Autumn 2022

Description

AUTUMN 2022 • VOLUME 21, NUMBER 3 | TABLE OF CONTENTS

5
Along the Backroads: Caution Light
Some interesting science and a dash of magic explain why a healthy mountain maple tree turned red one autumn and yellow the next.  What might it do this fall?
BY DANIEL M. ROPER • CHATTOOGA COUNTY
7
Vanishing Georgia: Sailors – A Burial at Sea
Our sailors have served, and some have died, around the world.
BY LEWIS SMITH • RICHMOND COUNTY & STATEWIDE
14
Not Wild About Oscar
Georgia turned a cold shoulder to flamboyant, world-renowned entertainer Oscar Wilde.
BY RAY CHANDLER  • STATEWIDE
20
Hanging On to Georgia Tech’s Ramblin’ Wreck
There’s a buzz about the only American college with a mechanical mascot.
BY BRUCE HARSHBARGER • FULTON COUNTY
23
Dog’s Little Acre – The Uga Tombs at Sanford Stadium
The only college football stadium with a mausoleum is gone to the Dogs.
BY BRUCE HARSHBARGER • CHATHAM & CLARKE COUNTIES
26
The Last LetterA great granddaughter searches for the place where her ancestor sent a letter home just before his death.

BY DR. ELIZABETH HOOLE MCARTHUR • WHITFIELD COUNTY
32
The Train from Way Station No. 9
The naysayers were wrong.  People working together made a success of the remarkable SAM excursion train.
BY BORDEN BLACK •  SOUTHWEST GEORGIA
37
Sleeping Beneath Seashells
Covering graves with seashells is a custom largely forgotten today.
BY TOM POLAND • WILKES COUNTY
39
Historic Rural Churches of Georgia:  Circuit Riders

A novel way of spreading the gospel made Methodism, for a time, the largest denomination in the state.

BY CLAYTON H. RAMSEY • STATEWIDE
45
A Uniform of Gray the Only Passport Needed

Millen was a vital railroad junction and its Wayside Home an oasis for Confederate soldiers.

BY DR. JOHN K. DERDEN • JENKINS COUNTY
50
Doing Time – The Story of Georgia’s Penitentiary System

The building that housed Georgia’s first electric chair was recently demolished and the prison cemetery is imperiled.

BY JAY JARVIS • BALDWIN COUNTY
55
Soul of a Southerner
A southerner fondly writes her memories of growing up and living in the South.
BY MARY ANN ANDERSON • GEORGIA
57
Genuine Georgia Backroads: Louisville to Mosquito Crossing

Stone, brick, wood, and iron give many historic Classic South structures a rustic, rugged look.

BY DANIEL M. ROPER • EAST GEORGIA
61
Civil War Portrait

Private Alfred Webb Cantrell serviced with Cobb’s Legion, Georgia Cavalry.

BY DAVID W. VAUGHAN • WHITE & CLARKE COUNTIES