OLD BERRIEN Newsletter of the Berrien HistoricalFoundation

Volume 2 Number 2 Winter Quarter 2008

THE EXCURSIONA GETAWAY TO MAYHAW LAKE,

DIXIE LAKE, OR LUCY LAKE

fter a week of hard laborbehind a plow and a stub-born mule, or scrubbinglaundry by hand over awash tub and scrubbingboard, Berrien County resi-

dents were ready for a little rest andrelaxation. However in 1910, therewere no radios or television and fewhad an automobile to escape to thebeach or the mountains.

A

here has been a great interestand response to the sale ofthe 1956 Berrien CountyCentennial celebrationDVDs. The disks containsdigital images of the Larry

Taylor family home movies made at thetime of the 1956 celebration. The 35minute movie is silent, however theimages will bring all of the commen-tary you could hope for when beingviewed by you, your parents, or grand-parents. It is a wonderful visit downmemory lane when time was simplerand Nashville was a bustling tobaccotown..The DVDs are available at thePerry Memorial Library, or by contact-ing Bryan Shaw at 229-563-0586. Allproceeds go to funding the projects ofthe Berrien Historical Foundation.

We also encourage you to attend theFoundation’s workshop, held on thefirst Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m.at the Perry Memorial Library.

Contact Sponsors:Jack and Jane Knight 229-686-2298Bryan Shaw 229-563-0586P. O. Box 417 Nashville, GA 31639

t the extreme northernreach of Berrien County,another popular excursionresort was built, LucyLake, which was actually awidening of the Alapaha

river about 4 miles above the town ofAlapaha.The resort was establishedsometime before 1917, as the OcillaSouthern Railroad time table of thatperiod shows two trains going north toOcilla and two trains going south toNashville each day.

Who the original creators of theresort were has not been determined,however one of the earliest owners wasCleve Watson, and in the resort’s lateryears of existence, his son, Frank.

The main feature of the resort wasthe swimming pool which was fed by asulfur spring artesian well about 40 feetfrom the pool itself. At the head of thewell a small pond was created whichcontained a school of gold fish. Thepool was enclosed by a wood-framedtwo story building with a spectatorsbalcony and an eatery on the upperlevel.

Patrons came from Nashville, Ocilla,and points in between. If your partymissed the return trip in the afternoon,they were forced to remain at the resortuntil the next morning. Small cabins,called a motor court, were available forrent, and a nearby service station andstore provided gas and groceries for

those who came unprepared. Originally Highway 129 crossed a

single track bridge over the AlapahaRiver right at Lucy Lake, which madethe resort quite accessible by buggy,auto, or excursion train. However in1937 the highway was paved and a newbridge was built upstream from theresort and the old bridge was torndown, and with it the fortunes of LucyLake.

The service station and store thatprovided staples for patrons for twodecades, became a grist mill, which wasrumored to have sold a liquid form ofground corn—“white lightning.”

The resort was a mere shell of itselfby that time, and though there weresome business speculators who tried totempt investors into revitalizing theresort, it never was realized.

Today a faint rutted road leavesHighway 129 just before it crosses overthe north bank of the river, and disap-pears into the wooded under growth.And somewhere therein are the remainsof old Lucy Lake. OB

BERRIEN COUNTY

1956 CENTENNIAL

DVDS FOR SALE

TA

BERRIEN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION

Bathers at Mayhaw Lake near RayCity in 1914 are quite scantily dressedfor their dip in the sulphur spring-fedpool, at least by comparison to theheavily frocked patrons in the specta-tors gallery. The pool appears quiteshallow on the end shown here, howev-er it was quite deep on the other end asthere were reports of near-drowningsby adults who lost their grip on thesafety rope seen at the left.

Most found their diversion in smallgatherings in neighbors homes, dancingto local musicians and joining in withvocal renditions of their favorite tunes,or going for a swim in their local swim-ming hole at Futch’s Ferry, or SandyBluff.

