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12/22/2011

This is the boyhood home of President Woodrow Wilson and is located in Augusta, Georgia.

You can visit their website here

Other bloggers post wordless images on Wednesday , too. Visit the main page HERE to find them.

12/22/2011

I was headed to the post office the other day down a very curvy and hilly road, and suddenly I noticed it……..a dam. Didn’t even know it existed. I had to stop and snap some pictures.

Now….in my defense I haven’t exactly been living in Canton over the last few months until just recently, but I was a little shocked to this

These are images of Hickory Log Creek dam in Canton, Georgia. It is one of the largest dams in the state at 950 feet wide and 180 feet high. The reservoir it creates covers 4 acres and holds six billion gallons of water…..The purpose of the dam is to provide an additional source of drinking water for citizens.

Hickory Log Creek is a tributary of Etowah River

Follow this link for additional pictures at the Atlanta Journal site.

12/22/2011

In order to be a great any night of the week type restaurant there are certain things I look for…..

*a really great area for waiting on those busy nights that includes a bar big enough to eat at if you so desire…..the bar at Rays on the River comes to mind or Stoney River Steaks at Cumberland.

*something magically appears on the table for me to munch on the minute I’m seated…….Ted’s Montana Grill has marinated cucumber slices……Mexican restaurants provide chips and salsa……even Carrabbas has the sinful bread and olive oil with spices for dipping.

*the salad course includes honest to goodness homemade croutons…..NO commercial chunks of goodness from a cardboard box, please, or I will promptly tell my waitperson their croutons suck. Most of the higher-end places understand this…..sadly, after George McKerrow, Jr. sold his Longhorn’s chain they changed their croutons, and the salads have just been ho-hum ever since.

*this one is a given but of course the place has to deliver on the food. It has to be prepared to perfection or close to it.

and the most important must-have……..

*ambiance, ambiance, ambiance……some sort of gimmick like great décor, a location along an old main street or inside an old storefront. Perhaps there is fantastic patio to sit at outdoors or the grounds surrounding the restaurant are attractive. Papadeaux in Marietta has a wonderful brick entry way and the views from the windows at the far end of the dining room are attractive. The Chart House along River Street in Savannah has the tugs and the cargo freighters moving up the river and even the dining room at the Resort at Brasstown Bald can only be described as rustic elegance with open beams and stacked stone fireplaces. The windows and wide porches provide a view of the setting sun over lovely grounds that just calm the soul.

Now a great restaurant in my book doesn’t have to achieve all of my benchmarks, but I sure do hope for one or two. This past Saturday night I visited a spot north of Atlanta that met ALL of my benchmarks.

Henry’s Louisiana Grill in Acworth, Georgia.

Recently Chef Henry won the People’s Platelist Contest by ABC’s Nightline, and now I understand why.

There is only one thing I can say…..Ooh La La!

Henry’s has a wonderful bar where my husband and I waited for a table. Even though the place was packed the wait didn’t take long and we soon had our table, however, I would have been just as happy to enjoy my meal sitting at the bar. While we waited Chef Henry Chandler, the owner and head chef, made his round talking to people. He’s known to refer to first-timers to his establishment as virgins.

No sooner had we reached our table a basket of sourdough bread and the best cornbread I’ve ever tasted magically appeared on our table.

From that point on our various courses were perfectly timed. We didn’t feel hurried, but we were never left without food for very long, and of course, Chef Henry made a second appearance at our table to bestow beads around my neck….a gift of welcome he provides all female customers with.

I instantly eyed the hushpuppies that were included in the appetizer section of the menu and was intrigued enough to order them. I’m glad I did, however, I have had delicious dreams of those wonderful bits of love flowing through my mind ever since. They were the most unbelievable bits of moistness I’ve ever tasted served up with remoulade sauce on the side.

Our ceasar salads were just enough for a salad course and yes…..the croutons were tasty.

Mr. Elementaryhistoryteacher ordered the Louisiana Ohh La La……..one of Chef Henry’s signature dishes that includes oysters, shrimp and crawfish flash fried and tossed with tasso, spinach, roasted garlic and Henry’s Cajun Cream Sauce. You can order the dish with just the shrimp, etc. but my husband opted for the whole thing. The dish is served over angel hair pasta or grits. The AJC has named this dish as one of the top 50 dishes to drive for, and they aren’t off the mark at all.

