Fleming House in Kingsland
A Southeast Georgian news article lists the house as being the oldest house
remaining in Kingsland. It's more like the second oldest house. My
[Tara Fields] mother-in-law's house is a good bit older. However, her house started out as
the original Zion/Methodist Church. My mother-in-law's house was built in 1896
and it's
only a couple of blocks from the Fleming house.
Located on the corners of Hwy. 40 and Hwy. 17, the land this house is
located on was purchased by Frank Pacetti from W.H. King, the founder of
Kingsland, in 1906. However, in just a few months Pacetti sold the house for
several times its original purchase price. This suggests that the house was
built by Pacetti.
In 1919, A.H. Prince purchased the house. However, the house changed
hands several times. J.F. Hughes and S.E. Brandon both owned the house. By
1935 the Julia Peeples Fleming family had the property. They would continue
to hold the house until about the year 2000. Mildred Fleming was the last one to live in the house,
she died about 10
years ago [1987?] and it's been vacant since her death.
My records show that Julia Peeples Fleming died in 1978 - but as I
believe her grave is unmarked I don't have proof of that. She was buried in
St. Marys' Oak Grove Cemetery. I'm not sure who she was married to - I
haven't researched the family very far. The Flemings married into many of the
old local families: Peeples, Drurys, etc. There are also some
Flemings in
Charlton County but I don't know what their relationship might be.
[Per Amy Hedrick's research, Julia Elizabeth
Peeples was born 20 October 1886 and died 25 December 1978 the d/o
James Wesley Peeples & Elizabeth Joanna Mills and she married
Albert Ellenwood Fleming on 26 November 1902.]
I believe I remember my mother-in-law mentioning that
there used to be a
fish pond in the back. Her childhood friend lived in
the white house next door. She used to look over the fence and wish she
could explore the property! In fact, when the house went on the market
(before they fixed it up somewhat) she looked into buying it but they were
asking too much for it.
My mother-in-law and I took a tour of the inside of the house. It was
full of clothes, furniture, dishes - all in disarray. I was dismayed to find
70 year old books, family photo albums, clothes with their tags still on
them - all out where the weather and cats could mess them up. It was
deplorable the condition the house had been allowed to fall into. There were
boxes of family papers - history - mildewing to ruin. We couldn't walk into
one of the upstairs rooms because the floor was collapsing. It was strange
being in a house that had been neglected for so many years, and still there
were school photos of children on the mantles that must have been placed
there shortly before the last sister died. It was a very strange feeling to
go through the house. It was almost like someone was still living there and
I was invading the house while they were away!
In 2000, new owners started doing some cosmetic work to the house. The
yard has been cleaned up, the fence repaired, the house painted. They have
put the house back on the market. I'll try to get an updated picture of the
house as the one above is rather old.
The house has a kitchen on the back, dining room, living room,
about 3 bedrooms, and at least one bathroom. I don't know if the current
owners did any repair work to the interior of the house but I know they had the
inside cleaned up. If they haven't done any electrical or plumbing work, I'm
sure that would need to be replaced.
Source: The Southeast Georgian - Wednesday, 1 June 1994 Page 6A
"City's Oldest Homes Reflect Proud Heritage" by Andy
Drury. |