Hickory Grove & Robley

Billy Powell, author and religious columnist for “The Georgia Post,” enjoys researching and documenting local history.

Hickory Grove
Hickory Grove was once a thriving, bustling hamlet in western Crawford County, located just east of the Upson County line. The community, named after the Hickory trees growing in the area, existed as early as 1834, but first appeared on the Georgia map in 1855. Although signs marking the boundaries of “Hickory Grove” are placed along Georgia Highway 80 (the first, a half-mile from Upson County line, and the second, a full mile from Upson line), the town is no longer reflected on the Crawford County map or recognized by county Planning and Zoning. Sitting near the center of Hickory Gove was Larry and Peggy Gautney’s store, located at the corner of Highway 80 and Olive Grove Church Road. This convenience and gas store, now under new management, is called Pleasing Foods. Hickory Grove had a post office as early as the 1860s, as the U. S. Postmaster General appointed Mrs. Elizabeth Northrop Smith the postmistress of Hickory Grove in 1867. Mrs. Smith was the matriarch of the prominent Smith family. Her husband was Dr. William J. Smith, a prominent Crawford County physician. According to historical society records, the Smith Cemetery is located on the north side of Highway 80, about half-way between Pleasant Hill Church Road and Billy White Road. Because of heavy undergrowth, we were unable to locate the cemetery, but will try again during the winter months when snakes are dormant. Anyone having knowledge of Smith cemetery, please notify the “Georgia Post” at 478-836-3195. There were two cotton gins, one gristmill, and one flourmill in Hickory Grove for several decades following the Civil War. The school at Hickory Grove was Jackson Academy. It was advertized in the “Georgia Messenger” in 1834 and was still operational during the Civil War years. Its principal in 1834 was Adam T. Holmes (1803-1870), who at one time pastored the Baptist Church in Macon. During the late 19^th century, Hickory Grove was rivaling the county seat of Knoxville in the east in population and business activity. However, the coming of the railroad to Roberta in 1888 caused a population shift toward the center of the county. Consequently, Hickory Grove and Knoxville began to decline and today the population center is Roberta.

The Plum-Nearly Store
An age-old conversation piece involves the old Reeves Grocery Store on Highway 80 that sits one-half mile west of Hickory Grove and about 10 miles west of Roberta. In 1947, Charlie Reeves purchased a house and converted it into a combination country store and family home. Because the store portion of Reeves house was said to straddle the Upson-Crawford County lines, I call it the Plum-Nearly Store. It was plum-nearly in Upson County and plum-nearly in Crawford County. When Highway 80 was widened circa 1960, the combination store-house was within the highway right of way and had to be torn down. A new store building was built of concrete blocks and placed completely inside the Upson County line. This eliminated any overlap of the structure inside the Crawford County boundary line. This is the building you see today. This building and the surrounding property are currently owned by Jackie Blalock, the daughter of Charlie Reeves. Crawford County historian Sidney Goodrich tells the true story about the Southern Bread man named Phillip Jenkins, who made deliveries to his country store at Gaillard. The year was 1951 and the sales tax had just been enacted into law. One day, while restocking Sydney’s bread rack, the bread man noticed Sidney figuring the sales tax on some merchandise. The bread man said, “Sidney, if you think you’ve got problems with the sales tax, you need to consider the dilemma of Mr. Reeves who runs a country store up on Highway 80. His store straddles two counties. When he sells a coke on one side of the store, he owes sales tax to Crawford County. When he sells a loaf of bread on the other side, he owes tax money to Upson County.” D’Lyn Jones, Crawford’s Chief Appraiser, graciously researched the property lines at my request and advised that Upson County currently receives property taxes for the second Reeves store built around 1960 and its one-acre of land (now completely in Upson County) while Crawford County receives property taxes for the remaining 25 acres. Thank you D’Lyn for your capable assistance!

