ATWATER is about 6 miles north of Thomaston. Take US 19 north to Atwater Road and then west for about 2 miles.

BLACKSBORO (historical) on State Rd #36 northeast of Thomaston about 4 miles.

CREST is north of Glencliff on State Road #74, about 9 miles northwest of Thomaston.

DELRAY is about 4 miles North of Thomaston, but well off a main road. Delray Road connects US#19 and State Rd #36.

DOG CROSSING is northwest of THE ROCK, very near Lamar County line, intersection of Bridge Road and Rocky Bottom Road.

EAST THOMASTON is one mile north of Thomaston on State Rd #36.

ELLERBEETOWN is south of CREST, on Ellerbeetown Road (western part of the county).

HANNA MILL is north of Thomaston. Take Hanna Road about 4 miles north.

JUGTOWN, where the pottery was made, was in the Flint District. (This should not be confused with the Jug District which was nearer to Yatesville.) This small community straddled the Upson, Pike and Lamar County lines, that technically don't exist any more.
Bolling Brown operated an industry making jugs from the local clay which was especially good for pottery.

McKinney

Paynes Mill

SILVERTOWN is north of Thomaston on US 19.
This village grew up around the B.F. Goodrich Tire Company, and was named Silvertown after the home town of B.F. Goodrich, the company founder, who was originally from Silvertown, England. In 1904 he had developed a tire reinforced with rubber containing cotton cords and named it "Silvertown Cord". The advantage was the tire rode smoother and created less heat.

In 1925 some Goodrich officials, in looking throughout the South, chose Thomaston as a site for a new Cord Mill. Thomaston Mills entered into a contract to build the plant and manufacture the Silvertown Tire.

This new Mill was known as Martha Mills and at one time was the largest tire cord mill in the world. This mill was named for Mrs. Mattie Lou Harrison Hightower, the wife of Mr. R.E. Hightower. They also made fire hose.
The Goodrich Company built their own village and named it Silvertown. In 1957, these homes were sold to their employees and later the school buildings and other official buildings became a part of Thomaston.

From March 1999, UHS Newsletter: "You must travel back to England in 1852, the year in which the S.W. Silver Company moved its "waterproofing works" from Greenwich England to a lonely spot on the West Ham Marshes near London. It became necessary for Mr. Silver to build homes for the employees in the area of his new factory. Appropriately enough, that area became known as Silvertown.
After rapid acceptance in England, these new tires were "discovered by Americans". In 190, the American rights to Silvertown Cord were purchased by the Diamond Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. Goodrich bought out Diamond in 1912, popularizing the name B.F. Goodrich Silvertown Tires.

SUNSET VILLAGE is 5.2 miles due west of Thomaston on State Road #74. New community.

Barker Spring

SUNNYSIDE Community located about 5 miles SW of Thomaston.

GLENCLIFF is on State Road #74 west of Sunset Village as the road turns northwest.

HENDRICKS is 8.6 Miles NE of Thomaston, 10.1 Miles NW of Manchester)

Hickman Forks

Jones Settlement

McCrary Settlement

PICKARD is North of Glencliff (West of Thomaston). Take State Road #74 west and turn onto Pickard Road.

LINCOLN PARK
Lincoln is 1.87 miles due south of Thomaston

Birdsong Crossroads

Lincoln Park

Redbone Crossroads

YATESVILLE is near border of Monroe County on State Road #74 East from Thomaston.

The town is named for the Yates family, who also developed the Yates Apple, a small, hard, tart fruit suitable for making jellies.

"Yatesville, located on the original Thomaston-Macon Highway, was founded by the late A.J. Yates, who came to town after being wounded in the Battle of Atlanta....Mr. Yates...opened a shoe shop where he made shoes and boots for men and women....(and) a fruit nursery (from which) he introduced the Yates apple. (He) shipped peaches by wagon to Barnesville and is credited with having been the first grower to ship peaches....Mr. Yates in 1879 made application in Atlanta for mail service....mail was dropped at Mr. Yates' house....which became known as Yates' Box, thus Mr. Yates became the first postmaster of Yatesville."

The community was named Yatesville in his honor in 1888 at the coming of the railroad. This could have been in memory instead, since he was shot and killed at age 56 in his store by an unnamed drunk.

Andrew Jackson YATES, a member of New Hope Primitive Baptist, married Marty SHEETS, who was a Methodist.

