reynolds to Butler-8
Butler to Howard-10
Howard to Bostick-5
Bostick to Geneva-5
Geneva to Juniper-4
Juniper to Box Springs-3
Box Springs to Wimberly-9
Wimberly to Columbus-14
Everett Station Cemetery
On new Cummings Road between the
railroad crossing and old Highway 96 is the Everett Station cemetery, shaded by
oak trees. Only two of the seven visible graves have names and dates. One
reflects Gus Drain (1896-1957), a veteran of World War I and a private in
Company B of the 530th Engineering Group. Augustus “Gus” Drain was of
African-American descent. Gus married Annie L. (born
1900) in 1914. Their children were Simon, born-1915, Gus born-1922 and Mattie,
born-1925. The other grave is Doris T. Anderson (1925-1951). Her husband
was Charles Anderson and her father was Snow Mason (1894-1973). Snow Mason is
believed to be buried there, but his grave is not identified.
Mary Thomas said that Gus Drain’s
daughter, Mattie, used to babysit her. “We called her Aunt Matt,” remarked Mary.
Mary disclosed that the cemetery once sat at the top of the long hill that
descends toward Nakomis Creek. The cemetery was moved to its present location
decades ago, because the land owner wanted to farm the land. It is believed
that other people are buried there, but their graves are either not identified
or have sunken.
My appreciation to Crawford
County historian Sidney Goodrich, who helped me at every step along the way--and
believe me, there were many steps we had to take to make this story possible.
Please click on photos for a
larger view...
Standing in front of last existing
structure at Everett Station are individuals with family connections to
the old railroad community. Front, L-R: Mary Thomas, Calvin Weaver,
Fannie Thomas, Elizabeth Cummings holding Raina Cummings, Kloey
Cummings, and Estelle Pyles. Back row, L-R: Marcus Thomas, Susan
Cummings, Larry Weaver, Robert
Cummings Jr., Robert
Cummings Sr. To the right of Robert Cummings Sr. is the old Cummings
Road. |
Pile of crossties in background denotes location of old
railroad depot. Stop sign in
foreground marks point where old Cummings Road crossed railroad. |
James A. Everett |
Nakomis Creek Bridge |
Nakomis Creek |
Old Hwy 96 descent to Nakomis Creek. Flint River and Reynolds on horizon |
Gus Drain, WW-1 veteran |
Norfolk Southern still
runs through Everett Station almost daily |
This page was last updated
Thursday, March 08, 2012
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