Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Milledgeville, Georgia


(Georgia's second capitol building), built 1807-1837 (1937 photo)

Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon along U.S. Highway 441 and is bordered on the east by the Oconee River. The rapid current of the river here made this an attractive location to build a city. It was the capital of Georgia from 1804 to 1868, notably during the American Civil War. Milledgeville was preceded as the capital city by Louisville and was succeeded by Atlanta, the current capital.

The population of the town of Milledgeville was 18,382 at the 2010 census.

Milledgeville is along the route of the under-construction Fall Line Freeway, which will link Milledgeville with Augusta, Macon, Columbus, and other Fall Line cities with long histories from colonial Georgia.
Milledgeville is the principal city of the Milledgeville Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Baldwin and Hancock counties and had a combined population of 54,776 at the 2000 census.

The Old State Capitol building is located in the city.

History:

Milledgeville, named after Georgia governor John Milledge (in office 1802–1806), originated at the start of the 19th century as the new centrally located capital of the state of Georgia. It served as the state capital from 1804 to 1868.

In 1803 an act of the Georgia legislature called for the establishment and survey of a town to be named in honor of the current governor, John Milledge. The Treaty of Fort Wilkinson (1802), in which the Creek people, hard pressed by debts to white traders, agreed to cede part of their ancient land, had recently made available territory immediately west of the Oconee River. The restless white population of Georgia continued to press west and south in search of new farmland, and the town of Milledgeville, carved out of the Oconee wilderness, helped accommodate their needs. The area was surveyed, and a town plat of 500 acres (2.0 km2) was divided into 84 4-acre (16,000 m2) squares. The survey also included four public squares of 20 acres (81,000 m2) each. In December 1804 the state legislature declared Milledgeville the new capital of Georgia. The new planned town, modeled after Savannah and Washington, D.C., stood on the edge of the frontier, where the Upper Coastal Plain merges into the Piedmont.

In 1807 fifteen wagons, escorted by troops, left Louisville, the former capital, carrying the treasury and public records of the state. The new statehouse, though unfinished, managed to accommodate the legislators. Over the next thirty years the building was enlarged with a north and south wing. Its pointed arched windows and battlements marked it as America's first public building in the Gothic revival style.

Governor Jared Irwin (re-elected in 1806) soon moved into a handsome two-story frame structure known as Government House, on the corner of Clarke and Greene streets. The new capital started as a rather crude frontier community with simple clapboard houses, a multitude of inns and taverns, law offices, bordellos, and hostelries. The town attracted several blacksmiths, apothecaries, dry-goods merchants, and even booksellers. Travelers to the town generally remained unimpressed, noting the ill-kept and overcrowded inns, the gambling, the dueling, and the bitter political feuds.

Life in the antebellum capital:

After 1815 Milledgeville became increasingly prosperous and more respectable. Wealth and power gravitated toward the capital, and the surrounding countryside became caught up in the middle of a cotton boom. Cotton bales would line the streets, waiting for shipping downriver to Darien. Such skilled architects as John Marlor (1789-1835) and Daniel Pratt (1799-1873) designed elegant houses; colossal porticoes, cantilevered balconies, pediments adorned with sunbursts, and fanlighted doorways all proclaimed the Milledgeville Federal style of architecture. The major congregations built fine new houses of worship on Statehouse Square. The completion in 1817 of the Georgia Penitentiary heralded a new era of penal reform. 

Public-spirited citizens such as Tomlinson Fort (mayor of Milledgeville, 1847–1848) promoted better newspapers, learning academies, and banks. In 1837-1842 the Georgia Lunatic Asylum (later the Central State Hospital) was developed. Oglethorpe University, where the poet Sidney Lanier was educated, opened its doors in 1838. (The college, forced to close in 1862, was rechartered in 1913, with its campus in Atlanta.)

The cotton boom significantly increased the demand for slave labor; planters bought slaves transported from the Upper South, and by 1828 the town claimed 1,599 inhabitants: 789 free whites, 27 free blacks, and 783 African-American slaves. The town market, where slave auctions took place, stood next to the Presbyterian church on Capital Square. Skilled black carpenters, masons, and laborers constructed most of the handsome antebellum structures in Milledgeville.

