The annual Remerton Reunion is scheduled for this weekend.

The reunion is for anyone who lived or worked in Remerton, or their parents or grandparents who worked there, or attended school or church there, from the town’s past mill days, says Nina King, a reunion organizer who grew up in Remerton.

“Our reunions started many years ago when Mr. O.K. (Kinsey) Griffin decided that the ones who worked in the mill should gather,” King notes. “At first, it was only a few who met at the Gold Plate Restaurant.”

Through the years, the reunion moved to several locations, including the Remerton Methodist Church, until it burned several years ago.

Since, there has been nowhere to hold the reunion in Remerton. The event has been held in Clyattville, and in Valdosta’s Knights of Columbus on St. Augustine Road for the past several years.

The reunion draws people from many states.

“Many of us married young men from Moody Air Force Base and many moved away to other states,” King notes. “My grandmother used to call these young men ‘foreigners’ because they were not from Georgia. However, many of these return each year for the reunion, coming from Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, Michigan, Missouri and Pennsylvania.”

They share photographs and memories.

“We display pictures of times gone by — one of which is the old Baytree Road before it was paved,” King notes. “This dirt road was where the young folks in the really early years went for a walk on Sunday afternoons and would come back for supper and go to church. We have pictures of the old mill, grocery store, post office, school pictures, and Little Griffin hospital where many of us were born.”

For many, the memories are rich in family love, though many of the families were economically poor.

“In the early years, the people had it rough and had to work very, very hard in the mill,” King notes.

“They did not have electric lights or indoor plumbing but through the years things improved. The parents wanted better for their children and it did not take long for the younger ones to decide that they did not want to work in the mill so they decided to get more education and better jobs.”

A walk down Remerton’s street is like a walk down memory lane for former Remerton residents.

“They like to return and see the houses where so-and-so lived, or recall who is related to whom,” King notes. “They recall who lived where Zaxby’s is now and who lived where Allstate is located or that the big corner house was torn down and replaced with a bank. They recall the families who lived where the restaurants and businesses are now.”

And each year, the reunion holds a memorial service for those who have passed since the last reunion.