Hickory Grove Slave Conspiracy of 1860
A number of slave owners operated large plantations at Hickory Grove. Prior to the Civil War, a bloody and deadly slave insurrection almost took place at Hickory Grove. The fomenter of the insurrection was a local tinsmith named Amos V. Dreher, a native Pennsylvanian and a staunch abolitionist. Dreher, a white man and slave owner himself, secretly colluded with local slaves and persuaded them to take advantage of the absence of the men on election day. The uprising was scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 1860, while the men were at the Knoxville county seat casting their votes in the national, state, and local elections. At the time, the republican candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, was campaigning to abolish slavery in the South. Dreher’s plan called for the slaves to murder all the whites remaining at Hickory Grove while the men were away at Knoxville. Fortunately for the whites, one of the co-conspirators informed the plantation owners of Dreher’s plans. Dreher was charged with attempted slave insurrection and sternly warned he would be hung from the nearest tree if he repeated the offense.

Robley
The territory of Robley begins about 1.3 miles east of Hickory Grove--at the point where Hopewell Road runs into Georgia Highway 80. The general area of Robley forms a triangle: its horizontal base being Highway 80, the vertical side being the lower end of Mount Carmel Road, and the hypotenuse being the western tip of Hopewell Road. Robley was mentioned in area newspapers as early as 1882 and first appeared on the Georgia map in 1895, but like Hickory Grove, it is no longer recognized as a town by county government.

Robley Dunglison Smith
Robley is believed to be named after Robley Dunglison Smith (1850-1910), a scion of the distinguished Smith family of Crawford County, at the height of his legal and political life, during the early1880s. Robley Smith attended the University of Virginia Law School. He returned to Crawford County in 1872 and was appointed Clerk of the Inferior Court. From 1873 to 1877, he served as Clerk of the Crawford County Superior Court. In 1877, he was admitted to the Georgia bar to practice law. He was elected state senator and represented the 23^rd district during the 1882-83 legislative term. In 1894, he was named chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of the 23^rd Senatorial District. A year later, in 1895, Robley Smith’s friends attempted unsuccessfully to have him nominated to a judgeship on the Macon Judicial Circuit. Robley Smith died in 1910 from complications brought on by typhoid fever contracted years earlier. He was buried in the Methodist Church Cemetery in Culloden, Georgia. Robley Smith’s parents were Dr. William J. Smith (1815-1860) and Elizabeth Northrop Smith (1815-1897). William J. studied medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under Dr. Robley Dunglison (1789-1869), the personal physician of U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. William J. named his third son, Robley Dunglison Smith, after Dr. Dunglison. William J. and Elizabeth Northrop Smith had two other sons:

Historic Robley Landmark
A major landmark at Robley is the stately two-story house built 187 years ago, in 1823, by John Bryan Williams, who also owned 1300 acres of land. The house is located on Hopewell Road, just west of the Mount Carmel Road intersection. Williams was the grandfather of Tryphena Moore (1823-1905), who grew up at Robley. Tryphena’s parents were George Moore Sr. and Rachel Williams (John B. Williams’ daughter). Tryphena Moore was named after the Tryphena mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:12, who “labored in the Lord.” Such was the life of Tryphena Moore, who lived an exemplary Christian life and was an inspiration to many. Tryphena Moore married Dr. William Asbury Mathews. She is the maternal great grandmother of Albert L. Jr. (Buddy), George, and Joe Luce of Fort Valley, the former owners of Blue Bird Body Company; and Beth Mathews Collins and Mary Mathews Humble of Fort Valley. Her great, great granddaughter, Helen Rhea Luce Stumbo of Fort Valley, provided Tryphena Moore Mathews’ photograph for this story. A caravan of Moore family members departed from Knoxville, Georgia, in 1854, headed for Texas to acquire land. While in Texas, they contracted Asiatic cholera. The epidemic nearly wiped out the entire family, the only survivor being Tryphena. Mrs. George W. Mathews (Tryphena’s daughter-in-law and the maternal grandmother of Buddy, George, and Joe Luce) chronicled this tragedy in her book, “Light after Darkness.” Incidentally, the mother of Buddy, George and Joe was named Helen Tryphena Mathews. She married Albert Lawrence Luce Sr., who built his first school bus in 1927 and grew Blue Bird into the nation’s premier bus manufacturing company. Dr. Joshia Hilsman purchased the house from the Williams family and later sold it to Walter White. The present owners are Bernard and Clarissa Price. Other landmarks at Robley are Bethel Baptist Church and the Hollis Farm. Up Highway 80 from Robley is the Museum of Southeastern Indians on Julia Jordan Road. It is owned and operated by Mike Stokes. Mike has been collecting Indian artifacts and relics for several decades and possesses one of the finest collections in the southeast. His museum is jam-packed with fascinating displays. Call Mike at 478-836-2696 to schedule a tour.

