McCranie's Turpentine Still is a historic site in
Willacoochee,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
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* Related to the ...
.
[''McCranie's Turpentine Still'', by Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., The ]University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
Institute of Community & Area Development and Georgia Department of Natural Resources
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia. The agency has statewide responsibilities for managing and conserving Georgia’s natural, cultural, and historical resources, and has five ...
, 1975. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on June 28, 1976. It is located west of Willacoochee on
U.S. 82
U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile (2,615 km) route extending from ...
.
History
The McCranie family worked in the
turpentine
Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine and (colloquially) turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Mainly used as a special ...
industry prior to 1900 and continued for generations.
This turpentine
still
A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...
was built in 1936, based on designs and methods from earlier eras.
It was operated by three McCranie brothers. It ceased operation in 1942 when the two elder McCranie brothers went to war. The replacement of the
fire distillation process by
steam distillation
Steam distillation is a separation process that consists in distilling water together with other volatile and non-volatile components. The steam from the boiling water carries the vapor of the volatiles to a condenser; both are cooled and ret ...
and the labor shortage caused by World War II contributed to its closure.
The still remains largely intact.
Photos
File:McCranie Turpentine Still, Willacoochee, GA, USA, 2015.jpg, The still in 2015
File:Log cabin with McCranie's Turpentine Still, Atkinson County, GA, US.jpg, Log cabin with the still
File:McCranie Turpentine Still historical marker, Willacoochee, GA, USA.JPG, Historical marker
See also
*
*
Naval stores industry
The naval stores industry collects, processes, and markets forest products refined from the oleoresin of the slash pine and longleaf pine trees (genus ''Pinus''). The industry was associated with the maintenance of the wooden ships and sailing tac ...
References
Further reading
* "Stills, Murals, & Mills", by Lynne Taylor, ''Georgia Backroads'', Spring 2008, pp. 33-35.
External links
*
{{Registered Historic Places
Buildings and structures in Atkinson County, Georgia
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state)
National Register of Historic Places in Atkinson County, Georgia