Though there were other items that caught my eye I decided upon the Shrimp and Grits. They were lovely with just the right spice topped with Parmesan cheese, red pepper and scallions

….and then for desert……cream brulee, of course. The twist here was a sprinkle of powdered sugar and a few white chocolate morsels on top …..

Finally, Henry’s Louisiana Grill does have the ambiance. It’s friendly, it’s loud, it’s comfortable, and it’s worth the drive.

Laissez les bon temps roulex……Let the good times roll!!!!!

12/22/2011

The Georgia Mountain Fall Festival is currently underway through October 16th at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds in Hiawassee, Georgia. You can access their website here.

The festival includes musical performances, educational demonstrations, a flower show, and Georgia’s official state Fiddlers’ Convention.

We stopped by on Sunday and took a walk through the exhibits……and of course, we had a funnel cake.

Here are a few of the images from the festival:

The pottery booth.......I love to watch the wheel demonstration.

Ummm....this guy was kinda interesting. Look at his feet.....:)

Interesting crafts......I guess that's a good use of the old jugs found on any Georgia farm.

Lovely painted windows to hang on a porch or in a sunroom

The train was cute....complete with a real train whistle....

Hmmmm.......

I've never had a fair burger at the fair. I've always thought they were pretty good.

Authentic outbuildings dot the fairgrounds.....

Yes, that's a tree trunk table. They wanted $250 for it.

Wood splitting demonstration.

A bonafide country cabin....

The blacksmith demonstration

The old schoolhouse....

Of course, we had the ever predictable Elvis sighting.....

Yummy!

Elvis singing for the crowd....

Lovely views of the mountains from the fairgrounds.

The 1990 Guinness Book of Records calls the Crypt of Civilization the first successful implementation of the modern time capsule.

The Crypt page at the Oglethorpe University webpage can be found here.

The contents of the crypt include items donated from King Gustav V of Sweden, classical works such as the Bible, the Koran, and Dante’s Inferno. An original script for Gone With the Wind along with recordings of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Roosevelt. Sound clips from Popeye the Sailor and a champion hog caller were included.

Everyday items like dental floss, the contents of a woman’s purse, a pacifier, and a set of Lincoln Log are included. Microreaders and projectors are included so that the films and recordings can be accessed along with a windmill operated generator since current forms of electricity might not be in use in 8113 AD.

A very detailed list can be found here.

It is scheduled to be opened in 8113 A.D. Yes, I know. The proposed opening date brings several questions to mind such as will the Crypt be forgotten? Will it be lost to time? Will it matter to folks living in Georgia and the world in 8113 A.D?

Apparently the folks at the History Channel had the same questions making the Crypt of Civilization a focal point of their series…….Life After People.

Here is the first section of the series where it mentions the Cyrpt:

It is mentioned again at the end of Part 4 found here.

The International Time Capsule Society is also at Oglethorpe University. Their mission is to promote the study of time capsules. Their mission states: To maintain a registry of timed events of all known time capsules, to establish a clearing house for information about time capsules, to encourage study of history, variety and motivation behind time capsule projects, amd to educate the general public and the academic commumity concerning the value of time capsules.

This article from the New Georgia Encyclopedia details other time capsules around the state.

The city of Douglasville has a time capsule buried on the “old” courthouse grounds. The capsule will be opened in 2070, but you can find out what’s in it at this link.

Most Georgia history students are taught that due to the colony’s warm climate and southern location many felt it was the perfect location for the cultivation of silk. They are also taught that eventually the manufacturing of silk failed and other crops became more important like cotton. Usually, the silk industry in early Georgia is just a blip on the history map…..a mention lasting about ten minutes at the most.

That’s it…..a short little paragraph for students to grasp.

Well…..there’s more to the story.

The silk industry in Georgia began in 1734 with some experimental plantings of mulberry trees in the Trustee’s Garden in Savannah. The trees were planted because silk worms live off of the mulberry leaves. In fact, the cultivation of silk was so important all Georgia colonists were required to plant mulberry trees once they took possession of their plot of land.

After a few months the colonist had to admit there were significant issues regarding the silk worms themselves. The whole process was labor intensive. The Trustees decided the colonist who had been hired to manufacture the silk needed some expert advised so they invited an Italian contingent to the colony to teach them the ins and outs of manufacturing silk, but there were constant issues between the Italians and the “Georgians.”