However if they wanted to enjoy acool dip in a refreshing spring, or holdhands with their sweetheart while glid-ing along on a pair of roller skates, they

Picnickers from Woodmen of theWorld find relief from the summerheat in the shade of pines andsycamores, in the heyday of LucyLake. The resort also offered swimming, fishing and lodging toweekend excursioners.

looked to spend the day on an excur-sion to one of their favorite recreationspots in the county—Mayhaw Lakenear Ray City, Dixie Lake on the edgeof Sparks, or Lucy Lake just north ofAlapaha.

ayhaw Lake was “ThePlace” in the county formore than a decade. Itwas built in 1914 byElias Moore “Hun”Knight, father of W. D.

Knight. In his inaugural newspaperadvertisement, Mr Knight expoundedupon the “fine bathing pool supplied byfine sulfur water, one of the best Skat-ing Rinks and Box Ball Allers [bowlingalley] in this Section. Cold drinks, hotlunches at all hours during day andnight: also a good ball diamond open tovisiting teams for match games.”

The amusement park was such apopular spot that the Georgia & FloridaRailroad gave special rates for picnicparties from all points on their line. Aboarding house up the road towardsRay City, was opened up by the PaulKnight family, specifically to providelodging for the Mayhaw crowd. Peoplearriving in Ray City by train wouldoften disembark just south of the J.M.Patten home and be shuttled to the lakeor the boarding house by horse andbuggy or by mule and wagon.

Young people were the most fre-quent patrons, finding great glee ingliding around on the three inch thickpine wood floors, supported by 12 x 12sills underneath..Outside was a largeopen-air bathing pool, fed by a deepspring well, and enclosed on four sidesby a balcony for viewing the swim-mers. Picnic tables and concessionstands were plentiful. Across from therink was a lime sink pond where may-haw trees flourished.

People from all over the area wouldjourney to Mayhaw Lake, especially onholidays such as the 4th of July andLabor Day. On these occasions therewould be a full day of fun and frolichighlighted by a baseball game in theafternoon. The local team was one ofthe best semi-pro teams in this part ofthe country. Among the players wereHenry and Bryant Swindle, Roy Carter,Marshall Sirmans, Elmer Shaw, andCharlie Shaw.

On Saturday nights there was a blackpiano player who played for dances onthe skating rink floor. It was also a pop-ular place for Sunday School picnics.

owever, when the youngsoldiers returned homeafter WWI and settleddown to family life, theresort lost much of itsappeal. Many families

owned automobiles and they foundmore attractive destinations outside ofthe county. Sometime before 1926, theroller skating rink was closed and con-verted into a home owned by HollisWilliams. The swimming pool contin-

ued in operation until the early 1930s,when the depressed economy forcedMr. Knight to lose the property.Today, as you turn off of Highway 37onto Park Street, and travel down pastNew Ramah Church, it is hard to imag-ine this little lane once was a busy thor-oughfare bringing vacationers from allover South Georgia. A few hundredyards further down the dirt road on theleft, you come to the converted roller-skating-rink home of the Williams.There is no sign of the swimming poolThe trees still provide a shady settingwhich easily brings to mind the hordesof Picnickers who once covered thegrounds.

Across the road, a cultivated field haserased the baseball diamond thatbrought some of South Georgia’s bestball players together in communityduels. About 75 yards out into the field,the little little lime sink depression isstill visible, and mayhaw trees still sur-round the dried up recess, once knownas Mayhaw Lake.

n the more westerly side ofBerrien County, Rev. H. S.Dixon was digging a wellone day and hit a sulphurspring. In 1914 a group ofSparks businessmen pur-

chased the property and built one of themost popular entertainment centers inSouth Georgia, called Dixie Lake.

A large pool was constructed wherethe sulphur springs could feed it. Overthe pool a two-story building was built.A balcony was built encircling the poolon the second floor where spectatorscould observe those swimming.

Located adjacent to the Dixie Lake(why it was given that name is a bit ofa mystery since it was only a bathing

pool, and there was not a lake nearby)was skating rink, a restaurant and, atone time, a movie show. During its hey-day, people would come from miles fora swim in the cooling waters of DixieLake and enjoy the other recreationalfacilities. The Georgia & FloridaRailroad even had its own excursiontrains which came to Sparks whereemployees enjoyed their annual picnic.