Two events epitomized Milledgeville's status as the political and social center of Georgia in this period:
  1. The visit to the capital in 1825 by the American Revolutionary War (1775–83) soldier the Marquis de Lafayette. The receptions, barbecue, formal dinner, and grand ball for the veteran apostle of liberty seemed to mark Milledgeville's coming of age.
  2. The construction (1836-38/39) of the Governor's Mansion, one of the most important examples of Greek revival architecture in America

The Civil War and its aftermath:

Burning of the penitentiary at Milledgeville, GA by the Union Army (November 23, 1864)
 
On January 19, 1861, Georgia convention delegates passed the Ordinance of Secession, and on February 4, 1861, the "Republic of Georgia" joined the Confederate States of America. Wild celebrations, bonfires, and illuminations took place on Milledgeville's Statehouse Square. In November 1864, on a bitterly cold day, Union general William T. Sherman and 30,000 Union troops marched into Milledgeville.

When they left a couple of days later, they had ransacked the statehouse; vandalized the State Chapel by pouring honey down the pipes of the organ and by housing cavalry horses in the church; then destroyed the state arsenal and powder magazine; burned the penitentiary, the central depot, and the Oconee bridge; and devastated the surrounding countryside.


In 1868, during Reconstruction, the legislature moved the capital to Atlanta—a city emerging as the symbol of the New South as surely as Milledgeville symbolized the Old South.

Milledgeville struggled to survive as a city after losing the business of the capital. The energetic efforts of local leaders established the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College (later Georgia Military College) in 1879 on Statehouse Square. Where the crumbling remains of the old penitentiary stood, Georgia Normal and Industrial College (later Georgia College & State University) was founded in 1889. In part because of these institutions, as well as Central State Hospital, Milledgeville remained a less provincial town than many of its neighbors.

Notable People:


Twentieth century:

As the old capital moved into the 20th century, it produced a number of people who would attain national prominence. Among these were the distinguished chemist Charles Herty; epidemiologist Joseph Hill White; Woodrow Wilson's treasury secretary, William Gibbs McAdoo; and Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, a noted historian of the South.

The most famous 20th-century residents make up an unusual trio. In 1910 eighteen-year-old Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy fame, moved to Milledgeville, where his mother managed the stately old Baldwin Hotel, and stayed for three years. U.S. Congressman Carl Vinson represented his hometown of Milledgeville and central Georgia for fifty years (1914–65). The writer Flannery O'Connor came as a young girl with her family to Milledgeville from Savannah. O'Connor, a 1945 graduate of Georgia State College for Women, did much of her best writing in Milledgeville at her family's farm, Andalusia. (Today it offers public tours.) Her critically acclaimed short stories and novels have secured her reputation as a major American writer.

In the 1950s the Georgia Power Company completed a dam at Furman Shoals on the Oconee River, about 5 miles (8 km) north of town, creating a huge reservoir called Lake Sinclair. The lake community became an increasingly important part of the town's social and economic identity. In the 1980's and 1990's Milledgeville began to capitalize on its heritage by revitalizing the downtown and historic district. Another attraction, Lockerly Arboretum, offers tours of the facility's botanical gardens as well as educational programs and the Lockerly Heritage Festival each September. By 2000 the population of Milledgeville and Baldwin County combined had grown to 44,700. Community leaders have made concerted efforts to create a more diversified economic base, striving to wean the old capital from its dependence on government institutions such as Central State Hospital and state prisons - a task made more urgent by recent prison closures and job reductions at Central State, caused by tightening state budgets.

Current-day industries and occupations:

Milledgeville has hosted the Central State Hospital, Georgia's first public psychiatric hospital, since 1842 - residents of Milledgeville and central Georgia refer to it as "Central State". Parents seeking to ensure the good behavior of their offspring in the early 20th century would sometimes threaten that bad children "would be sent to Milledgeville".

Government and infrastructure:

Baldwin State Prison (previously Georgia Women's Correctional Institution) of the Georgia Department of Corrections is located in Milledgeville.

Old Governor's Mansion (Baldwin County, Georgia).jpg
Old Governors Mansion

The Governor's Mansion (Milledgeville), also known as Old Governor's Mansion or Executive Mansion, is a mansion in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Georgia has had three official mansions and one unofficial mansion in two different cities. This one is the first Executive Mansion (1838-1868). It is still open for public tours. The state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.

The house is operated by Georgia College & State University as an antebellum historic house museum.