In fact, an Italian skilled in the production of silk named Paul Amatis accompanied Oglethorpe to Georgia in 1732, and another Italian named Joseph Ottolenghe was responsible for erecting a filature at Reynolds Square, located on Abercorn between Bryan and Congress Streets. A filature is a structure used to house cocoons and where silk is reeled. The filature at Reynolds Square held a record number of 15,212 pounds of cocoons.

John Milledge was assigned a grant of land located on Skidaway Island sometime between 1754 and 1771 where he named his plantation Modena, supposedly after an Italian town that was the center of the silk culture. Milledge’s son, John, Jr., became the founder of Franklin College which eventually morphed into the University of Georgia.

Apparently, it didn’t take long for the Georgians to have some success with actual fabric being produced as James Oglethorpe was able to supply the wife of King George II, Caroline, enough silk for a gown she wore to the King’s birthday celebration in 1735.

I would love to write I was able to locate a painting of Queen Caroline wearing Georgia silk, but at this point I can only speculate. I did find a painting she commissioned by Jacopo Amigoni (Giacomo Amiconi) in1735….the same year she reportedly wore the dress created from Georgia silk. The cape the Queen is wearing in the painting is actually a state robe trimmed in ermine, however, the dress she is wearing could very well be the dress she wore for the King’s celebration and was made entirely of Georgia silk.

By 1742 enough silk was being produced for it to be a commodity and records show by 1767, a ton of silk was being exported each year.

The Salzburger colonists outside of Savannah were also experimenting with silk and had even more success than those in Savannah. One woman in the community was quite successful creating silk for fishing lines.

Eventually the industry could not overcome the ups and downs in the Georgia climate, and cotton proved to be a far easier and more economical crop to produce.

Even so silk didn’t just go by the wayside. It was still around in the 1830s as far inland as Cherokee County. In fact, the state of Georgia historical marker at the square in front of the courthouse states, “Early settlers tried to start silk production, but were not successful, and today there remains no trace of this except Canton, hopefully named for the Chinese silk center.

At that point silk then just became a chapter in the Georgia history books.

This website states: Typical of the era, its exterior was visually and structural divided into three parts--a two-story base, a 12-story shaft and a three-story capital with large overhanging cornice. The interior of the Candler Building featured special floors designed for use by doctors, dentists, and surgeons; a banking hall; six passenger elevators which were "at all times under the charge of a thoroughly competent engineer"; a barbershop; and what were said to be the "finest baths in America," located in the first basement of the building. Duplicate air-cooling and electric systems were installed to reduce the chance of a total systems failure, and a building-wide "vacuum air-cleaning device" was installed. The triangular building had entrances on all three sides; the largest and most elaborate of these was on the Houston Street side and provided access to the Central Bank and Trust Corporation, which Candler organized in 1906 to occupy the lobby floor of his new skyscraper.

The interior of the building is full of marble, brass, Tiffany glass, and mahogany. In fact, the elevator cabs boast some exceptional mahogany carvings and can be seen in this video:

The Candler Building website contains some great past-present pictures of the building and surrounding neighborhood here, and this website has more images as well.

Another building in the Beaux-Arts style found in Atlanta is the Old Federal Post Office built by James Knox Taylor. Today this building is used as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. You can find out more about the building here.

yet?

It is my first stop when I want Georgia news. That's Just Peachy is set up like the Drudge Report, but specifically for Georgia. It’s the one-stop shop for news and views from around the state and covers headlines from across Georgia every day.

That's Just Peachy is an attempt to help connect Georgians to issues and stories that effect their everyday lives. Content for the website is pulled from a variety of newspapers, television and radio stations, and the ever-increasing-in-importance blogging community.

Oftentimes, it is easy for the urban, suburban, and rural areas of states to forget or not realize how connected we all are and That's Just Peachy tries to synthesize these important issues into a single site.

Head on over and take a look and tell them ElementaryHistoryTeacher sent you.

That's Just Peachy has been added to the Georgia blogroll which has recently been updated and fine tuned a little.

You can find That's Just Peachy on Facebook…….and don’t forget to “like” Georgia on My Mind on Facebook as well.