The resort operated until the mid-20s, when it was forced to closebecause of lack of support. Much likeMayhaw Lake, many young men of thecommunity went off to war and whenthey returned they found other venuesmore attractive.

In later years a stone buildingreplaced the wooden frame structurethat covered the bathing pool. Part ofthe lumber used in the original buildingwhich surrounded the pool, was movedto the W. E. Patterson farm east ofSparks, where it was used to construct abarn and out building on the property.

However, in the early 1960s, thestone building was finally demolishedand the pool filled in.

Posing in front of the roller skatingrink at Mayhaw Lake in 1914, left toright: Burton Moore; Tom Parrish;Manson Johnson; unidentified lady;Charlie Ruth Shaw with her husband,Bruner, and daughter, Juanita; lady;Viola Smith Davis; lady; Mrs. BurtonMoore and daughters, Kate Hazen,Thelma Register; Lonnie Smith; boy;man; Shellie Ziegler; and JessieZiegler Touchton. Members of theband in the background include:Rossie Swindle, Glenn Johnson,Lonnie Swindle, and J. H. Swindle.

To the left, newspaper advertisementfrom the Nashville Herald, promotingthe events at the resort. The day started at 11:00 a.m. and ran untilmidnight.

This photo graph of Dixie Lake wastaken during its heyday when excur-sions by wagon, buggy, automobileand train, brought patrons from as faraway as Macon. They enjoyed the coolspring bathing pool, above center,rollerskating, above left, and fine din-ing at the restaurant, above right.Note the buggy in the background,right. The automobile was fast becom-ing a familiar sight, and though it pro-vided a convenient mode for thepatrons here, the invention was even-tually doomed Dixie Lake.

M

HWhen Interstate 75 was built, an

overpass was created at the extension ofWest Colquitt Street in Sparks, whichencroached on the property of old DixieLake. The bathing pool was located juston the south side of Colquitt Street, alsoknown as the Sparks Cutoff Road, andjust east of the freeway off-ramp at thatexit. It is fair to speculate how refresh-ing that cool spring pool would havefelt to so many who were engaged inthe construction of that freeway andoverpass.

O

looked to spend the day on an excur-sion to one of their favorite recreationspots in the county—Mayhaw Lakenear Ray City, Dixie Lake on the edgeof Sparks, or Lucy Lake just north ofAlapaha.

ayhaw Lake was “ThePlace” in the county formore than a decade. Itwas built in 1914 byElias Moore “Hun”Knight, father of W. D.

Knight. In his inaugural newspaperadvertisement, Mr Knight expoundedupon the “fine bathing pool supplied byfine sulfur water, one of the best Skat-ing Rinks and Box Ball Allers [bowlingalley] in this Section. Cold drinks, hotlunches at all hours during day andnight: also a good ball diamond open tovisiting teams for match games.”

The amusement park was such apopular spot that the Georgia & FloridaRailroad gave special rates for picnicparties from all points on their line. Aboarding house up the road towardsRay City, was opened up by the PaulKnight family, specifically to providelodging for the Mayhaw crowd. Peoplearriving in Ray City by train wouldoften disembark just south of the J.M.Patten home and be shuttled to the lakeor the boarding house by horse andbuggy or by mule and wagon.

Young people were the most fre-quent patrons, finding great glee ingliding around on the three inch thickpine wood floors, supported by 12 x 12sills underneath..Outside was a largeopen-air bathing pool, fed by a deepspring well, and enclosed on four sidesby a balcony for viewing the swim-mers. Picnic tables and concessionstands were plentiful. Across from therink was a lime sink pond where may-haw trees flourished.

People from all over the area wouldjourney to Mayhaw Lake, especially onholidays such as the 4th of July andLabor Day. On these occasions therewould be a full day of fun and frolichighlighted by a baseball game in theafternoon. The local team was one ofthe best semi-pro teams in this part ofthe country. Among the players wereHenry and Bryant Swindle, Roy Carter,Marshall Sirmans, Elmer Shaw, andCharlie Shaw.

