Jones COUNTY GA Towns - Wayside Copied with permission from "History of Jones Co., Ga," by Carolyn White Williams Written by Mrs. E. M. Davis, Jr. Typed by Barbara Shore WAYSIDE In the early 19th century,k only a few homesteads were in the vicinity of what is now Wayside. There was the old Ben WOODALL place, on the site of what is now the J.N. SMITH home; the old FINNEY homestead located right back of what is now J.D. WOOD's home; and the old BARFIELD home built on the site of the home now occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Tony SWEDA. All of these original homesteads were destroyed by fire. Wayside has had three names. It first went by the undignified name of Lousy Level; the second was a little better, being Black Ankle; and the present name came into being near the time the RR came through in the early 1880s. The next home to be built in Wayside was the Tom GREEN home, built on the site of what is now the H.B. DAVIS home. Mr. GREEN also built a blacksmith shop adjacent to his home. Early families were: CARSONS, FINNEYS, HOLMES, BROWNS, STEWARTS, SMITHS, BARFIELDS, CHILDS, GREENS, Billy GEORGE, WOODALLS, and TICKNORS. Later were the WHITEHEADS, RUSSELLS, DAVIS, WOODS, CHILDS, GORDONS, BILDERBACKS, POUNDS, STANFORDS, WILLLIAMSONS, and BUSHS. In the latter part of the 19th century, an Academy stood at Wayside called the Planter's Academy. This was located back of where the Joe BILDERBACKS now live. The large spring that supplied the water for the school is at the bottom of the hill and is known as Academy Sprint. It now supplies water for the G.M. Canning Co. The trustees for the school were Buck FINNEY, Mr. TICNOR and Curtis GREEN (at one time). After the Academy was destroyed, a one-room school was built next to the present home of Mrs. Annie CHILDS. The room is still standing with two wings added. One of the first businesses in wayside other than the aforementioned blacksmith shop was a general store owned by a Mr. WALKER. One of the next homes built was on the site of Mrs. Annie CHILDS home and was built by a Mr. SLOCUM and in front of his house was the next business establishment, a cotton gin. In the year 1883, a big tornado struck Wayside. Some of the older people in Wayside who were living then remember the storm. It struck first at what is now the Harry GORDON home and ripped a wide path through Wayside and vicinity injuring many people, killing a few and causing great property damage. One family had just moved into their new home and it was destroyed all but the floor. It is said that bolts of cloth from the store were wrapped around trees for miles around and some were blown as far as Eatonton. The story is told that in one home, the family had just sat down for dinner and the storm picked up the table cloth with all the dishes on it, twisted the cloth around as if making a hundle with the dishes inside and set it back down on the table. Soon afterwards the RR came through and the first depot was set up in a box car. The first express office was a flat car. For a while Wayside was the end of the tract and one of the older people living now remembers as a child riding from Round Oak to Wayside on the train which consisted of an engine and a coach. She says when they got to Wayside, the porter turned the seats around and the train backed them up the track to Round Oak. Any man coming to Wayside on business and having no place to stay was taken in at the old Bachelor's Hall which was located adjacent to the present O.R. COOK home. In the early part of the 20th century, the peach industry put in its appearance. There were several packing sheds set up in Wayside. The first one was put up by J.D. WOOD and located on the spot where Mrs. B.J. WHITEHEAD now lives. Another was Mr. Jerry SMITH's located across from Horace GREEN's present home. In 1921 Miss Maude CHILDS organized a community Sunday School which grew into the Presbyterian church, which was organized with four members: Mrs. And Mrs. Wm. H. MARQUESS and Mr. And Mrs. H.B. DAVIS. The building was dedicated in 1923 and the manse was built by E.M. DAVIS, Sr. Wm. H. MARQUESS was elected and ordained elder with E.M. and H.B. DAVIS as trustees. Wayside is located in Barron's District, Military District No. 300. ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.