{"nrhp_refnum":"76000608","name":"McCranie's Turpentine Still","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of Willacoochee on U.S. 82","address_restricted":false,"city":"Willacoochee","county":"Atkinson County","state":"GA","lat":31.364222828000038,"lon":-83.06348894639687,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-06-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Conservation","Invention","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A cluster of log and shed buildings forming a wood-burning turpentine still, built about 1936 on U.S. Highway 82 beside Willacoochee, Atkinson County, Georgia, by George F. McCranie, Jr., with his three sons.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the best preserved wood-burning turpentine still known in Georgia. It represents the older, farmer-run fire distillation process that was replaced by centralized steam distillation after about 1940. The site also preserves experimental turpentine cups and tools showing how gum collection methods evolved.","narrative":"Beside U.S. Highway 82 at Willacoochee, a group of log dwellings and open-sided sheds preserves a complete wood-burning turpentine still. George F. McCranie, Jr., and his three sons built it about 1936, and it processed raw pine gum into turpentine and rosin until 1942. The production sheds held the copper kettle, condenser, coil and cedar still tub, along with areas for barrel assembly and rosin straining. Nearby are log houses, a pond and the remains of a workers' village. The nomination describes it as the best preserved still of its kind known in Georgia, built late in the era of fire distillation, just before steam distillation made such stills obsolete. Most similar stills were dismantled for their copper. The family also kept clay and iron turpentine cups, prototype cups from their own experiments, and trees scarred by the older box method of tapping, all documenting changes in turpentining.","period_of_significance":"1936","architect_builder":"owners","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Not presently in operation; described as in good condition with some deterioration from about thirty years of non-use. The still is capable of being restored to working order, and the family hopes to restore the site.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.186203-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/76000608.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000608/cf2f2c2a5c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000608/cf2f2c2a5c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Michael Rivera","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McCranie%27s_Turpentine_Still_02.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Rivera</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McCranie%27s_Turpentine_Still_02.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206827","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCranie%27s_Turpentine_Still","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16894877"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/atkinson-county/mccranies-turpentine-still-76000608/"}