On Saturday nights there was a blackpiano player who played for dances onthe skating rink floor. It was also a pop-ular place for Sunday School picnics.

owever, when the youngsoldiers returned homeafter WWI and settleddown to family life, theresort lost much of itsappeal. Many families

owned automobiles and they foundmore attractive destinations outside ofthe county. Sometime before 1926, theroller skating rink was closed and con-verted into a home owned by HollisWilliams. The swimming pool contin-

ued in operation until the early 1930s,when the depressed economy forcedMr. Knight to lose the property.Today, as you turn off of Highway 37onto Park Street, and travel down pastNew Ramah Church, it is hard to imag-ine this little lane once was a busy thor-oughfare bringing vacationers from allover South Georgia. A few hundredyards further down the dirt road on theleft, you come to the converted roller-skating-rink home of the Williams.There is no sign of the swimming poolThe trees still provide a shady settingwhich easily brings to mind the hordesof Picnickers who once covered thegrounds.

Across the road, a cultivated field haserased the baseball diamond thatbrought some of South Georgia’s bestball players together in communityduels. About 75 yards out into the field,the little little lime sink depression isstill visible, and mayhaw trees still sur-round the dried up recess, once knownas Mayhaw Lake.

n the more westerly side ofBerrien County, Rev. H. S.Dixon was digging a wellone day and hit a sulphurspring. In 1914 a group ofSparks businessmen pur-

chased the property and built one of themost popular entertainment centers inSouth Georgia, called Dixie Lake.

A large pool was constructed wherethe sulphur springs could feed it. Overthe pool a two-story building was built.A balcony was built encircling the poolon the second floor where spectatorscould observe those swimming.

Located adjacent to the Dixie Lake(why it was given that name is a bit ofa mystery since it was only a bathing

pool, and there was not a lake nearby)was skating rink, a restaurant and, atone time, a movie show. During its hey-day, people would come from miles fora swim in the cooling waters of DixieLake and enjoy the other recreationalfacilities. The Georgia & FloridaRailroad even had its own excursiontrains which came to Sparks whereemployees enjoyed their annual picnic.

The resort operated until the mid-20s, when it was forced to closebecause of lack of support. Much likeMayhaw Lake, many young men of thecommunity went off to war and whenthey returned they found other venuesmore attractive.

In later years a stone buildingreplaced the wooden frame structurethat covered the bathing pool. Part ofthe lumber used in the original buildingwhich surrounded the pool, was movedto the W. E. Patterson farm east ofSparks, where it was used to construct abarn and out building on the property.

However, in the early 1960s, thestone building was finally demolishedand the pool filled in.

Posing in front of the roller skatingrink at Mayhaw Lake in 1914, left toright: Burton Moore; Tom Parrish;Manson Johnson; unidentified lady;Charlie Ruth Shaw with her husband,Bruner, and daughter, Juanita; lady;Viola Smith Davis; lady; Mrs. BurtonMoore and daughters, Kate Hazen,Thelma Register; Lonnie Smith; boy;man; Shellie Ziegler; and JessieZiegler Touchton. Members of theband in the background include:Rossie Swindle, Glenn Johnson,Lonnie Swindle, and J. H. Swindle.

To the left, newspaper advertisementfrom the Nashville Herald, promotingthe events at the resort. The day started at 11:00 a.m. and ran untilmidnight.

This photo graph of Dixie Lake wastaken during its heyday when excur-sions by wagon, buggy, automobileand train, brought patrons from as faraway as Macon. They enjoyed the coolspring bathing pool, above center,rollerskating, above left, and fine din-ing at the restaurant, above right.Note the buggy in the background,right. The automobile was fast becom-ing a familiar sight, and though it pro-vided a convenient mode for thepatrons here, the invention was even-tually doomed Dixie Lake.

M

HWhen Interstate 75 was built, an

overpass was created at the extension ofWest Colquitt Street in Sparks, whichencroached on the property of old DixieLake. The bathing pool was located juston the south side of Colquitt Street, alsoknown as the Sparks Cutoff Road, andjust east of the freeway off-ramp at thatexit. It is fair to speculate how refresh-ing that cool spring pool would havefelt to so many who were engaged inthe construction of that freeway andoverpass.

