WOOLSEY, GEORGIA - Friends of Historic Woolsey, Inc

WOOLSEY, GEORGIA

<span>Dr. I. G. Woolsey:</span> John Lynch, County Historian

<span>WOOLSEY, GEORGIA:</span> Dr. I. G. Woolsey

<span>WOOLSEY, GEORGIA:</span> The Church

<span>Fayette County Author:</span> Dr. Ferrol Sams Jr.

<span>HISTORY, STORIES, AND PEOPLE:</span> Ferrol Sams – Christmas Memory 1929

<span>WOOLSEY, GEORGIA:</span> Dr. Sams about Stories

<span>WOOLSEY, GEORGIA:</span> Dr. Sams about churches in the South

<span>WOOLSEY, GEORGIA:</span> I. G. and Arva Woolsey Home

<span>Historic Preservation:</span> Richard Moe

<span>Why Old Places Matter:</span> Thompson Mayes

<span>WOOLSEY BANK:</span> The Fayetteville News November 11, 1910

<span>Woolsey Gin and Warehouse:</span> Fayetteville News Nov. 11, 1910

<span>Lewis & Matthews:</span> The Fayetteville News, Nov. 11, 1910

<span>Woolsey Train Depot:</span> Courtesy of Frank Carden

"Woolsey was a cotton town, a real
thriving community then. We had a big
cotton gin, and folks were raising a lot
of cotton, and trains stopped right here
and loaded up bale after bale."
– John Ballard McLean, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 1996

Named in honor of Dr. I. G. Woolsey, a minister, doctor, farmer, landowner, and philanthropist, Woolsey, incorporated in 1893, was once a thriving town. Woolsey had a train depot, school, bank, post office, jail, millinery, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, peach packing plant, doctor’s office, lumber business, general store, and church. Trains from the Atlanta-Hawkinsville Railroad Company carried cotton, peaches, and other crops north to Atlanta. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would frequently stop in Woolsey on his train rides to Warm Springs, Georgia.

Storytelling, an integral part of history, teaches, inspires, motivates, and can even caution. Stories tell where a town's citizens have been and where they hope to be in the future. Along with the preservation of the church and cemetery, Friends of Historic Woolsey's goal is to preserve and promote the stories of the people who lived in, settled in, and built the town of Woolsey, Georgia.

In addition to working with national, state, and/or county historic preservation organizations, Friends of Historic Woolsey also works with the mayor and the town council in Woolsey’s historic preservation efforts providing current residents of and visitors to Woolsey with historic, educational, and cultural opportunities to learn about the town and the surrounding area.

Click here to see more Faces of Woolsey, Georgia (and nearby towns)

Click here to see Woolsey's Past and Present Photos

WOOLSEY, GEORGIA AND ITS PEOPLE

A Hundred Families in Fayette by Mrs. Hill P. Redwine (Lucy Reagan)

Woolsey Dots, The Fayetteville News, July 19, 1895
Woolsey's First Literary Society, The Fayetteville News, August 09, 1895

Woolsey News Items, The Fayetteville News, September 13, 1895
Woolsey Literary Club, The Fayetteville News, October 18, 1895

Woolsey Dots, The Fayetteville News, November 01, 1895

Woolsey Literary Club, The Fayetteville News, November 01, 1895

Woolsey Literary Club, The Fayetteville News, November 13, 1895

Woolsey Literary Club, The Fayetteville News, November 22, 1895

"I. G. Woolsey Family Reunion at Woolsey," The Fayetteville News, 18 December 20, 1895

"Round about Woolseyville," The Fayetteville News, March 08, 1889
Dr. I. G. Woolsey Obituary, The Fayetteville News, September 19, 1902
Death of Dr. Isaac Gray Woolsey
Lutie Lee McLean, handwritten obituary, August 13, 1905
Mary A. McLean, handwritten obituary, August 16, 1905
Application for a Bank Charter, The Fayetteville News, August 02, 1907
Application to be Incorporated, Farmers Warehouse, The Fayetteville News, Aug. 27, 1909
Petition to be Incorporated, Woolsey Gin Co., The Fayetteville News, April 08, 1910
J. T. Lewis Woolsey Gin and Warehouse Co. The Fayetteville News, November 11, 1910
Woolsey Bank Established 1907, The Fayetteville News, November 11, 1910