Caboose X 349 - Pembroke, GA
N 32° 08.128 W 081° 37.338
17S E 441306 N 3555620
This caboose sits in a city park in Pembroke, GA. It is labeled Southern X 349 on one side and has the town symbol on the other. There is a story that the town started when a railroad employee started living in a switched off boxcar.
Waymark Code: WM3EK9
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 03/24/2008
Views: 11
From the Pembroke web site:
"Pembroke came by its name from a prominent citizen of the late 19th century, Judge Pembroke Williams. As was true for so many small towns of the rural South, Pembroke's inception was dependent upon the railroad. It was one of the lucky sites, inasmuch as the "train stopped there." Its sister town, Ellabell, was not so lucky when the train passed her by. According to historians, Pembroke came into existance when the Savannah and Western Railroad extended its line from Meldrim, Georgia, to a point 32 miles west of Savannah. Indeed, a most interesting fact is that the first resident of Pembroke worked for the railroad. When a boxcar was switched off, he began living in it, and that is how the story began. This gentleman's name was M. E. Carter, and he became Pembroke's first section-master.
The railroad's importance stemmed from the fact that Pembroke, as well as other small rural towns during the late 19th century, was a large producer of naval stores as well as lumber. By the late 1890's permanent buildings of a substantial nature were being constructed, and by the early 20th century, Pembroke became the commercial and business center of Bryan County. The little town was incorporated August 23, 1905, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly.