Some old roads from a century ago are still in the woods in north central Lowndes County.

1917 and 2023 maps compared

On this 1917 soil map of Lowndes County, Hambrick Road runs east from Hagan Bridge to Cat Creek Road, as it still does today. In the center of the map, running south from Hambrick Road, is an old road that I keep open in my woods. The other day we used a bit of it for a firebreak in a prescribed burn.

Soil Map, Georgia, Lowndes County Sheet, Record ID cmf0373, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1917, in County Maps, Surveyor General, RG 3-9-66, Georgia Archives.

The house marked just north across Hambrick Road from that old road is still there. That was probably Fisher Gaskins’ house. I will ask his descendants.

That old woods road is between two creeks that are still there: Redeye Creek to its west, and Toms Branch to its right. They both end up in the Withlacoochee River floodplain.

Toms Branch is just east of the east part of Quarterman Road. Most of the rest of that road was already there in some form or other, although the south part of it, that currently runs straight east and west, did not run like that.

And notice all the other roads that are no longer open to the public. Continue reading →