An evening dedicated to Jeff Davis County’s past was also about investing in what comes next. Community members gathered Thursday, August 20, at The Big House for the inaugural 1905 Society Benefit Dinner, an event celebrating the history and people who have shaped Jeff Davis County while supporting a resource intended to serve the community for generations to come.
Proceeds from the evening benefited the Jeff Davis County Community Foundation, which was established to help provide resources to address community needs, respond when neighbors need assistance and invest in opportunities for Jeff Davis County’s future. But before looking ahead, those attending spent part of the evening looking back — much further back than 1905.
Local attorney Ken Smith took guests through some of the early history of the area, describing a time when what is now Hazlehurst and Jeff Davis County was a remote part of Georgia, long before the community residents recognize today began to take shape. The turning point, Smith explained, was the arrival of the railroad.
Before Hazlehurst became an incorporated city, an early settlement in the area was known as Handtown. But the development that would eventually lead to modern Hazlehurst was closely connected to railroad engineer George H. Hazlehurst, the man for whom the city would ultimately be named. Smith traced Hazlehurst’s story back to 1824, the year George Hazlehurst was born, explaining how a man born decades before the community existed would eventually play an important role in its development.
Hazlehurst became an engineer during an era when railroads were rapidly expanding across the country. After working on other major railroad projects, he became associated with efforts to construct the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, which would ultimately transform this part of Southeast Georgia. Construction began before the Civil War but was interrupted when war broke out in 1861.
Smith also shared a lesser-known chapter of George Hazlehurst’s life. During the Civil War, Hazlehurst served the Confederacy as an engineer and was involved in the design of fortifications at Vicksburg, a strategically important city along the Mississippi River.
Following the war, railroad development resumed — and the railroad would eventually help turn what had once been a remote area into a growing community. It was a reminder that the Hazlehurst and Jeff Davis County residents know today did not appear overnight. Its story was shaped by transportation, geography, individuals and generations of people who built upon what came before them.
Why the ‘1905 Society’?
The name of the evening itself reflects that history. Jeff Davis County was created in 1905, making the 1905 Society a fitting way to connect the county’s beginnings with an effort designed to help shape its future. Now, 121 years later, organizers hope the inaugural dinner becomes the beginning of something lasting.
The event was about more than remembering names and dates. It provided an opportunity to consider how one generation’s decisions and investments can influence those that follow. That same idea is at the heart of the Jeff Davis County Community Foundation. The foundation is intended to create a long-term community resource capable of supporting needs and opportunities as they arise — allowing people today to invest in a stronger Jeff Davis County tomorrow.
Celebrating Where We’ve Been — and Where We’re Going
There was something particularly fitting about combining those two ideas in one evening. Smith’s presentation demonstrated how decisions made more than a century ago — including where a railroad would run — helped determine the future of a community that did not yet fully exist.
The Community Foundation asks today’s generation to consider a similar question: What can we build now that will benefit Jeff Davis County years from now? The inaugural 1905 Society Benefit Dinner celebrated the people, stories and history that brought Jeff Davis County to this point, while encouraging residents to become part of what comes next.
For organizers, Thursday night’s gathering represented only the beginning. One hundred twenty-one years after Jeff Davis County was created, the 1905 Society is honoring the people who built its past while inviting today’s community to help build its future.
