User talk:Doncram/February DYKs/Camilla-Zack Community Center District

{{WikiProject NRHP}} {{WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state)}} {{reqphoto}}

what is this

The Camilla-Zack Community Center District seems to be a legacy of a larger Log Cabin Community initiative, perhaps the better name for a wikipedia article. Photo of building and site suggested for a soil conservation conference in 1940s. 165 acres bought there by 3 former slaves (brothers Zack Hubert, David Hubert, and Floyd Hubert. Blacks came to own 27,000 acres (110 km²) in Hancock County, having bought 14 farms. Professor Benjamin F. Hubert, president of Georgia State College. Oh, he was the son of "Zach" and Camilla Hubert. The "new log and native stone lodge" is being described as for Negro Girl Scouts of Georgia.

It was the site, according to Hubert, of "the only beef cattle show and sale by colored people on record in America", which became an annual event. (soil conservation article)

Benjamin F. Hubert wikipedia article includes:

Hubert also used his relative proximity to Hancock County, Georgia, to attempt an experiment in rural community building along the themes of the Country Life Movement. In 1928, he organized the Association for the Advancement of Negro Country Life. With backing from northern philanthropists, he attempted to transform Springfield into a model black community, blending Butterfield's progressive rural idealism, the economic separatism of Marcus Garvey, and the apolitical pragmatism of Booker T. Washington. Under Hubert's guidance, the community organized a community health clinic, a cooperative community center, complete with swimming pool, a cooperative dairy and an enclosed poultry house. To maximize market efficiency, they bought seed and machinery cooperatively, and sold their agricultural products cooperatively. They attracted outstanding faculty to the high school and expanded it with grants from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. At its height, eighty percent of the graduates of this high school continued on to college. Hubert used the community to host teacher training institutes for African American teachers in Georgia.

What is Country Life Movement?

DYK ideas

• Did you know that ... "the Camilla-Zack Community Center was the center of an idealistic movement for Advancement of Negro Country Life, in the 1930s and 1940s in Georgia?" (too long)

• Did you know that ... only one small stone building survives at Springfield, Georgia, center of a Log Cabin Community that was to lead African-Americans to a better, rural life?"

• Did you know that... a rural Georgia community center held, in the 1940s, the only beef cattle show and sale by colored people on record in America?

• Did you know that ... a great log cabin and a stone store still survive at Springfield, Georgia, center of a Log Cabin Community that was hoped to lead African-Americans to a better, rural life?"

About location

About location. No Rte 1 anywhere near AFAICT. Location given in NRHP list-article is 33°25′23″N 82°56′46″W with note "Coordinates from NRHP form don't seem to be right". That was noted by User:Bubba73. Not a problem, it was close enough, so i could find it using Google Streetview. --Doncram (talk) 00:46, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Yes, you found it! Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:10, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Yay, i found the great log cabin, the center, too, further down the road! See "map of all coordinates". This is all from Google Streetview with data capture March 2008 (a long time ago). There is no Bing Streetside imagery available. It would be great if you could ever get there and get pics of all the survivors, maybe even ruins in the woods of other places in sketchmap. Anyhow I do think i'd like to get a February DYK. I sorted out more info, too, now i understand the president of Georgia State College guy was son of Zack Hubert, former slave who with his brothers were first black landowners in the area, and started this up. @Bubba73: --Doncram (talk) 05:56, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

Oh the list-article coord is one from the NRHP doc. The four corners are on a rectangle aligned perfectly north-south and east-west:

• NW corner 33°25′23″N 82°56′45″W this is almost the coord in list-article
• NE corner 33°25′23″N 82°55′32″W
• SE corner 33°24′15″N 82°55′32″W
• SW corner 33°24′15″N 82°56′45″W

In 1974, it was located on a dirt road. In 2019, the location is about 1000 ft south of a Springfield Baptist Church which, according to Google is on Springfield Road (i.e. the location of a "Springfield, Georgia"). The church is at 33.413545°N 82.942788°W / 33.413545; -82.942788 (Springfield Baptist Church). It could be pretty old, and is, i guess, the church on the sketch map.

The stone building is at the intersection of paved roads, Springfield Road and what Google calls Springfield Powelton Road (also labelled by Google somewhat inexplicably as 1209 Cabin Rd., at least further east along it), still in a rural area. Bing maps calls that road Log Cabin Rd., instead.

A stone building which appears in the NRHP photos survives, at 33.411342°N 82.941309°W / 33.411342; -82.941309 (stone building). Per the sketch map in the NRHP doc, and perhaps also by hard-to-read-label-about-the-photo in NRHP pics, that was the cooperative store. And there is a stone chimney, perhaps a remnant of the large log building? Hmm, by photo in NRHP pics, that would be chimney of the cafe building. It looks like it had stone walls too, which are gone though?