Atkinson Hall, Georgia College 2012-09-24 22-22-32.jpg
Atkinson Hall

Atkinson Hall is a historic building at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia. Atkinson Hall was constructed in 1896. It is next to the Old Georgia Governor's Mansion. It was saved from demolition in 1977-78 by alumni, community support, faculty, and students. The building was home to the college's J. Whitney Bunting College of Business and is named for William Y. Atkinson and his wife, Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson. Susan Atkinson was involved in advancing women's education after communicating with he journalist friend, Julia Flisch. Atkinson persuaded her husband, a state legislator from Coweta (and future governor), to create legistlation establishing Georgia Normal & Industrial College in 1889. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 20, 1972.

External Links:



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Cairo, Georgia

Cairo City Hall
Cairo City Hall

Cairo /ˈkeɪ.roʊ/ is a city in Grady County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 9,607. The city is the county seat of Grady County.

History:

Cairo was founded in 1835. It was incorporated as a town in 1870 and as a city in 1906. In 1905, Cairo was designated seat of the newly formed Grady County.

Syrup City:

Although Cairo is nicknamed the "Syrup City" it has no relationship with the Karo brand of syrup, which is pronounced like the city's name. Rather, Cairo earned its nickname by producing cane syrup from the early 1900's through the late 1990's. Of the several companies that produced cane syrup, Roddenbery's was the best known.

Reflecting this "syrup" heritage, the Cairo High School football team is nicknamed the Syrupmakers, and the school mascot is the agriculturally based sugar cane farmer/syrupmaker similar to the Cornhusker and Boilermaker. According to local tradition, this began during a rainy football game, when the players wore donated ponchos with "Roddenbery Syrup" printed on them. The most widely accepted tradition and the one with the most supportive evidence claims that a newspaper reporter referred to the Cairo Tigers in print as "the syrupmakers from Cairo."

The school's female athletic teams are named "Syrup Maids," often shortened to "Maids," while the male athletes are often dubbed "Makers." In 1986 ESPN chose "Syrupmakers" as the No. 1 nickname for a high school sports team. In 2009, ESPN's Sports Center selected the Syrupmakers as their number one mascot in the high school heritage category.

Recreation and Entertainment:

Cairo is close to great hunting, fishing, and points of historical interest. The local industrial base continues to grow with manufacturing, service, and healthcare companies anchoring a strong economy.

The area is home to several local festivals, including Calvary's Mule Day, Whigham's Rattlesnake Roundup, Cairo's own Antique Car Rally, and several competitive recreational programs. The Antique Car Rally features a wide range of cars, and includes many activities: a poker run, a parade, and even a street dance. It usually takes place on the second weekend of May. Sponsored by Mr. Chick, it is an annual event that attracts many people to the southwest corner of Georgia.

Education:

Grady County Schools serves the city. Elementary schools in Grady include Shiver School, Eastside Elementary, Northside Elementary, Southside Elementary, and Whigham School. All residents are zoned to Washington Middle School and Cairo High School. Students living further out in the county are sent to Shiver School K-8, or either Whigham School

Cairo is now the home of a South West Georgia Tech campus, main campus in Thomasville, Georgia.

Notable People:

  • Teresa Edwards, former professional basketball player and an Olympic Gold Medalist.
  • Willie Harris, a member of the 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox team, current member of the Cincinnati Reds.
  • Ernest Riles, a shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball from 1985 through 1993.
  • Jackie Robinson, a Baseball Hall of Fame member and the first person to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball was born here.
  • Daryle Singletary, country music singer
  • Bill Stanfill, a former All-Pro National Football League defensive end.
  • Mickey Thomas, lead singer of Jefferson Starship
  • Bobby Walden, former punter for Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings
  • David Ponder, former defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys
  • Arthur L. Williams, Jr., founder of Primerica Financial Services
  • John Monds, 2010 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate for the State of Georgia
  • George Thornewell Smith, politician
  • Curley Williams, Country music singer and songwriter. Born near Cairo, Georgia in Grady County.
  • Jake Bundrick, drummer for the pop/rock band Mayday Parade.
  • J.J. Wilcox, 3rd round pick in 2013 NFL draft (80th overall), safety for the Dallas Cowboys

External Links:

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Elmodel, Georgia


McRainey House

Elmodel is an unincorporated community in northern Baker County, Georgia, United States. It lies on State Route 37 to the northeast of the city of Newton, the county seat of Baker County. Its elevation is 161 feet (49 m).

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Marietta, Georgia

Cobb County courthouse in Marietta
Cobb County courthouse in Marietta

Marietta is located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is the county's seat and largest city.

As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of the Atlanta metropolitan area's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest of the principal cities (by population) of the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area.