The idea behind the Booth Museum began when a Cartersville decided to share their collection of contemporary western art with the general public. Amazingly, they do so anonymously. The museum isn’t named for the family, but is named for a mentor and someone long admired by the family.

The Booth Museum has been an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution since 2006, is the only museum of its kind in the southeast, and is described as a contemporary western art museum which means the art dates from the late 19th through the 21st Century. Many of the artists are still alive and several visit the museum from time to time for lectures.

While western art does interest me one of the permanent exhibitions really excites me – the Presidential letters exhibit. My toes curl at the thought of viewing actual letters written by the presidents.

The permanent collection at the Booth Museum also includes Civil War art

If you don’t want to tour the museum on your own you can take a Highlights Tour offered daily at 1:30 p.m. Families who arrive with children might want to check out one of the saddlebags filled with activities that go along with the exhibits and help them get the most out of the museum.

The Booth Museum is located in downtown Cartersville. While there make sure you see the earliest outdoor Coca-Cola advertisement (1894), see the Grand Theater, and visit the Bartow History Museum. There are also various spots to have lunch downtown.

The next stop while in Cartersville would be the Tellus Science Museum and Weinman Mineral Museum with over 50 cases of gems, minerals, and gold. The museum also has fossil exhibits, an underwater exhibit featuring giant fish and reptiles native to Georgia, the 9-foot wide jaw of a Megaladon – a shark found in the oceans that was larger than a school bus, and many other things.

Of course, you can’t get anywhere near Cartersville and not visit the Etowah Indian Mounds dating from 1,000 A.D., but plan carefully because the park is only open from Wednesday through Saturday. I’ve written about them before here.

Looking over my list it appears that the day is already full. The Booth recommends two hours and the Tellus states it would take three hours for a proper visit…..add in the Indian Mounds, and it’s a full day.

Hmmm…..this might turn into an overnight at Barnsley Gardens which I’ve always wanted to tour as well….not to mention spend the night. It's down the road from Cartersville in Adairsville.

Rest a little……have a fantastic dinner at the resort and then on the way home hit up the tour at Roselawn, the home of Sam P. Jones, an evangelist and the gentleman the Ryman Auditorium was built for. No, Jones was not a country music singer. They Ryman Auditorium was first known as Union Gospel Tabernacle.

I’d also like to cross the Euharlee Covered Bridge built in 1886 by Washington King son of bridge builder Horace King…..see my past article here.

Well, I’m off to find my calendar and plan my little overnight trip…….It may take a few days, however, because my days are pretty full. Most certainly, I’ll post the results here as soon as I can.

12/22/2011

Last week I published a post at Douglasville Patch where I have a column concerning Douglasville, Georgia history. I focused on a few different things including the many high school graduations occurring this weekend. I mentioned how I remember attending my sister’s graduation at Atlanta’s Municipal Auditorium at the intersection of Courtland and Gilmer. I wanted to verify a few facts about the building and that’s when an interesting fact got my full attention.
For over 70 years the Armory-Auditorium as it was formerly know was Atlanta’s premier event center for concerts, theater and opera events, professional wrestling, the old-time fiddlers’ convention among many others, and the Gone With the Wind ball held in 1939. The 179th field artillery drilled there and also stored their ammunition.

I found it most interesting that the very first event to be held at the Armory-Auditorium was a ‘possum dinner held for 500 in honor of President-elect William Howard Taft. Thereafter, the portion of the building where the dinner was held was called Taft Hall. More than likely it is the same portion of the Municipal Auditorium that survives today as Georgia State’s Alumni Hall.

My research indicates there was actually a committee for procuring the ‘possums for the Taft ‘possum dinner.

This site detailing certain historical events from Worth County history confirms the ‘possums were obtained free of charge from the plantation of Judge Frank Park

Telegrams that went back and forth tell the story:

Sylvester, Georgia, January 2, 1909 – E.C. Caverly and Mr. Wilkerson, ‘Possum Committee, Atlanta: Worth County asks the honor of being allowed to furnish free to the ‘possum and ‘tater supper, the one hundred fat ‘possums required. Answer promptly so we can unloose the ‘possum dogs.

and the answer:

Frank Park, Sylvester, Georgia: We accept with pleasure and gratitude your offer to furnish ‘possum and ‘taters. Unleash your discriminating ‘possum clogs. [I’m thinking clogs should be dogs, of course.]

