Aus-Kel Springs
In 1908, J. C. Ausley and A. C. Kelly, partners in Slocomb’s Morris Lumber Company, established a hotel here, naming it “Aus-Kel,” bearing the first three letters of their last names. The facility was located near a collection of mineral springs, where blue-colored water boiled up through white sand. The two-story hotel contained 12 rooms and featured a dance hall, skating rink, bowling alley, baseball diamond, and separate swimming pools for men and women. Located far from the county’s main thoroughfare, transportation to the hotel proved difficult. As a remedy, its founders constructed a narrow-gauge railroad line which ran from the facility to the Central of Georgia Railroad station in Slocomb. An open-air steam locomotive made daily trips into town; rides cost fifteen cents, round trip. The hotel closed in 1911, but local residents utilized the facilities for many years thereafter. The building burned after years of neglect. Today, the land is privately owned.
[County Road 28, Slocomb]
Countyline Missionary Baptist Church
The Countyline Missionary Baptist Church and adjoining cemetery were established in November 1882, on land donated by Shade Adams. Originally donated by way of a gentlemen’s agreement with the founding members, the land was deeded to the ‘Countyline Baptist Church of Colored People’ in 1892. The first parishioners, including Adline Adams (wife of Shade), Jane and Alexander Johnson, and Robert and Harriett Wadsworth, had moved to the area from Brundidge, naming their new church after the mother church they left behind.
In the cemetery are the graves of the donor and the founding members, as well as those of scores of community members. The earliest marked grave, that of Novie Miller Copeland, is dated November 13, 1893.
[2015: 598 Countyline Drive, Slocomb]