History:

Etymology:

The origin of the name is uncertain. It is believed that the city was named for Mary Cobb, the wife of U.S. Senator and Superior Court judge Thomas Willis Cobb. Judge Cobb is the namesake of the county.

Early Settlers:

Homes were built by early settlers near the Cherokee town of Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) prior to 1824.

The first plat was laid out in 1833. Like most towns, Marietta had a square in the center with a courthouse. The Georgia General Assembly legally recognized the community on December 19, 1834.


Built in 1838, Oakton House is the oldest continuously occupied residence in Marietta. The original barn, milk house, smokehouse, and wellhouse remain on the property. The spectacular gardens contain the boxwood parterre from the 1870's. Oakton served as Major General Loring's headquarters during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864.

Marietta was initially selected as the hub for the new Western and Atlantic Railroad, and business boomed. By 1838, roadbed and trestles had been built north of the city. However, in 1840, political wrangling stopped construction for a time. In 1842, the railroad's new management decided to move the hub from Marietta to an area that would become Atlanta. Nonetheless, in 1850, when the railroad began operation, Marietta shared in the resulting prosperity.

Businessman and politician John Glover arrived in 1848. A popular figure, Glover was elected mayor when the city incorporated in 1852. Another early resident was Dr. Carey Cox, who promoted a "water cure", which developed into a spa that attracted patients to the area. The Cobb County Medical Society recognizes him as the county's first physician.

The Georgia Military Institute was built in 1851, and the first bank opened in 1855. During the 1850's, fire destroyed much of the city on three separate occasions.

Civil War:

By the time the Civil War began in 1861, Marietta had recovered from the fires.

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Historic Kennesaw House


In April 1862, James Andrews, a civilian working with the Union Army, came to Marietta, along with a small party of Union soldiers dressed in civilian clothing. The group spent the night in the Fletcher House hotel (later known as the Kennesaw House and now the home of the Marietta Museum of History) located immediately in front of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Andrews and his men, who later became known as the Andrews Raiders, planned to seize a train and proceed north toward the city of Chattanooga, destroying the railroad on their way. They hoped, in so doing, to isolate Chattanooga from Atlanta and bring about the downfall of the Confederate stronghold. The Raiders boarded a waiting train on the morning of April 12, 1862, along with other passengers. Shortly thereafter, the train made a scheduled stop in the town of Big Shanty, now known as Kennesaw. When the other passengers got off the train for breakfast, Andrews and the Raiders stole the engine and the car behind it, which carried the fuel. The engine, called The General, and Andrews' Raiders had begun the episode now known as the Great Locomotive Chase.

Andrews and the Raiders failed in their mission. Andrews and all of his men were caught within two weeks, including two men who had arrived late and missed the hijacking. All were tried as spies, convicted, and hanged.

General William Tecumseh Sherman invaded the town during the Atlanta Campaign in the summer of 1864. In November 1864, General Hugh Kilpatrick set the town ablaze, the first strike in Sherman's March to the Sea. Sherman's troops crossed the Chattahoochee River at a shallow section known as the Palisades, after burning the Marietta Paper Mills near the mouth of Sope Creek.

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Ruins of the paper mill at Sope Creek

One of the few houses left standing, the Marietta Hotel, was later burned by the town residents who found out the owner of the building had been a Yankee spy during the Civil War.

The Marietta Confederate Cemetery, with the graves of over 3,000 Confederate soldiers killed during the Battle of Atlanta, is located in the city.

In 1892, the city established a public school system. It included a high school for white students and a separate high school for blacks.

20th Century:

Mary Phagan
 
Leo Frank was lynched at 1200 Roswell Road just east of Marietta on August 17, 1915. Frank, a Jewish-American engineer and superintendent of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, had been convicted on August 25, 1913, for the murder of one of his factory workers, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. The murder and trial, sensationalized in the local press, portrayed Frank as depraved, and captured the public's attention. Raised in New York, Frank was also vilified as a representative of northern capitalism. An eleventh-hour commutation of Frank's death sentence to life imprisonment created great local outrage. A mob, systematically organized for the purpose, abducted Frank from prison, drove him to Marietta, and lynched him. The ring leaders of the abduction included past, current, and future, elected local, county and state officials. There were two state legislators, the mayor, a former governor, a clergyman, two former Superior Court justices, and an ex-sheriff. The Frank case drew attention to antisemitism in the United States and led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. Phagan was buried at the Marietta City Cemetery, while Frank was buried in Queens, New York.

