Summer 2021

Description

SUMMER 2021 • VOLUME 20, NUMBER 2 | TABLE OF CONTENTS

4
Along the Backroads: In July
A stillness comes over mountain woodlands in midsummer.
BY DANIEL M. ROPER • NORTHWEST GEORGIA
5
The Hunger Artist, Remastered
His resume lists years he spent in spandex, crouching in abandoned movie theaters, graveyards, lots, and condemned buildings.
BY DREW TONEY • SOUTH GEORGIA
7
Vanishing Georgia:  Lay-By Time
There is a season to slow down and reflect on time’s passage.
BY TERRY KAY  • HART COUNTY & STATEWIDE
14
A Knack for Picking Winners
Legendary Rich’s department store book buyer, Faith Brunson, could choose (and make) best-selling authors.
BY SIBLEY FLEMING • FULTON COUNTY
20
The Ghosts of Gordon – A Rainy Day Treasure Hunt, Part II
A 140-year-old photo album finally comes home.
BY LEE JOYNER • WILKINSON COUNTY
23
Blazing Skies.  This is Not a Drill.During the Cold War, Nike Hercules missiles protected the state.

BY CLAYTON H. RAMSEY • ROBINS & TURNER AIR FORCE BASES
29
Historic Rural Churches of Georgia:  First Presbyterian, Darien
This community’s roots date to the time when Scots Highlanders came to defend the colony from Spanish forces.
BY CLAYTON H. RAMSEY, PHOTOGRAPHY BY WAYNE C. MOORE • MCINTOSH COUNTY
36
Mountain Lightningscape
A midnight camera captured nature’s most fleeting show.
BY SKIP LOWERY • UNION COUNTY
38
Readers Remember:  Atlanta Humane Society

In the late 1940s, the Atlanta Humane Society was home to orphan animals and three lucky children.

BY LARRY W. LIND • FULTON COUNTY
39
The 1909 Donald Bain Murder Trial

Seething resentment provoked a killing, followed by a trial that served as a precursor to the famous Leo Frank case.

BY W. CLIFFORD ROBERTS • FULTON COUNTY
45
Only Hard Men Survived their Enemies

Cruelty and hardship during the American Revolution reduced men to “living on urine and pumpkins.”

BY LEWIS SMITH • SAVANNAH RIVER VALLEY
50
The Best News of His Life

After surviving combat in one theater of operations, a young soldier seemed fated for deployment to another.

BY JEFF BRYANT • WALKER COUNTY
53
Soul of a Southerner
A southerner fondly writes her memories of growing up and living in the South.
BY MARY ANN ANDERSON • GEORGIA
55
Genuine Georgia Backroads: Barnesville to Talbotton

Touring West-Central Georgia is a scenic, historic trip through time.

BY DAVID B. JENKINS • WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA
59
Dad’s Certificate of Accomplishment

Family ruptures sometimes pass to the third and fourth generation.

BY WILLIAM C. NOBLE • DOOLY COUNTY

61
Civil War Portrait

The Pattillo brothers served with the 22nd Georgia Infantry Regiment.

BY DAVID W. VAUGHAN • HENRYCOUNTY