Winter 2023

Description

WINTER 2023 • VOLUME 22, NUMBER 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS

4
Along the Backroads: A Dream from Shiloh’s Good Ground
Two men who profoundly influenced America in the 20th century had deep roots in Penfield’s Prosperity Ridge.
BY VIRGINIA BOLTON & DANIEL M. ROPER • GREENE COUNTY
7
Vanishing Georgia: “It’s too Wild Lonesome Up Thar!”
The old ways of life were still evident in the mountains during the early years of Georgia’s Appalachian Trail.
BY DANIEL M. ROPER • NORTH GEORGIA MOUNTAINS
14
The Ghosts of January
When a young hiker’s New Year’s Day outing on Blood Mountain descended into chaos, she tenacously fought for her life.
BY DWAYNE KEITH PETTY • UNION & DAWSON COUNTIES
19
“I’m the Veterinarian, Okay?”
A rural veterinarian handles unusual situations and bizarre questions.
BY PAT RANDOLPH • NORTHEAST GEORGIA
22
Georgia’s First Christmas Tree
Did German immigrant George Loehr really introduce Christmas trees to Georgia?
BY RAY CHANDLER • ELBERT COUNTY
25
Three Years on Stone MountainWalking the great, gray leviathan gave Zach Cross a new way of life and a  new outlook on life.

BY MICHAEL MICHELSEN JR. • DEKALB COUNTY
27
Reverend Hillman’s Shocking Rocks
Natural electric current in the ground drew from near and far the curious and those needing a miraculous cure.
BY RAY CHANDLER • WILKES COUNTY
32
The Saga of the Prince of Southern Farmers
Complex and controversial family relationships led David Dickson to make an unusual, unprecedented bequest to his daughter, Amanda America Dickson.
BY WILLIAM RAWLINGS • HANCOCK COUNTY
38
Historic Rural Churches of Georgia: Kiokee Baptist

Founded during the colonial era, Kiokee is the state’s oldest continuously functioning Baptist church.

BY CLAYTON H. RAMSEY • APPLING COUNTY
43
“If Ordered to the Front, I’ll have to be Tied and Carried”
Aging and irascible, Mitchell’s Thunderbolts grudgingly assembled to defend Athens.
BY SAM THOMAS • CLARKE COUNTY
48
The Unknown Soldier at King’s Tan Yard

It took more than a century to identify the remains of a Confederate cavalryman killed in action in 1864.

BY LISA SCOTT • BARROW COUNTY
50
My Hostel in the Forest

In the 1970s, a young Brunswick lawyer dreamed of creating a hostel in Georgia like those he had enjoyed while touring Europe.

BY TOM DENNARD • GLYNN COUNTY
53
Soul of a Southerner
A southerner fondly writes about growing up, and living, in the South.
BY MARY ANN ANDERSON • GEORGIA
55
Genuine Georgia Backroads: Hofwyl-Broadfield to Jekyll Island

From salt marsh to tabby to stained glass, Georgia’s southeast coast offers the visitor a remarkable variety of things to see, to smell, to sense, and to savor.

BY DAVID B. JENKINS • COASTAL GEORGIA
59
Searching for the Muse on U.S. Hwy. 1

Awed by South Georgia’s brown dryness, a travelder discoverd the real richness of the countryside and its people.

BY DREW TONEY • U.S. HIGHWAY 1
61
Civil War Portrait

Colonel William Salisbury was gunned down thirteen years after the end of the Civil War.

BY DAVID W. VAUGHAN • MUSCOGEE COUNTY