In 1942, Eddie Rickenbacker visited the area in order to decide where to place a Bell Bomber Plant. Marietta was chosen. The plant eventually became Lockheed Martin.

In the late 1960's, an amendment was passed to the Georgia State Constitution, giving home rule to the 159 counties in Georgia. Led by Ernest Barrett, the first county commission voted to demolish the historic county courthouse, which was located on the northeast corner of Roswell Street (former GA 120) and East Park Square (former GA 5) since 1888. This loss is now regarded as one of the county's biggest mistakes, and state law now requires a county-wide referendum before destroying historic county courthouses. Other historic buildings, such as the Works Progress Administration building, were also torn down at the time. The Glover Locomotive Works, which had been abandoned, was also torn down in the late 1990's despite its historic significance (although it was just outside city limits). As of 2010, another courthouse is under construction for the superior courts, adapting some minor design elements of the demolished courthouse.
Incorporated in 1993, Theatre in the Square was a year-round professional theater, that produced a five-show subscription season as well as summer and holiday shows. It ceased operations in 2012.
The city constructed and operated Marietta FiberNet, a fiber optic network for about $35 million in the late 1990's. In 2004, it sold the network to American Fiber Systems for $11 million.

Industry:

F-22 Raptor at Lockheed Martin in Marietta
 
Dobbins Air Reserve Base on the south side of town and a Lockheed Martin manufacturing plant are among the major industries in the city. The Lockheed Georgia Employees Credit Union, is based in Marietta.
The dental provider company Kool Smiles has its headquarters in the Kool Smiles Patient Support Center in Marietta. An Online Trading Academy center is also located in Marietta.

Culture:

Historic Downtown Square
 
The city has six historic districts, some on the National Register of Historic Places. A seventh, along Kennesaw Avenue, is proving more controversial, and is still being considered as of March 2010. The city's welcome center is located in the historic train depot.

Downtown is the town square and former location of the county courthouse. The square is the site of several cultural productions and public events, including a weekly farmers' market.

The Marietta Players perform semi-professional theater year round. The Strand Theatre has been renovated back to its original design and features classic films and other events.

The Marietta Museum of History exhibits the history of the city and county. The museum is home to thousands of artifacts including items from Marietta residents and businesses. The Marietta Gone with the Wind Museum, also called "Scarlett on the Square", houses a collection of memorabilia related to Gone with the Wind, both the book and the film.

Thebigchicken.jpg

The Big Chicken is a landmark on U.S. 41.

Miramax Films and Disney filmed scenes of the 1995 movie Gordy here.

The CSX freight trains between Atlanta and Chattanooga (Western & Atlantic Subdivision) still run a block west of the town square, past the train depot (now the Visitor Center) and the Kennesaw House, one of only four buildings in Marietta not burned to the ground in Sherman's March to the Sea. The Kennesaw House is home to the Marietta Museum of History which tells the history of Marietta and Cobb County.

History:

The restaurant was built in 1956 at 12 Cobb Parkway, on the newly constructed stretch of Highway 41, the first divided highway in Cobb County. Taking advantage of the prime location on the new and quicker route for travelers on U.S. 41, Johnny Reb's Chick, Chuck and Shake owner S. R. "Tubby" Davis erected the 56-foot (17-meter) tall structure over his restaurant in 1963 as a method of advertising. The novelty architecture was designed by Hubert Puckett, a Georgia Tech student of architecture, and fabricated by Atlantic Steel in nearby Atlanta (of which Marietta is a suburb). Davis later sold it to his brother, and it became a franchise of KFC.

In January 1993, storm winds damaged the structure, and rather than tear it down KFC was forced by public outcry to re-erect the building. Among those who complained about the Big Chicken being torn down were pilots, who actually used the building as a reference point when approaching Atlanta and Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The new Big Chicken even includes the original design of beak and eyes which move, although this time the vibrations which plagued the first structure (even to the point of breaking windows) have been eliminated. Pieces of the original structure were sold to collectors as souvenirs. In early April 2006, the structure narrowly escaped a small eastward-moving nighttime tornado, which overturned a tractor-trailer at a retail center across the street, and damaged another building nearby.

The Big Chicken is commonly used as a landmark for driving directions. Locals will often include "make a [turn] at the Big Chicken", or "it's about x miles past the Big Chicken". This is referenced in music video game Rock Band 3's "Road Challenge Mode", when the player is told "Don't be alarmed if you're asking for directions in the bus and the locals tell you to "turn left at the Big Chicken".

