The Savannah morning news., 1902-04-21
THE COUNTY OF APPLYING.
NAMED AFTER col. APPLING, A
HERO OF THE WAR OF 1912.

Georgia. Rich in Agriculture and
FILLED Wbah an Enterprising and
ProsperqA PeopIe-BaxIey. the
County, Seat, "A Thriving Town
some of the People who Have
Contributed to the welfare ami
Prosperity of AppIing.
To the battle of Plattsburg. n. Y,
must be attributed the naming of APP
ping county. At the risk of being cor
rected by the sage of Maitland, ! ven
ture; upon little history. Lieut.. Col
onel Daniel Appling distinguished him
self in the war Of 1912. at the battle on
the shores of Lake Champlain and the
state of Georgia recognized the valor
Of her patriotic son by the General As
senbly voting him sword. This tes-
timonisl, however. was never presented.
as Colonel Appling died in 1918. before
It could be made. THE sword hung
lusting on the wall" of the Capitol at
Milledgevil!e, and then on that of the
Capitol at Atlanta, until it was rescued
from Oblivion by Maj. Sidney Herbert,
through whose efforts it was repaired.
reburnished, and placed in the hall of
the Georgia Historical Society In Sa-
vannah.
Col. Appling was a native of Column
bia county, the capital of which is hon
oTed by his name. 1 am under the i'm
preston that his remains were buried
in the military cemetery, near the Uni
ted States Barracks, which now occupy
a part of the battlefield of Plattsburg.
l once stopped in that city for the pur-
pose of trying to find the brave Geor-
gian's resting place. but had not sufi-
cient time to carry out my intention.
Appling county is in middle Southern
Georgia. 1t was laid out in 1918, and
is one of the largest counties in the
state, having an area Of 775 square
miles. 1t is watered by the Atamaha
and Ogeechee rivers, and the South
ern Railway traverses it, Until the
building of that railroad, then the Ma
con and Brunswick, the county was
almost forest OF pines, but the saw
mills and turpentine Industries have
removed many trees, and to-day the
better part of the county is in a good
state of cultivation.
Its principal product is cotton, sea
island and upland, mostly the former
The yield last year was nearly. 5000
bales. Fine crops of cotton. corn, SUI
gar cane, oats, peas, potatoes and pea
nuts are raised. and wheat, while not
extensively cultivated, does we'll
Fruits and vegetables are also among
the products Of Appling At Halle
hurst there is large and money pro-
ducing peach farm. Every year sees
more attention given to fruits. and
there is no reason why peaches, pears,
plums and grapes should not be paying
crops.
The county seat is Baxley, a thriv-
ing town eighty miles from Savannah.
1t was laid off in 1868, and was named
after the late Wilson Baxley, a prom
inent citizen of the county The pom
ulation OF the town. by the last CEN
sus, was ass, and of Baxley district
1875. The population OF the county
is 1886, an increase of IL per cent.
in ten years
Bailey has a good school, newspa-
per, three churches, two hotels, sew
eral rows of brick stores, and a num-
Der of nice houses. Its water supply
is from an artesian well, and a new
iron tower and reservoir have just been
finished, from which the water is dis
tributed in pipes through the town.
The newspaper of Baxley is the
News Banner, edited by J. c. Bennett
and managed by Rev. A. NJ. McCool.
II is one of the oldest weeklies in the
state, and is like all good papers work.
ing with might and main to advance
the material and moral interests of the
county.
The religious element is represented
by three churches. the Baptist. Rev. l..
a. Cooper; the Methodist, Rev. T. b.
Stanford, and the Congregational, Rev.
]. NJ. Smith.
The McDonough Institute. named in
honor of Hon. ]. ]. McDonough of Sa-
vannah, is the educational adjunct of
Bailey. Its faculty is composed of
Prof. w H. Cassels, principal, and
Mrs. ]. II. Thomas and Miss Drucilla
Courson, assistants.
The hotels are the Barnes House
kept by Mr.. Simon Barnes, and the
Patterson Hotel. kept by ex-Ordinary
James Patterson.
The Baxley Banking Company is the
financial institution of the town. It's
officers are DR.. II. p. Comas, president,
and V. H. McQuarrie. cashier.
There is syrup refinery in the town
that shipped last year over thousand
barrels of refined syrup. Baxley. and
all the towns in Appling. offer excel
lent opportunities for industrial enter
prises. The county is exceedingly
healthy, and large farming popula-
ton makes living reasonable.
The principal towns of Appling are
Hazlehurst, which is the largest in the
county; Surrency, Graham, Wheaton
and Pine Grove, all of which are in
fiourishing condition. Hazlehurst has
the largest saw mill plant in the coun-
ty, and it's fruit orchards are well
known among buyers.
Surrency, quarter of century ago.
became prominent throughout the land
for its ghosts; people came from afar
to get d glimpse at those uncanny
things. Weird stories were told of the
antics of their ghostships, and for
months they played ping pong" with
the crockery. glassware and other
breakable stuff. A pile of broken crock
cry still bears witness to the muscular
activity and presence of the Surrency
ghosts. The unearthly visitors evident.
~ had their fun out, for they vanished
one night and have never come back
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