According to an April 17, 1974 article in the Thomaston Times, three of his granddaughters were reunited in Thomaston. Their names were Nell Richardson of Charlotte, N.C.; Grace Rogers of San Jose, Calif. (sisters); and Flora Brown of Thomaston (a cousin). The article lists Betty Smith of Atlanta as Rogers' granddaughter who arranged the reunion. From "Yatesville, a Caring Community, 1896-1996"

While Yatesville was not incorporated until 1896 or so, the community itself has been there for much longer, once boasting two thoroughfares, two railroad tracks, two banks and even a library. It is now a sleepy country town of about 400 people or less located on Highway 74 in between Thomaston and Macon, just a few miles west of the Upson County line. The New Hope Primitive Baptist Church, Yatesville, dates to 1820.
Contributed by:Sherri Ellington ([email protected])

Rest Haven

THE ROCK (northeast section of county on State Road #36 north, near Lamar County line)The village of The Rock is eight miles east of Thomaston on Thomaston-Barnesville highway.
On the eastern edge of the village is a granite marker sitting on top of the remnant of the larger bolder on which the early stage coach drivers on the Thomaston-Barnesville highway left their bags of mail and from which the village derived it name.
John Bunkley was Ben Franklin's ambassadorial friend to France who went with him on all missions to France to borrow money to finance our American Revolution. John met and married Marchette while there. The two are buried in the Bunkley cemetery. John Bunkley fell in love with Ga. Piedmont region when he and Ben Franklin turned their attention after the war to setting up a Federal Post Office. They traveled well established Indian Trails that had become pioneer roads. The Old Alabama Road that ran from Augusta Ga. through Montgomery Alabama and on to Santa Fe was less than two mi. east of where John Bunkley came back to build a one room cabin for himself and his wife Marchette after he retired. The only place for the stage coach to drop the mail at the time was in the cleft of a huge boulder on the side of what is now Hwy 36. Therefore the expression of "going to The Rock to get the mail" and an address was born. [Contributed by Bonnie Bevel]

TOPEKA JUNCTION is north of THE ROCK on State Road #36, very near Lamar County line.

LOGTOWN is southeast of Thomaston/ Take Triune Mill Road east from Thomaston to Log Town Road, and turn South.

Logtown at one time was the main town in Upson County, having been the first area of the county to be settled. It had a variety store, homes, neighboring plantations, and more bars than churches! It was bigger than Thomaston at the time; now it is a lonely crossroads at Logtown and Truine Mill Roads with one house, a dilapidated store building, a couple of family cemeteries and a baseball field where the area's residents gather for friendly games.

Roland Community in southwest portion of county. Located in Land District 15. Military District of Reeves #1336 created from the Flint District.
There was once a Rowland Academy located there. Flint River Church and Cemetery are located here.

HOOTENVILLE
Hootenville also was a thriving community at one time and was still at least a village as of the 1880 census. It is located right up against Crawford County, putting it in the very southern end of Upson and literally in Indian country since it sat roughly between the Roland Road reservation near the Flint River in Upson County and the Hawkins Reservation in Crawford County, also on the Flint. In 1880 the area was comprised mostly of sharecroppers, with the occasional landlord sprinkled among them. Some families may have been originally of Native American descent.

It was populated prior to 1824 and was originally called Blountsville, probably named after John Blount. The name was changed because Jones County also had a Blountsville, so after Henry Hooten purchased the land (including the post office), it became Hootenville.

During the 1830's there was a hotel, several barrooms, grocery-dry good stores, harness shop and blacksmith shop.

Old Blountsville Academy was built before 1838 with Professor O'Hara as the instructor.

Harmony Church, Primitive Baptist, was built about 1835 and was the place where Upson County's famous son, John B. Gordon, at the age of 10, stood to make his confession of faith at one of the annual camp meetings.

Hootenville at one time was the relay station to provide fresh horses for the stage coaches and provide the passengers with refreshments.

Early residents included, Richard RESPESS and Hiram CHALFINCH, Henry Hooten-- ALL Revolutionary soldiers. Other families were: GRANTS, ATWATERS, MAY, McCORDS, McMICHAELS. (More information: pg. 843-845 History of Upson County)

Double Bridges was a farming community at the edges of the Reeves and Hootenville Districts in Upson County. The two bridges connected Upson County with an island in the middle of the Flint River and then to Talbot County (where the other half of the community known as Double Bridges was located.) in April 1865, around the 17th or 18th, Wilson's Raiders stormed the bridges and crossed over from Talbot into Upson County on their way to Macon, meeting only brief resistance and apparently a large number of refugees, according to reports in the Official Record (of the Civil War) and a historic marker near Double Bridges Road in Talbot County. (Contributed by: Sherri Ellington)

Waynmanville

ROADS of UPSON COUNTY

The Alabama Road was originally called the Marshall Road and crossed at a ford about two miles below Double Bridges. When the bridges were built the road was moved upstream.

This Alabama Stage Coach Road ran from the northeastern section through the length of the county, crossing Flint River at Double Bridges. It was a heavily traveled stage coach and wagon freight line between Augusta and Columbus.

There was a stage coach route from Macon to Columbus that went through Hootenville and crossed the Flint River at Hooten's Ferry.

The alternate route was from Macon by Colludon into Thomaston and then west three miles to join the Alabama Road and on to Columbus. bcs

STAGECOACH ROUTE

Two stage coach stops in Upson County -- John Castlen's at the junction of Old Alabama Road and Crest Highway, and Abner McCoy's near Flint River.

Upson County Page last updated: Tuesday, 31-May-2011 10:09:45 MDT