CONDOR

The origin of its name is shrouded in mystery. Who in his right mind would name a post office and hence a community after an ugly scavenging bird? The origin of the name "Condor" comes from the Spanish phrase, "quechua kuntur." A condor is a large vulture found in the Andes Mountains of South America and the mountains of California. Locally, folks pronounce the word "Conder". Five quarters of a century ago tomorrow, the Postmaster General of the United States established a post office at the intersection of two of East Central Georgia's most ancient roads at the community known as Holmes Cross Roads. Over the last two hundred years, the community of Condor has been an integral part of the history and heritage of eastern
Laurens County.

Condor became more of a community rather than a crossroads. The heart of Condor lies about a mile or so southeast of East Dublin at the point where Georgia Highway 29 crosses Bethlehem Church Road. The highway from East Dublin City Hall to it's intersection with Georgia Highway 86 follows an ancient Indian trail, which ran from Indian Springs to Savannah. Bethlehem Church Road runs along the old Milledgeville and Darien Road, which ran from the 19th Century state capital to Georgia's premier southern seaport.

Perhaps the first landowner of Condor was the enigmatic Indian fighter, Capt. Benjamin Harrison, who was granted the land surrounding the crossroads in the late 1790s. Among the residents of Condor in the 1830s were Jeremiah Brantley, William Brantley, Solomon Williams, John B. Williams, Charles Bush, and Hezekiah Jones. On January 4, 1847, Charles L. Holmes purchased one hundred and fifty acres from Jeremiah Brantley along the Darien Road. The sale price - a paltry $100.00. Three days later, Holmes paid Brantley ten dollars for a one acre tract at the southeastern corner of the crossroads at the place where John Boatright had been keeping a store. Boatright settled in the area south of the crossroads in 1837, before selling out to Young Keen. Two months later, Holmes acquired the five acre tract at the southwest corner of the crossroads from John B. Williams for one dollar per acre.

On October 13, 1879, the male residents of the community held an election to incorporate the Town of Holmsboro. Mr. Holmes once jested that the first ordinance to be adopted should require all husbands to return home by dark because he was tired of helping their wives look for them during all hours of the night. While the community was known as Holmes' Crossroads for most of the mid 1800s, somehow the alias of Taylorsville began to appear in public records. Apparently there was some resentment among area residents because an October 1879 article called for a large turnout to incorporate the town of Holmesboro and "elect councilmen who will kill and forever bury the Taylorsville Loan Association."

Apparently the town was never incorporated. On October 2, 1856, Warren Smith conveyed a tract of land adjoining Bethlehem Church to Charles L. Holmes, James M. Smith, and Thomas Hart as Trustees of Taylorsville Academy.  During the 1870s, postal service in Laurens County began to expand. On September 17, 1878, the United States Postmaster signed the order establishing a post office of Condor, Georgia. The first office was opened in the store of Dennis Kea, the community's first postmaster. Kea served as postmaster until February 12, 1882, when he was replaced by Charles L. Holmes. Other postmasters of Condor were Columbus W. Brack, Oct. 30, 1888; Fred D. Beall, July 18, 1890; Henry F. Maund, Nov. 15, 1892; Fred D. Beall, Oct. 21, 1896; Mamie Bell, Jan. 30, 1904; Alfred Mimbs, July 2, 1908; and Lewis C. Pope, Oct. 27, 1910, who became the last postmaster when the post office was closed on June 15, 1917.

An 1883 gazetteer listed Condor, also known as Taylorsville and Holmes' Cross Roads, with a population of 150. The community's exports were six hundred bales of cotton, along with tons of lumber, and a few animal hides. The reverends James Smith and J.H. Hudson were pastors of Bethlehem and Gethsemane churches respectively. Condor was the seat of Justice of the Peace Court of Smith's (52nd ) Militia District. W. R. Keen was the district Justice of Peace, while Perry J. Adams served in the position of constable. Dennis Kea, the postmaster, operated a general store along with a grist and saw mill at the northeastern corner of the cross roads.

