Palymra

Palmyra, Georgia, later known as a ghost town, was incorporated in 1840 with John Woolbright, John Mercer, Burch M. Roberts, Edward Janes, and George S. Oglesby as commissioners. Its prominent residents included Doctors Jeremiah Hilsman, Leonidas Mercer, and John B. Gilbert; Lott Warren, congressman and jurist; Reverend Jonathan Davis, a Baptist preacher; Henry Morgan, a schoolteacher and lawyer; Leonidas Jordan, called one of the wealthiest men in the state; and Charles Randall, co-inventor with Doctor Leonidas Mercer of the cotton planter. Intermittent fever, or malaria, and the coming of the railroad to Albany caused its decline, though many pioneer citizens of Albany had moved there from Palmyra. Palmyra Baptist Church was one of the earliest in the area, and in 1867, when the white population dwindled, this property was given to Black residents. By the church, in a small cemetery, John Mercer, uncle of Reverend Jesse Mercer, and others are buried; on a hill one-half mile northwest is the larger Palmyra Cemetery. Beyond the church toward Leesburg, part of the old Mercer home remains, and near the square spring stood Watson’s Cotton Gin Factory, where the manufactured articles were said to be unrivaled in performance and durability.

Georgia · United States