https://johnsonvilleschistory.org/files/original/b6209b04fe20b1ae75f1cb94c792da0b.pdf 727aa29ee1b94db79af2027119ab0fe5 PDF Text Text • ' • • • ' • • • • • •• • By Mildred B. Hughes • , .,. • •• • ' Post Office' . \ Poston, a name deeply ingrained in the area as a family name, is also the name of a community that once was a bustling railroad town boasting of three stores, a Post Off ice, a railroad depot with around the clock attendants, a hotel, and we are told at one time a doctor and drug store. Today, very little of the Poston of the bygone era remians, with the only business there now being only a third ielass Post Of.. fice , and a cross the stree t a nursery known as ''The Daylily Garden and Much Mor e,", operated by a Poston native) Sue Rawlings, unique in itself. Long since gone are the doctor and drug store, the hotel, the railroad depot, and the stores. The only store building left has been emptied of its merchandise. In the front corner stands a small room which houses the Post Office, recently renovated with new panelling and complete with colorful sheer curtain panels at the windows. The United States flag flys above the flag pole all day, but the Post Office is only open three hours a day, from 8 to 10 a.m. and from 3:30 to 4:36 in the afternoon. There are no boxes for rent, since the building is only open during these hours and customers would not have access to their boxes, but all other services are available that can be had at the most . sophisticated Post Office. The Post Mistr.ess, Ida Ruth Huggins, is a lifetime resident of the area, as was the ' 6 • J one before her, Mary Dell Perry; paid thusly instead of witb money, until Others who have served in the past he had reached a cutting off point. This, were Lawrence Creel, Mrs. Creel, he pointed out, was dutjng the Charlie Poston and Bernie Poston. depression and times, as most people The main activity that pumped life know, were hard. Somehow, the men into the town of Poston in its heydey got together and got the money to pay was the Seaboard Airline Railroad. off the chips, and ~is ended the trading Mrs. Nelle Hearn, a long time agent at at the Creel store with the lumber Poston for the railroad company, and company chips. ·her son, Bernard Hearn of Savannah, The late Mrs. Dora Altman operated Georgia, reminisced Monday about the the hotel at Poston for a time, and it has times when the railroad was more been said that she prepared some of the active. best meals to be had anywhere. On the Of particular significance was the first floor of the two-story building was branch line which ran from McBee to a wood burning chimney, to provide the Posto11 and tied up there over night. heat. There was a kitchen and large But, Mrs. Hearn recalled, passenger dining room and one bedroom on one trains were just as active in those days Continued to Page 8 as were the freight trains. The engines from McBee had to be ''coaled'' and one man shoveled 20 tons of coal each Poston night. Bernard recalled that the coal Continued from Page 1 was located so that the coal had to be shoveled ''up'' to the engine. One day side and a small store on the other. According to Bernard, the way the his father, the late L. Hearn, who upstairs was heated was rather unique. worked the second ''trick'' (shift) under his mother, talked to the railroad · A circular hole was cut in the floor of each room with a piece of terra-cotta men and told them how heartless they pipe inserted to allow the heat to rise to were, and explained how much of the the top floor . hard work could be eliminated by lifBernard recalled that during World ting the coal higher so that the attendant, Johnny Ellison, could then War II the troop trains came through shovel the coal down: With in a week he about every ten minutes with troops said the matter was taken care of and moving northward . He said the soldiers,' ma~y enroute to Norfolk, the work load greatly decreased. During the heydey of Poston, Ber- Virginia; would holler to the attendant nard said Lawrence Creel had taken as they passed, and quite of,ten, would ''chips'' from employees of Brown throw letters out to be mailed to of their families or Ingram Lumber Company, who were members . I • I • l I � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Weekly Observer Description An account of the resource The Weekly Observer was published out of Hemingway, SC from 1973 until printing ceased in 2012. The paper continues as an e newpaper on scnow.com Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-2012 Subject The topic of the resource Local Newspaper covering the Johnsonville and Hemingway communities. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Weekly Observer Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Poston: A Look At The Past, 1-24-1980 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Weekly Observer Description An account of the resource Poston: A Look At The Past - from The Weekly Observer, Jan 24, 1980 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1-24-1980 News Newspaper Weekly Observer