OHC NEWSLETTER
January – February & March 2023
Waycross Sesquicentennial & Ware County Bicentennial
When Waycross Was Tebeauville
Those who believe wiregrass history began with Waycross would do well to return to those days of yesteryear.
Older than all the rest of course is Waresboro, a farming community that, save for a desire not to have the railroads disturbing their livestock, might have become the center of South Georgia.
But city fathers didn’t want that, and later in the 19th century, folks began to congregate nearer the railroad, which, as we all know, came to be centered seven miles to the east.
Drive down to “Old Nine” and journey over this sometimes rough and tumble area. Head west over to Johanna and Bertha Streets. There you will find the beginnings of Waycross.
Here the Pendleton family settled in the area we now call “Old Nine,” since it was the ninth station on the rail line. “Pendleton” might have become the name of this town, but shortly thereafter Mr. Pendleton took the train to Savannah and caused the little hamlet to be named after his beloved grandfather, Frederic Edmund Tebeau.
Thus, during the Civil War, the village was known as “Tebeauville” and it was to Tebeauville that slaves from coastal plantations, such as Brunswick’s Broadfield, were brought for “safe-keeping” during the war. (continued)
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