Debbie Snapp
ECB Publishing, Inc.
In late January, a tour of Jefferson County Historical Black Properties took place with a group of visiting state representatives from Gainesville.
Leading the tour of Historical Black Properties was Jefferson County's John R. Nelson, Sr., a longtime resident and active leader in the community.
The group traveled through the county by Big Bend Transit, with Willie Ann Dickey, another longtime resident, operating the vehicle.
The properties which were viewed on the tour included the Gallon Farm Home, Elizabeth Elementary School in the Dills Community, the home of Montford Point Marine Corporal Earnest Sneed, Mt. Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church, Ford Chapel AME Church, the Howard Academy High School, the Mamie Scott Educational Complex, the old Masonic School building, the Barnhart Learning Center/Amaryllis Garden Club/VFW Post, St. James Church of God in Unity School and Lloyd's Smallest Bethel AME Church building.
The Gallon Farm Home was built by Will and Frances Gallon in 1947 after the couple's original home was destroyed in a fire. There were 15 siblings in the family and the Gallon Farm was the largest black-owned business in the mid-1950's, with approximately 750 head of livestock and a variety of crops.
The Elizabeth Elementary School House was originally established in the Elizabeth Church but later moved into the Masonic Hall and the Mt. Pleasant Church. It was Miles and Daisy Black Groover who donated two acres of land for the schoolhouse to be built in 1938.
During the tour of his home, visitors learned about Monticello's Corporal Earnest Sneed, who
enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1944.
Cpl. Sneed fought in Saipan, Japan during WWII and was discharged in 1946. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Barack Obama and Congress in 2012, at the age of 92.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church used a variety of buildings in the early 1930s, including the Mt. Olive and Ford Chapel school facilities, for Freedmen education in the West Lake and Lake communities.
The Howard Academy High School was constructed in 1936 and the Mamie Scott Educational Complex was modified as a brick building in 1996.
After the colored school in Roostertown burned to the ground in 1926, students were moved to Logtown, and school was held in the two-story Masonic Solomon Lodge #6, the oldest African American lodge established in Florida, in 1868. Two additional buildings were also used at the time, Bethel AME Church and its facility next door.
The Barnhart annex was purchased by Gertrude Canty in the 1930s and used by the Black Retired Educators Club. It was later deeded to the VFW Post 251 and named in honor of the Barnhart family.
The St. James Church of God in Unity School was built by assistant bishop and church pastor Louis Burch of Madison and his church congregation. It was used in the 1930s to educate children in the Thompson Valley Lamont Community. Today, it is used as a dining facility for the St. James Church congregation and its pastor Elder Rosa Scott.
The smallest Bethel AME Church is located in Lloyd and was built by longtime resident and building contractor C.P. Miller. Years ago, Miller purchased the 130 years old Bethel AME Church and remodeled it into two rental duplexes, turning the direction of the structure from south to west. He then built a replica of the church building to promote it as a business plan model.
For more information about this and other tours contact John Nelson, Sr. at (850) 241-2745.
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