Note: The following is part of a series of columns looking at the founding and general history of southeast Georgia and Bulloch County.

Hubert (also known as Woodburn Station) was located between Stilson and Eldora at the end of the Cuyler and Woodburn Railroad line. In 1900 it had a population of 108. The postmasters were R. Whitfield Jones and Peter S. Richardson.

Iric (or Eric) was a small village located about 6 1/2 miles west of Ivanhoe, which was, at that time, the nearest railroad station. The population in 1900 was 42.

Thought by many to be named for the Iric Branch (or Iric Creek), Iric was actually given its name by early settler Adam Eirick, who received a British Crown grant of 500 acres on the north side of Black.

When Eirick moved here, the frontier sat astride the indian boundary as established in the Treaty of Augusta in 1763. John F. Brannen’s home became the site of its first post office, and the first postmasters were John F. Brannen and John B. Thorne.

In 1910, D.N. Bacot, the superintendent of the Savannah and Statesboro Railroad, proposed digging a 2 1/2-mile long canal from Arcola that dumped into Iric Branch. He planned to drain 8,000 acres of swampy land, which he would then convert to “truck farming” of market crops. Little is known what became of his idea.

Iric Station was a stop on the Savannah and Statesboro Railroad, and sat between Shearwood and Stilson several miles to the northeast of the village of Iric.

Part of what was at first called “The Briar Patch,” the village of Ivanhoe was located 24 miles southeast of Statesboro. 

Ivanhoe was one of the first stagecoach stops in the county, and later became a stop on the Cuyler and Woodburn Railroad line.

The town was given its name by local resident William Cone, who came from North Carolina and settled here, establishing the very successful Ivanhoe Plantation. Cone, a great fan of classical literature, chose to name his plantation after Walter Scott’s book “Ivanhoe.”

Curiously, it is written that Cone thought of naming it after Henry Ward Beecher’s novel “Norwood,” which was about life on the Connecticut River in New England. The postmasters here were William A. and Clisby H. Cone.

The community of Jay was located about 10 miles southwest of Shearwood, which was the nearest railroad station. All that is known about the town is that the postmaster was Moses J. McElveen.

Roger Allen is a local lover of history. Allen provides a brief look each week at the area's past. E-mail Roger at rwasr1953@gmail.com.