Beacham and Holmes owned the other general store. Beacham and Pope also conducted a saw and grist mill business. A third saw and grist mill business was operated by Dennis Kea's brother, Wesley Kea. C.G. Bush maintained yet another mill, bringing the community's total number of mills to four. A. B. Tapley was the community carpenter. J. C. Tapley fashioned carriages in a factory originally established by Dennis Kea. Wiley Martin operated a blacksmith and wheelwright shop. The listing showed the Adams, Barfields, Barwicks, Beasleys, Brantleys, Bushes, Carters, Donaldsons, Fullers, Grahams, Hilbuns, Holmes, Joneses, Keas, Keens, Martins, Odoms, Pryors, Smiths, Spiveys, Thigpens, Warnocks, Wilkes, Williams, and Youngs as the major farmers of the Condor community, which stretched nearly to the eastern limits of the county. Dr. Thomas Kea, a brother of Dennis, Wesley, and William Kea made frequent trips to Condor to meet the dental needs of the citizens. Doctor Meridan Odom of Adrian and Doctor John Barwick of Tennille traveled to town to tend to the sick folks in the community. Dr. Barwick and Dennis Kea opened a drug store in the fall of 1881. Dr. John P. Holmes returned to Condor in 1885 and set up his practice after his graduation from the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. James McCullers, another Medical College graduate, practiced medicine in Condor in the 1880s.

Following the establishment of a post office at Condor, community leaders came together and built a new academy at Condor. Leading the effort was L.C. Beacham. Beacham donated a large sum of money and the labor of his hands in building the school, which was located near Bethlehem Church. Prof. Thompson opened the school on February 3, 1879 with two dozen students under his charge. Prof. B. R. Calhoun, a first honor graduate of Mercer University and a high-toned Christian gentleman, took over as principal of Condor Academy in 1880. Rev. H. Turner Smith took charge of the Academy in 1883. Dennis Kea, Wesley Kea, and L.C. Beacham, Trustees of the Condor Academy, hired Henry Overstreet to head the academy in 1884. Prof. W. E. Arnold served in 1885. In 1912, the Laurens County Board of Education gave the old school site the members of Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Other area school students were taught by J.B. Jones and Zenobia Smith. An academy was established at Adamsville, north of Condor on the Snellbridge Road in 1880 by W.R. Keen, Wiley Martin, K.M. Jones, and J.B. Jones. On May 5, 1891, F.C. Adams conveyed one acre on the Snellbridge Road at the sweet gum head to Wiley Martin, B.B. Linder, H.T. Bush, J.W. Cox, and F.C. Adams as Trustees for North Condor School, which replaced the old Adams School. Chappell Beacham, after attending Mercer University, opened a school near his home in the Fall of 1880. A new school was opened at Gethsemane Church in the eastern part of the Condor Community in the winter of 1882.

Condor residents began seeking a railroad as early as 1880. William Kea graded a road to Dublin and was ready at an instant to start laying tracks when the railroad finally made it to Dublin from the west. L.C. Beacham laid the foundation for a railroad when, in 1880, he built a three-mile long tram railroad to transport his saw mill lumber from his "Williams Level" mill to the Oconee River in Dublin. His mill had the capacity of turning out more than twenty thousand board feet of lumber every day. The Georgia legislature authorized the incorporation of the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad Company in 1881. For three years, the farmers of eastern Laurens County desperately sought to extend the railroad from Wrightsville to Dublin.

On November 15, 1884, the board of directors of the newly formed Dublin and Wrightsville Railroad accepted subscriptions for the construction of a railroad to the banks of the Oconee River. The leading subscriber was board member L.C. Beacham who purchased one thousand dollars in stock. Condor resident Dennis Kea, who was later named to a seat on the railroad board, purchased six hundred dollars in shares of the new company. Other Condor area residents who subscribed their names were J.D. Keen, C.L. Holmes, W.H.H. McLendon, Jasper Spivey, Farqhuar Adams, Edwin Holmes, and C.S. Pope.

As the railroad was being completed to Lovett and Brewton, a controversy arose as to the location of the route from the latter point. Two possible routes emerged. The northern, or the Blackshear Route, was the most direct and practical route into the city of Dublin. The southern or Condor Route was longer and more expensive to construct. The southern route was actually split into two separate routes, one into the heart of Old Condor and the other just north of Condor. The board ordered surveyor Arthur Pou to survey the routes and render a report on the estimated cost differentials between the different options. C. W. Holmes, in an effort to sweeten the deal to bring the railroad to Old Condor, offered the railroad one thousand dollars in land. Pou found that the route to Old Condor would cost an additional six thousand dollars, while the route to the lands of L.C. Beacham would cost only an additional three thousand dollars.

