Note: The following is one of a series of articles looking at events in the history of Bulloch County.

Part IV

When Candler County was created, Excelsior was placed inside Candler’s boundaries. The town Fido was named for Mrs. Williams’ feisty dog, was located just to the north of Moore's Bridge.

The post office opened in Postmaster J. Moore’s store. There was a town in Bulloch County called Fly, located halfway between the villages of Clito and Laston.

Fly’s post office moved several times, ending up across from Richard Burns' house. Fly’s residents wanted to name the town Troy, but that name was rejected by the postmaster general.

Postmasters were Martin Woodcock and Madison Marsh. The community of Gem was located halfway between the towns of Clark and Zoar. According to Small’s book, its post office was open from 1888-1904.

The postmasters here included Henry Carr, David Rigdon and William Womack. Little is known about the hamlet of Geranium except that it was located to the southwest of Nevils.

It was lost to the new Evans County when it was created. Glisson was most likely named after the descendants of Joseph Glisson, who lived in the Briar Patch.

It lay situated between the stops of Ivanhoe and Eldora, along the tracks of the Cuyler & Woodburn Railroad &W became known as the Savannah & Statesboro Railway.

Glisson was eventually removed from its list of scheduled stops. Gooding was a station on the Central of Georgia Railroad's Dover to Dublin branch line.

All that is known about Gooding is that according to Small’s book, the postmasters were Sula and Seaborn Oglesby. This community was lost to Jenkins County.

The little village of Green was six miles north of Claxton. Small wrote that Mitchell Green opened a post office here in his store. This community was lost to Evans County when it was created.

The town of Grimshaw (or Grimshaw Station) was located between Statesboro and Brooklet along the Savannah & Statesboro Railway line. It was named after Harry Grimshaw, general superintendent of the S&S Railroad.

The town’s postmasters were Ander Waters and Amy Kicklighter. Grimshaw owned the Nellwood Lumber Company. Groveland's post office opened in 1897 and then closed very shortly thereafter.

It had also served the residents of Fido. The settlement of Haginsville was located north of Blackacre and southeast of Millray. The postmasters in Haginsville were James and George Drew.

Halcyondale’s (or Halcyon Dale’s), depot was first called “Station No. 5” on the Central of Georgia's main railroad line. Halcyon Dale's poet-resident’s pen-name was “Cuyler Young.” (or Screven attorney W.A. Young).

Young chose the name Sylvania, whose name translates from the Latin into English as “Forest Land.” Harville was named for Samuel Harville, one of Bulloch’s two delegates to the 1861 Secession Convention in Milledgeville.

Harville, center of the Sink Hole community, had population of 111 in 1900. Its postmaster was F. Lee. The community of Herschal (or Herschel or Herschell), was located six miles west of Jimps.

The town of Herschal was short-lived, as residents moved the town two miles and renamed it Register. When it was thriving, Herschel had three stores, three schools and two churches.

Herschel's postmasters were store owner John Collins and Franklin Register. Register declared his new town would be the junction of the Register & Glennville and the Bruton & Pineora Railroads.

Hubert (or Woodburn Station) was located between Stilson and Eldora at the end of the Cuyler & Woodburn Railroad line. In 1900 it had a population of 108. Postmasters were R. Jones and P. Richardson.

Iric was a village about six-and-a-half miles west of Ivanhoe, the nearest railroad station. The population in 1900 was 42. Suspected to be named for the Iric Branch, Iric was actually named for settler Adam Eirick.

Eirick received 500 acres on the north side of Black. John Brannen’s home was the first post office, whose postmasters were John Brannen and John Thorne.

In 1910, D.N. Bacot, Suptd. of the Savannah & Statesboro Railroad, proposed digging a canal. Two-and-a-half miles long, it connected Arcola to Iric Branch.  

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