It has also led to a small cottage industry of sorts, selling souvenirs emblazoned with the monument, including one sweatshirt showing Big Ben in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, and of course, the Big Chicken in Marietta. A board game featuring the Big Chicken and other local landmarks was also produced. There was also a comedy group Big Chicken Chorus in the 1990's, which produced albums called Poultry In Motion and We Need a Little Christmas. The Big Chicken was also featured on a promotional card in Sim City: The Card Game. The Big Chicken has also appeared in the comic strip Zippy the Pinhead as a part of artist Bill Griffith's fascination with roadside icons, such as West Hollywood's "Tail o' the Pup", and the ubiquitous "Muffler Man" who was used to hold full-sized car mufflers, giant hot dogs, tires, or other items promoting various roadside businesses.

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Newnan Georgia

Photo: "While I was in the yard of the court-house, attending to the patients, I saw a man ride in haste to town and a crowd collect around him. We were informed he was a courier, and had brought news that the enemy were within six miles of the place. He was not through talking when the locomotive gave a most un-earthly whistle, and immediately we heard the firing of musketry." -- Kate Cumming, nurse in Newnan during the Battle of Brown's Mill, 150 years ago.
Newnan Court House Square During The War

Newnan is a city in Metro Atlanta, and the county seat of, Coweta County, Georgia, about 30 miles southwest of Atlanta. The population was 16,242 at the 2000 Census. Newnan is one of the fastest growing cities in Georgia, with an estimated population of 27,097 in 2006 and 33,293 in July 2008. According to the 2010 census, 33,039 people live in Newnan, and it grew 103.4% since 2000.

History:


Coweta County Courthouse
Newnan was established as county seat of Coweta County (replacing the defunct town of Bullsboro) in 1828 and was named for North Carolinian General Daniel Newnan. Newnan quickly became a prosperous magnet for lawyers, doctors, other professionals and merchants. Much of Newnan's prosperity was due to the thriving cotton industry, which relied on slavery. Newnan was largely untouched by the American Civil War due to its status as a hospital city (for Confederate troops), and as a result still features much antebellum architecture. Celebrated architect Kennon Perry designed many of the town's 20th Century homes. During the Atlanta Campaign, Confederate cavalry badly defeated Union forces at the nearby Battle of Brown's Mill.

One of the first spectacle lynchings took place near Newnan on April 23, 1899. Sam Hose was tortured and put to death for allegedly murdering his employer, Alfred Cranford. The Springfield Weekly Republican described the scene:
Before the torch was applied to the pyre, the negro was deprived of his ears, fingers, and genital parts of his body. He pleaded pitifully for his life while the mutliation was going on, but stood the ordeal of fire with surprising fortitude. Before the body was cool, it was cut to pieces, the bones were crushed into small bits, and even the tree upon which the wretch met his fate was torn up and disposed of as 'souvenirs.' The negro's heart was cut into several pieces, as was also his liver. Those unable to obtain the ghastly relics direct paid their more fortunate possessors extravagant sums for them. Small pieces of bones went for 25 cents, and a bit of the liver crisply cooked sold for 10 cents. As soon as the negro was seen to be dead there was a tremendous struggle among the crowd, which had witnessed his tragic end, to secure the souvenirs. A rush was made for the stake, and those near the body were forced against it and had to fight for their freedom. Knives were quickly produced and soon the body was dismembered.
Newnan was also host to the trial in 1948 of wealthy landowner John Wallace, the first white man in the south to be condemned to death by the testimony of African Americans, two field hands who were made to help with burning the body of murdered white sharecropper Wilson Turner. These events were portrayed in the novel Murder in Coweta County. The film version starred Johnny Cash, Andy Griffith, and June Carter.
The Newnan/Sharspburg area is home to three high schools, Newnan High School (founded in 1887), East Coweta High School (founded in 1946), and Northgate High School (founded in 1996). Newnan is also home to The Heritage School, a small private school. Newnan is served by the Coweta County School System.