In a December 1885 board meeting, director R.H. Hightower moved that the board accept the Fenley Kea route which called for the railroad to cross the Milledgeville and Darien Road at a point just south of Fenley Kea's residence. L.C. Beacham and his neighbor C.S. Pope offered the donation of two acres of land and a promise to construct a 35' by 50' depot building, which was to be completed by June 1886. The agreement gave the railroad the right to choose the location of the depot at any spot along the route on the lands of Beacham and Pope. Much to the chagrin of the donors, railroad president W.B. Thomas chose a location which they deemed to be injurious to the value of their property. The location of the depot remained mired in controversy. In a conciliatory move to pacify Messers Beacham and Pope, the board of directors agreed to construct a substantial rail crossing along the Milledgeville and Darien Road.

The deadline came. The depot was not finished. When the board met in July 1886, Fenly Kea complained, and the board voted to annul the contract if the building was not completed in short order. Finally, the depot was completed in September 1886. The location of the depot at Condor brought out the worst in one of the town's residents. Fenly Kea took exception to Lewis Beacham's efforts to locate the depot at Condor. While Beacham was standing a hundred yards away, Kea emptied his five shot pistol, seriously wounding Beacham with all five shots. All of this led to a lawsuit, which thankfully allowed the minutes of the Dublin and Wrightsville Railroad to be introduced into evidence in the case. The minute book still survives and can be found in the archives of the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. Nearly all signs of the depot are now gone. It was located on the southern side of the railroad center about 950 feet west of the where the Darien and Milledgeville Road crossed the railroad.

Fenly Kea and his wife Mary Kea sold several lots in what was called New Condor along the railroad. Among the first purchasers were E.B. Jones & Co., R.J. Hightower and Sons, David Blackshear, C.S. Pope, Rhoda Page, and Mary Tarpley. In 1903, the members of Condor Lodge No. 5192 United Order of Odd Fellows, purchased a lot on the south side of the railroad near the depot. The town of New Condor never became a reality. It appears that all of the lots were purchased by L.C. Beacham who owned nearly all of Condor in 1911. C.S. Pope owned the lands to the north and west, while Dennis Kea's family owned the lands to the south and east.

The heart of the Condor community over the last one hundred and seventy five years has been the churches. The first church was founded as the Fork Road Meeting House four miles from Dublin on the Milldegeville and Darien Road. On January 14, 1821, eleven white and two colored former members of Buckeye Baptist Church organized Bethlehem Baptist Church. John Whittle, Benjamin Manning, and Levi Bush were  ppointed to act as the presbytery. The Rev. Whittle was the first pastor. George Daniel was the first clerk. The first deacon was James Kinchen. Area resident Young Keen constructed the first church building. On July 31, 1832, Solomon Williams donated three acres of lands to "The Baptist Church of Christ holding the doctrine of the final perseverance of the Saints through grace and baptism by emersion." The church remains active today and is the second oldest church in the county.

In 1850, Benjamin Pope, Edward Holmes, Kindred Jones, and William Brantley founded Gethsemane Methodist Church just off Dewey Warnock Road about a mile or so south of East Laurens School. The church eventually moved into East Dublin. In 1879, Rev. and Mrs. D.W. Williams organized William Chapel Baptist Church on the outskirts of East Dublin about a mile west of Condor. Eli Hampton, Robert Walker, and Anderson Franklin, Trustees of the Condor A.M.E. Church, purchased a lot at the northwestern corner of the railroad and the main road for a church in 1909.

News of the happenings in the early days of Condor were often printed in the Dublin Post. Among the more humorous stories and trivial accounts of life in Condor was Mack Smith's killing of three gobblers in one shot. Local correspondents frequently reported strange sights, such as a long legged crane like bird with a wide bill that landed in Mary Kea's chicken yard and made himself at home. From the report, it appeared to have been a roseated spoonbill, a bird rarely seen in these parts. December 27th, 1879 was a particularly raucous night in Condor. The local correspondent reported that even the hogs got drunk. In March 1880, a washing machine salesman passed through town with an alligator and a deer in tow - no word if the animals were dead or alive. A month later a band of gypsies came through and swapped George Keen a horse that could tell fortunes. Several Condorites (Condoricans?, Condorians?) marveled at a death match between a king snake and thunder snake, one won by the former. For those of you who don't know where Condor is, get in your car and ride out there. Stop for just a moment or seven, absorb the aroma of the decaying grasses of Fall, and just imagine all of the history that has taken place in and around an ancient crossroads, named by some unassuming soul after one of the ugliest birds in the world.