Jabbertown Road

Jabbertown Road is the main street of an African American community that developed after the Civil War. It was located about a mile from the main gate of Smithville, as Southport was known at the time. The residents came up with the name for their community. The men all worked in two industries - fishing and at the sawmill. They would all get off work at sundown and walk home together. The women would gather at the first house on the road and visit while waiting for the men. Once they arrived, they would divide up the fish that the fishermen had brought home. The men said that as they walked, they could hear the women and children jabbering long before they could see them. So they started calling the community Jabbertown. Eugene Gore credits his grandfather, John W. Joyner, as being the first one to coin the nickname. He said whenever his grandfather would come to visit he would complain about the women visiting along the sides of the road and just jabbering away. Either way, the name stuck, and its been called Jabbertown ever since.