McRitchie-Hollis Museum

The city is home to one of the few Georgia counties with a museum that focuses mainly on African American history. The Coweta County African American Heritage Museum and Research Center, or Caswell House, was opened in July 2003 in a donated mill village house once owned by Ruby Caswell. The museum sits on Farmer St. on an old, unmarked, slave cemetery. It has collected hundreds of family genealogical records by interviewing residents and going through the census records. The museum also houses the Coweta Census Indexes from 1870 to 1920. The first black library in the county was the Sara Fisher Brown Library. Built in the 1950's, the library has since been converted into the Community Action For Improvement Center. The "Farmer Street Cemetery" is the largest slave cemetery in the south, and may be the largest undisturbed in the Nation. It is in the city limits of Newnan and was recently cleaned up again in August and September 2011.

Shopping:

Newnan is a shopping hub and has experienced rapid commercial development. One of the new developments is Ashley Park, an open-air shopping mall near I-85, anchored by Dillard's, and Belk department stores along with a large movie theater and dozens of other well-known retailers and restaurants.

Education:

Coweta County School District:

The Coweta County School District holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, that consists of nineteen elementary schools, six middle schools, and three high schools. The district has 1,164 full-time teachers and over 18,389 students.
  • Arbor Springs Elementary
  • Arnco-Sargent Elementary
  • Atkinson Elementary
  • Brooks Elementary
  • Canongate Elementary
  • Eastside Elementary
  • Elm Street Elementary
  • Grantville Elementary
  • Jefferson Parkway Elementary
  • Moreland Elementary
  • Newnan Crossing Elementary
  • Northside Elementary
  • Poplar Road Elementary
  • Ruth Hill Elementary
  • Thomas Crossroads Elementary
  • Western Elementary
  • Welch Elementary
  • White Oak Elementary
  • Willis Road Elementary

Middle Schools:

  • Arnall Middle School
  • East Coweta Middle School
  • Evans Middle School
  • Lee Middle School
  • Madras Middle School
  • Smokey Road Middle School
  • The Heritage School

High Schools:

  • Newnan High School
  • East Coweta High School
  • Northgate High School (Newnan)
  • Central Educational Center (Chartered Coweta County School System School)
  • The Pentecostal Church of God Christian Academy
  • The Heritage School

Higher Education:

Mercer University has a Regional Academic Center in Newnan. The center, opened in 2010, offers programs through the university's College of Continuing and Professional Studies. The University of West Georgia has a campus located in Newnan, near I-85. This campus is currently holding two undergraduate programs- Bachelors of Science in Nursing and Early Childhood Education. Newnan is also home to a campus of West Georgia Technical College.
The University of West Georgia also has a campus in Newnan off of Georgia SR 34.

Notable People:

Television and movie:

  • The ABC television series October Road was filmed in Newnan, though it is actually set in the fictional town of Knights Ridge, Massachusetts.
  • In the 1978 feature film The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid (original Italian title: Uno Sceriffo extraterrestre - poco extra e molto terrestre) featuring Bud Spencer his character is depicted as being the Sheriff of Newnan and the plot to take place in said city.
  • The TV movie Murder in Coweta County (1983), based on the eponymous book by Margaret Anne Barnes, chronicles actual events that occurred around 1948. Lead actors in the movie are Johnny Cash, Andy Griffith, and Earl Hindman.
  • The NBC series I'll Fly Away was filmed in Newnan from 1991–1993.
  • The 1995 movie Fluke was filmed in Newnan.
  • Significant portions of Fried Green Tomatoes were filmed in Newnan and Senoia.
  • The movie Zombieland released October 2009. The court square in Newnan, GA was transformed into a battlezone on Sunday, March 29, 2008. The Newnan set (Downtown 'Old' Newnan) has been depicted as a Texas town that was a U.S. Army outpost which fought off zombies before being overrun.
  • Many scenes from the Lifetime Channel series Drop Dead Diva are filmed in Newnan.
  • Pet Sematary Two (1992).
  • The popular AMC series, The Walking Dead, filmed scenes for its second season in the city.
  • The Fat Boy Chronicles, a movie about overcoming obesity, was filmed in Newnan High School in summer of 2010. Students were invited to take part as extras in the movie.

Airports, major roads and highways:

Major Roads:

  • Interstate 85
  • Outer Perimeter
  • State Route 34
  • State Route 34 Bypass
  • State Route 16
  • State Route 70
  • Lower Fayetteville Road
  • Newnan Crossing Boulevard East
  • U.S. Route 29
  • U.S. Route 27

Airports:

  • Newnan-Coweta County Airport which provides chartered air service and flight training.
External Links:

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Dallas Georgia


Historical Paulding County Courthouse

Dallas is a city in and the county seat of Paulding County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,544. It was named for George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States of America under James K. Polk.

