John Vachon/Library of Congress. (May 1938)
The clerk behind the counter is Hubert Godwin, who served as Irwinville Postmaster for many years.
Welcome to Irwinville Farms! This new website, brought to you by Vanishing South Georgia, will bring together in one place the Library of Congress archive of Farm Security Administration images of life around the Irwinville Farms resettlement community, one of many such emergency assistance projects created by the federal government during the Great Depression of the 1930s. I hope viewers will help identify the people in these images as well as share family stories and anecdotes passed down through the generations. All images on this site are courtesy of the Library of Congress, unless otherwise noted; family images from this period of Irwinville’s history are welcome and actively solicited.
Irwinville Farms 
The clerk behind the counter was Hubert Godwin. He later became the PostMaster for Irwinville for many years. The Post Office was moved into a wood-frame building at it’s current location.
Mr Godwin also sold sundries and Philco appliances.
Carroll Godwin, his son has told me that the blocks in the current Post Office were made on site by him and his brother Hinton, in forms made by Grady Nichols, another Irwinville Farms farmer.
Another wonderful picture of my Grandfather, Hubert Godwin.
So many years ago and it is a lesson to see these pictures for people who didn’t grow when Georgia was such a rural state. Thank you a trip back.
My father was born on ‘Black Thursday’ 1929 in Fitzgerald, Ga., Benhill County. I was born and raised elsewhere, but learned a great deal about south Ga. from visiting relatives and hearing many stories. I really have enjoyed this fascinating history of Irwin county!
Hi We recently lost Jacob Paulk. He was from Alma, GA. Jacob was an innovator, researcher, entrepreneur farmer. He developed a peanut plow that helped turn over the peanuts. During the early 80s had already invested in muscadine grape plantings. With researchers at UGA , they researched the benefits of grapes, grape seeds and pulps. Much of what we know about the benefits of grapes was discovered then. Many products containing grape seed extracts were also developed after the research. When visiting Jacob’s family in the Saltilla community, he would receive telephone calls pulling him away from the family table. He would be back soon, always the gentlman, apologizing for his absence. Then he would go on to explain about this research or that research he was involved with. He will be dearly missed!!