Oh, okay, the new frame building is at 155 Log Cabin Rd. is the address given by Google too. It is at 33.412405°N 82.939341°W / 33.412405; -82.939341 (155 Log Cabin Rd. (new frame house))

Along Log Cabin Road, then, there is a building, perhaps the dairy barn, right at 33.412226°N 82.937880°W / 33.412226; -82.937880 (dairy barn?). It can be seen clearly in Streetview of 2008, but not Satellite view of 2019.

Okay, yay!, there is also, the Camille-Zack Center, at 33.413347°N 82.935724°W / 33.413347; -82.935724 (Camille-Zack Center), visible from both Streetview and Satellite view. There are two pairs of stone entry-way piers, the first pair set wide for road to come in, the second (further east) close together as in the 3rd NRHP photo. Then one alone further east, at corner of property that the center is on, sort of, before slightly elevated land falls down to lower level.

Further along, there is a building off in the trees, maybe the last "cottage" to the east end of the sketchmap, located at 33.414719°N 82.933552°W / 33.414719; -82.933552 (cottage?), visible from both Streetview and Satellite view. That's all i can see from road. There may be another newer place or two in on the north side of Log Cabin Rd.

"Boundary clarification" in NRHP doc: "Camilla-Zack Community Center District is located northeast of Sparta via State Road 22 to road S2131. This district area, comprising approximately 165 acres, begins at the intersection of road S2131 and continues for .6 mile approximately % mile on either side of an unnamed dirt road that leads eastward to Powellton."

S2131 is apparently now "Springfield Road". Unnamed dirt road is now "Springfield Powelton Road" or "Log Cabin Road" apparently.

NRHP doc uses "Powellton", Google and Bing maps use "Powelton"

Powellton, Georgia? or Powelton, Georgia, 4.8 miles to the east, appears to be a community stretched along Hwy 22 (Georgia State Route 22), with 1 methodist and 2 baptist churches.

Is there a Springfield, Georgia, here? Google and Bing both identify Springfield GA as .1 miles away, i.e. at the church, i would suppose it then to be a GNIS populated place location, but I don't find that in GNIS.

Mayfield, Georgia is 11 miles away, to east southeast. Not significantly closer than Sparta, Georgia 20.9 mi to south, or Crawfordville, Georgia 16.5 mi (by roundabout loopping) to the north. (by Google maps distances). It is certainly not "in" Mayfield.

Springfield Log Cabin

The term "Springfield Log Cabin" appears on Google map close by, on the Springfield Powellton Road. Does it apply to what looks like a house at exactly 33.412409°N 82.939347°W / 33.412409; -82.939347 (155 Log Cabin Rd.), which is labelled 155 Log Cabin Rd. when i click on it.

Maybe Georgia historic pres could be contacted, or the Springfield Baptist Church there, about the log building. I wonder if places got burned down. :( Maybe editors with newspapers access could find out.

Is this related to the Springfield Log Cabin School, also built in 1935, and recognized as an endangered place by Georgia Trust. Hmm, no, that is identified as being at "Union Point" in Taliaferro County, Georgia instead. How confusing.

Or was there a wider state-wide initiative in the "Springfield Log Cabin" name?

Camilla-Zack Community Center District

According to its National Register nomination, written in 1974:

The Camilla-Zack Community Center District incorporates an area that was once a thriving regional center for rural blacks in Middle Georgia. The community, which at its height included a cooperative store, health center, school, teacher's cottages, and community center, was dedicated to providing a more satisfying life for Negroes on the farm. Located on a dirt road leading to Powelton, Georgia, the District is bounded on the west by the county road leading to Route 22, and continues .6 miles east on the dirt road. South of the dirt road, the boundary extends 400 yards, while north of the road, the boundary continues far enough to include the community church. The Camilla-Zack Country Life Center, as it was originally called, was the focal point of the district and was symbolic of the spirit of the community. Built in 1932 of pine logs taken from the surrounding forest and native granite from the county, the structure resembles a log cabin and blends in well with the surrounding countryside. With its 550 pine logs and 150 tons of granite, the building, including porches, contains over 2,500 square feet of usable space.

More:

For several years, the District was the site of a summer school for black rural teachers. For a one-month period, the teachers learned how to direct the community life of their people. The group included teachers from as many as twenty surrounding counties. / The Camilla-Zack Community better known as the Log Cabin Community, received high acclaim from both black and white leaders on State and regional levels and was visited by various dignitaries; including Governor Herman Talmadge. The District was pointed out as an example to Southern rural blacks of what was possible with hard work and a will to succeed

Then what happened? Including where are the 150 tons of granite.