History:

Dallas was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on February 8, 1854, on 40 acres (160,000 m2) purchased from Garrett H. Spinks on May 14, 1852, for $1000. The first Commissioners were James H. Ballinger, James S. Hackett, Hezekiah Harrison, John S. Poole, and Garrett H. Spinks.
In the late 1850s the town no longer elected officers and a new charter was issued in 1883.

For many years The REAL WKRP was in Dallas,Georgia just to the west of the center of downtown.

Notable People:

 
 Civil War Trailhead Park on Main Street

 External Links:

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Monday, July 28, 2014

Texaco Full Service Gas Stations



It really hasn't been that long ago when we had full service gas stations. As you pulled up to the fuel tanks the bell would ring(from bell hose running across drive in front of pumps) to let the attendant know that he had a customer.

The attendant would come out and ask you how much gas did you need and then he would open your gas tank and get the amount of gas that you needed. He would also check your oil, and water in the radiator as well as the air in your tires and clean your windshield. Everything was full service and done with a smile.

You and your family could use extra clean restrooms and get a map for the road ahead. The cold drinks were ice cold in the drink boxes and if you were lucky some even had some ice in them.

If you needed and oil change or service work there was a mechanic on duty to serve your needs.

Maybe you needed a set of tires or maybe just a flat tire fixed they could do that as well.

I remember when we would pull in with our VW Bus and tell the attendant that we wanted 8 cents of gas and would he check the water in the radiator. Some that didn't know that the VW was an air-cooled engine instead of a water-cooled engine couldn't find the radiator and we would just laugh and say we must have lost it, as they finished checking our oil, water, tires and washing our windshield.

The attendant said I'll give you a push so you can coast to the red light and not burn up all 8 cents of your gas.

Oh, I forgot to say that gas then was 25 to 27 cents a gallon and the car would hold a whole $5.00 of gas.
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The Teapot Cake


We love this Teapot Cake and it’s much easier than it looks to make.  We’ve found a fabulous Tutorial for you to follow and you don’t need to be a Pro to have a go.  Check it out now.

Click Here to view the tutorial.

Source:  thecakegirls.com
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Hydrangea Cupcakes




Click Here for tutorial.

Source: glorioustreats.com
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A Mix Of Interesting Information

Did You Know?

1. Your shoes are the first thing people subconsciously notice about you. Wear nice shoes.

2. If you sit for more than 11 hours a day, there's a 50% chance you'll die within the next 3 years

3. There are at least 6 people in the world who look exactly like you. There's a 9% chance that you'll meet one of them in your lifetime.

4. Sleeping without a pillow reduces back pain and keeps your spine stronger.

5. A person’s height is determined by their father, and their weight is determined by their mother.

6. If a part of your body "falls asleep", you can almost always "wake it up" by shaking your head.

7. There are three things the human brain cannot resist noticing -food, attractive people and danger.

8. Right-handed people tend to chew food on their right side

9. Putting dry tea bags in gym bags or smelly shoes will absorb the unpleasant odor

10. According to Albert Einstein, if honey bees were to disappear from earth, humans would be dead within 4 years.

11. There are so many kinds of apples, that if you ate a new one everyday, it would take over 20 years to try them all.

12. You can survive without eating for weeks, but you will only live 11 days without sleeping.

13. People who laugh a lot are healthier than those who don’t.

14. Laziness and inactivity kills just as many people as smoking.

15. A human brain has a capacity to store 5 times as much information as Wikipedia.

16. Our brain uses the same amount of power as a 10-watt light bulb!

17. Our body gives enough heat in 30 mins to boil 1.5 liters of water!

18. The Ovum egg is the largest cell and the sperm is the smallest cell !     

19. Stomach acid (conc. HCl) is strong enough to dissolve razor blades!

20. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day & while you walk, SMILE. It is the ultimate antidepressant.

21. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

22. When you wake up in the morning, pray to ask God's guidance for your purpose, today.

23. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

24. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, broccoli, and almonds.

25. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

26. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control.  Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

27. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

28. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

29. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Forgive them for everything!

30. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

31. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

32. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

33. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

34. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

35. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

36. Help the needy, Be generous! Be a 'Giver' not a 'Taker'.

37. What other people think of you is none of your business.

38. Time heals everything.

39. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

40. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. Each night before you go to bed, pray to God and be thankful for what you've accomplished, today!

43. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

 
                
                 
  


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