O

OLD BERRIEN Newsletter of the Berrien HistoricalFoundation

Volume 2 Number 2 Winter Quarter 2008

THE EXCURSIONA GETAWAY TO MAYHAW LAKE,

DIXIE LAKE, OR LUCY LAKE

fter a week of hard laborbehind a plow and a stub-born mule, or scrubbinglaundry by hand over awash tub and scrubbingboard, Berrien County resi-

dents were ready for a little rest andrelaxation. However in 1910, therewere no radios or television and fewhad an automobile to escape to thebeach or the mountains.

A

here has been a great interestand response to the sale ofthe 1956 Berrien CountyCentennial celebrationDVDs. The disks containsdigital images of the Larry

Taylor family home movies made at thetime of the 1956 celebration. The 35minute movie is silent, however theimages will bring all of the commen-tary you could hope for when beingviewed by you, your parents, or grand-parents. It is a wonderful visit downmemory lane when time was simplerand Nashville was a bustling tobaccotown..The DVDs are available at thePerry Memorial Library, or by contact-ing Bryan Shaw at 229-563-0586. Allproceeds go to funding the projects ofthe Berrien Historical Foundation.

We also encourage you to attend theFoundation’s workshop, held on thefirst Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m.at the Perry Memorial Library.

Contact Sponsors:Jack and Jane Knight 229-686-2298Bryan Shaw 229-563-0586P. O. Box 417 Nashville, GA 31639

t the extreme northernreach of Berrien County,another popular excursionresort was built, LucyLake, which was actually awidening of the Alapaha

river about 4 miles above the town ofAlapaha.The resort was establishedsometime before 1917, as the OcillaSouthern Railroad time table of thatperiod shows two trains going north toOcilla and two trains going south toNashville each day.

Who the original creators of theresort were has not been determined,however one of the earliest owners wasCleve Watson, and in the resort’s lateryears of existence, his son, Frank.

The main feature of the resort wasthe swimming pool which was fed by asulfur spring artesian well about 40 feetfrom the pool itself. At the head of thewell a small pond was created whichcontained a school of gold fish. Thepool was enclosed by a wood-framedtwo story building with a spectatorsbalcony and an eatery on the upperlevel.

Patrons came from Nashville, Ocilla,and points in between. If your partymissed the return trip in the afternoon,they were forced to remain at the resortuntil the next morning. Small cabins,called a motor court, were available forrent, and a nearby service station andstore provided gas and groceries for

those who came unprepared. Originally Highway 129 crossed a

single track bridge over the AlapahaRiver right at Lucy Lake, which madethe resort quite accessible by buggy,auto, or excursion train. However in1937 the highway was paved and a newbridge was built upstream from theresort and the old bridge was torndown, and with it the fortunes of LucyLake.

The service station and store thatprovided staples for patrons for twodecades, became a grist mill, which wasrumored to have sold a liquid form ofground corn—“white lightning.”

The resort was a mere shell of itselfby that time, and though there weresome business speculators who tried totempt investors into revitalizing theresort, it never was realized.

Today a faint rutted road leavesHighway 129 just before it crosses overthe north bank of the river, and disap-pears into the wooded under growth.And somewhere therein are the remainsof old Lucy Lake. OB

BERRIEN COUNTY

1956 CENTENNIAL

DVDS FOR SALE

TA

BERRIEN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION

Bathers at Mayhaw Lake near RayCity in 1914 are quite scantily dressedfor their dip in the sulphur spring-fedpool, at least by comparison to theheavily frocked patrons in the specta-tors gallery. The pool appears quiteshallow on the end shown here, howev-er it was quite deep on the other end asthere were reports of near-drowningsby adults who lost their grip on thesafety rope seen at the left.

Most found their diversion in smallgatherings in neighbors homes, dancingto local musicians and joining in withvocal renditions of their favorite tunes,or going for a swim in their local swim-ming hole at Futch’s Ferry, or SandyBluff.

However if they wanted to enjoy acool dip in a refreshing spring, or holdhands with their sweetheart while glid-ing along on a pair of roller skates, they

Picnickers from Woodmen of theWorld find relief from the summerheat in the shade of pines andsycamores, in the heyday of LucyLake. The resort also offered swimming, fishing and lodging toweekend excursioners.