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

Sometimes called the Church of Christ at Nevils Creek, the Nevils Creek Primitive Baptist Church was established in 1790 by Alexander Lotte on a high bluff along the banks of Bonnell Creek in Effingham County.

Bonnell Creek soon became known as Lotts Creek. First made part of the new Screven County in 1793, the area then became part of the new Bulloch County in 1796. 

Referred to as New Hayes on several old maps, the community of New Hope was 2 miles south of Register on the old Burkhalter Road which was then renamed New Hope Road. The New Hope Church was built on land donated by “Mr. Olliff” in 1874. Father Styles was the first preacher. After a disagreement, some of the church membership established the New Bethlehem Church 250 yards away. 

When the Perkins Lumber Company (later the Register and Glennville Railroad) built a railroad line, it passed through New Hope. However, the trains did not stop to pick up passengers or freight in the town.

Ogeechee River Depot: A stop on the Dover and Statesboro Railroad between Donegal and Dover at the Ogeechee River. Ogeecheeton, according to Henry Ellis (Georgia’s second Royal Governor) was the second oldest white settlement in Georgia. It was located near Indian Bend on “the Great Ogeechee River.” Ogeecheeton was settled only 1 mile north of Old Fort Argyll (also called the First Fort), some 15 miles north of where the Ogeechee River splits away from the Canoochee.

The town of Olney was on the Cuyler and Woodburn Railroad line, near the junction of Eldora Road and Highway 119. The postmasters were Viola C. Adams (formerly postmaster of Lucetta) and David C. Bell.

The Omie post office, east of Register, had one postmaster, Eli P. Kennedy. Overbrook, on the other hand, was the last stop on the Shearwood Railroad line in Bulloch County, just off what is now the Nevils-Daisy Road.

Parish was a village on the Dover & Dublin branch of the Central of Georgia Railroad line about 8 miles west of Register, and had a population in 1900 of 81. The Durden Lumber Company was located there.

Sitting on the Savannah, Augusta and Northern Railway line, Piddleville was located north of the Mincy Cemetery on what is now Pleasant Hill Road.

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.