Herty Memorial Forest (1938)

J.S. Elkins of Waycross, Georgia, secretary of the Georgia Slash Pine Association, proposed on September 27, 1938, during a meeting of the Liberty County Chamber of Com­merce in the Willie High School auditorium, that a Herty Memorial Forest be established in Liberty County. It was to be named for Charles A. Herty, a chemist of Savannah, Georgia, who developed the process of manufacturing paper from Georgia pine trees.

 

By 1938, the Union Bag and Paper Corporation of New York, New York, had established a plant at Savannah, Geor­gia, and was producing wrapping paper and other commodi­ties from wood pulp. Some of the pulpwood it used came from Liberty County.

 

Elkins asked Liberty County citizens to cooperate in ob­taining a tract of land at least ten acres in size which could be developed by the local division of the state forestry service. When it was completed, Elkins said, it should be turned over to G.B. Eunice, Liberty County farm agent, who could authorize its use by 4-H Clubs and others to be trained in pine husbandry.

 

A Liberty County Herty Memorial Committee was ap­pointed to investigate the prospects of obtaining a necessary land grant. C.B. Jones of Riceboro was named chairman of the committee, and its members were Joseph B. Fraser Jr., G.B. Eunice Sr., and DJ. Dawson of Hinesville, and John Henderson of Willie.

 

A resolution was passed extending to Savannah, Georgia, the best wishes and cooperation of Liberty County for a paper festival to be held there in 1939. Joseph B. Fraser Jr. discussed the upcoming Liberty County Fair, and it was decided not to hold a meeting of the Liberty County Cham­ber of Commerce in October 1938.

 

Representatives of the Hinesville-Flemington Womens Club and the City of Hinesville present at the meeting, asked for a donation to purchase playground equipment for a proposed park in Hinesville. It was agreed to donate $25 for the purpose, and Reverend W.H. Allison, J. Dekle Darsey, and F.W. Mingledorff Sr. were appointed to a com­mittee to secure the funds. It was more than 40 years later that the first formal park was built in Hinesville.

 

Bradwell Park, named for Samuel Dowse Bradwell, was built in 1974 by the City of Hinesville, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Liberty County garden clubs. It is located where the Hinesville Methodist Church and Bradwell Institute once stood.