Nostalgic Tour of Oak Grove and Robley
On Thursday, June 17, 2010, Paul Spillers, a former Crawford County Commissioner and owner of the Central Georgia Tractor Company in Byron, organized a tour of Oak Grove and Robley. Oak Grove is about 3.5 miles west of Robley. In addition to myself, Paul invited Billy Harris, former state senator, 1983-1993, his brother, Charlie Frank Harris, a dairy farmer, and Crawford County historian Sidney Goodrich. We all assembled at the Musella Baptist Church parking lot at 9 a.m. Soon, we headed down Hopewell Road in three trucks. I was riding with Paul who narrated the journey. Behind us in another truck were Billy and Charlie Harris, and following in the third truck was Sidney Goodrich. The trip was primarily for my benefit as the other men grew up in Crawford County and knew the landscape well. As we slowly rolled along, Paul would point out historic landmarks as they came into view, like the New Lebanon Baptist Church who built on land donated by Paul Spillers. Paul named family-after-family who once farmed the pristine land in this scenic countryside of Crawford County: pioneers such as the Andrews, Blasingames, Wilders, Hortmans, Woods, Greens, Pressleys, Spillers, and Harrises. We passed the site of the old schoolhouse Paul attended at Oak Grove, which resided on the corner of Oak Grove Road and Hopewell Road. Paul smiled and said, “My good friend, Hazel Chancelor Mathews, now age 95, lived right across the road from the old schoolhouse.” Paul chuckled about the town barber, Cicero Spillers, his first cousin, who cut the hair of every male in Oak Grove in his home for ten cents a head. Paul also reminisced about the old baseball field on Oak Grove Road, and told of the intense baseball rivalry that existed between Oak Grove and Musella. “After the games, the teams went swimming in a nearby creek,” he said. I took pictures of the “Oak Grove Gang” (Paul, Billy, and Charlie Frank) in front of the 187 year-old Williams’ home on the western end of Hopewell Road. On the return to Musella, we stopped by the old Harris home, built in 1860. Billy Harris remarked, “Eight of the ten Harris children were born and raised here, including me and Charlie Frank.” Charlie Frank stated that “the Harris family farmed 600 acres the hard way--by mule and plow.” I encourage everyone to take a trip to Hickory Grove, Robley, and Oak Grove. God’s beauty is right under our noses. Enjoy it while you can!

My appreciation to Attorney Gordon Smith of Savannah, a noted historian who has researched and written extensively on the Smith family and Crawford County, and to local historian Sidney Goodrich. Attorney Smith also shared photos from his collection.

A huge thanks goes out to Mr. Billy Powell for sharing this information and photos with us!

Bethel Baptist Church

Gaultney's Old Store

Plum-Nearly Store

Old Williams House

Lemuel and Mary (Dickson) Smith's son Dr. William Jackson Smith (1815-1860), his wife Elizabeth (Northrop) Smith, their son William T.
Smith (who died in 1864 as a cadet in the Georgia Military Institute Cadet Brigade at Milledgeville), and other members of the family are buried in the cemetery just off the highway at Robley, Georgia (named for Dr. Robley Dunglison, Dr. William J. Smith's professor at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia). One of their sons, Dr. Jonathan Northrop Smith, a Confederate veteran from Crawford County, was a member of the Georgia Legislature. Another was Judge Robely Dunglison Smith, Crawford County ordinary and state legislator for a number of years. His home once stood just across the highway from the Crawford County courthouse at Knoxville.
As you probably know, Hickory Grove (Robley Community) was the scene of the Hickory Grove Slave Insurrection in 1860, fomented by Amos V. Dreher. Dr. James Dickson Smith, also a son of Lemuel and Mary (Dickson) Smith, is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia, with his family. He first practiced in Hickory Grove (Robley), later in Knoxville, then in Forsyth, and finally in Macon (although he died in Atlanta). He was a co-organizer of the Medical Association of Georgia (MAG) and was an assistant surgeon in the 33rd Regiment Virginia Infantry, Stonewall Brigade.