The Worth County history also goes into detail regarding the ‘possums and what took place once they had been “gathered”.

The deed is done! The suspense is over! The slaughter of the innocents is accomplished! The largest and most varied collection of ‘possums ever accumulated in the ‘possum state of the South went to their fate Wednesday morning not exactly like the lambs to the slaughter because they were ‘possums; and a ‘possum is not like anything else under the sun, except another ‘possum, neither is there any other creature……

How the deed was done. The ‘possum grasped firmly by his rat-like tail, is flopped with some enthusiasm, upon the ground chin down. Across the nape of his neck, is placed a broom-stick, upon either end of which the executioner places a number 11 foot (the number is important) without delay (for the ‘possum does not take kindly to this procedure) the southern extremity of the animal is smartly elevated by means of that convenient handle, his tail, and - snick! It’s all over. Another ‘possum has been gathered to his father’s in the great beyond, where perennial persimmon trees flourish, and there is no happy hunting ground.

Levi Colbert, Annie Daniels and Mahala Bennett were sent from Judge Parker’s plantation to Atlanta to help with the food preparations at the Piedmont Hotel. Mr. Colbert was a consulting cook and apparently was an expert when it came to preparing ‘possum. His method was as follows:

Immediately after the execution, the ‘possums are plunged in boiling water to remove the hair, dressed and placed in a cold salt water bath for twelve hours “to kill de animal taste, and bring out de ‘possum taste,” says Levi. Then they are parboiled… after which they are baked with the time-honored sweet potatoes; being basted during this process with a special sauce prepared after a formula newly invented by Signor John Blocoki, chief cook at the Piedmont Hotel.

At article in the New York Times advised the menu also included Turtle Soup, Broiled Georgia Shad, spiced watermelon, Boiled Wild Turkey with Oyster Sauce, Quail en Casserole. One hundred gallons of persimmon beer made by Mrs. Watson of Richard Street was served at the dinner along with champagne and claret. This counters the Worth County history which advises they’ll be no champagne or other liquid from foreign vineyard-the Georgia Prohibition law forbids.

New Georgia Encyclopedia advises Georgia had statewide prohibition from 1908 until 1935, a period that began before and extended beyond national prohibition (1920-1933).

I guess at some point the law was overlooked for the special visitor. The New York Times advised Georgia was a Prohibition state but it was not a temperance event. I should add here persimmon beer is not intoxicating, but the New York paper advised champagne and claret was also served. Asa Candler, of the Chamber of Commerce and founder of the Coca-Cola Company acted as toastmaster.

Once the dinner was in full swing, the ‘possum was brought to Taft in a chafing dish. The New York Times advised, Five hundred eyes were on the President-elect as he lifted the top of the dish and gazed at the boast of Georgia. The best dish I have toasted in weeks, said he, and judging from his satisfaction the ‘possum will become a regular White House visitor.

I just have to wonder if ‘possum ever made it onto the White House menu….

You can find out more about Taft’s trip to Georgia in 1909 over at American Presidents where I published a few more details centered on the President-elect including a bit more on his trip to the peach….er……’possum state.

You can find images and more information regarding the Muncipal Auditorium at Atlanta Time Machine here, here and here.

It's such an Atlanta tradition!

Still, I miss it atop the Crystal Bridge over Forsyth Street. Lenox is a great location, but......

The tree standing atop the crystal bridge was on the cover of Time magazine in 1961 seen above.

This year the Great Tree is from my side of the town...Douglasville, Georgia, and is just a hop, skip, and a jump from my house.

The tree is 26 years old. This means that it was just a little sapling when I first moved to my home, and now.....it's become large enough to be chosen.

I think it will do just fine!

The family who owns the tree has elected not to be identified, so I'll keep that under my hat.

The tree will be cut tomorrow, Thursday...November 10th. It will then be transported and placed on the roof of the Macy's at Lenox Square on Sunday at 10 a.m.

The Great Tree Lighting Show will begin at 7 p.m. followed by a fireworks display.

Information for Savannah, Georgia

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12/22/2011

Information for Savannah, Georgia

Savannah, GA

Homes - Schools - Census Data - Jobs - Maps

Latitude: 32.050706 -- Longitude: -81.103762

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Wordless 12/22/2011

Wordless
12/22/2011