Winter 2020

Description

WINTER 2020 • VOLUME 19, NUMBER 4| TABLE OF CONTENTS

4
Along the Backroads: In February
On a cloudless winter afternoon, all that keeps a hiker from walking “into the blue” is the trail ahead.
BY DANIEL M. ROPER • MURRAY & GILMER COUNTIES

5
The Renaissance Good Ol’ Boy of BBQ

Myron Mixon’s mastery of the pit opened the door to so much else.

BY BRUCE HARSHBARGER • DOOLY COUNTY

7
Vanishing Georgia:  The Family – A Real Christmas Story
Some families break under the weight of prolonged penury; others thrive.
BY BUCK TAYLOR • DOUGHERTY COUNTY & STATEWIDE

15
When Minnie Hauk Came to Town
After anxiously awaiting the arrival of a world-famous soprano, Americus welcomed her departure.
BY RACHEL CHRISTIAN • SUMTER COUNTY

19
Celestine Sibley:  A Heavenly Journalist
“Turned funny” by her own reckoning, she was to many the queen of the AJC news shop.
BY DWAYNE KEITH PETTY • FULTON COUNTY

23
The Bequest

Coca-Cola’s highest-ranking African American executive was the son of hardworking sharecroppers.

BY CARL WARE • COWETA COUNTY

27
A Base, Cowardly, Inhuman AttackAn obscure monument to General Andrew Jackson’s unfortuante Creek allies commemorates the Aumuculle Massacre of 1818.

BY EVAN A. KUNTZLER • LEE COUNTY

32
Historic Rural Churches of Georgia:  Tilley Bend Baptist
This lovely mountain church sometimes draws visitors interested in the surreal and macabre.
STORY BY CLAYTON H. RAMSEY, PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM REED • FANNIN COUNTY

36
Tallulah Point Overlook

The move from an iconic mountain landmark to a new location required resiliency and determination.

BY TOM POLAND • HABERSHAM COUNTY
39
A Doctor, His Enslaved Man and North Georgia’s Union Circle

Following secession, questions of loyalty added layers of complexity for some southerners.

BY DAVID T. DIXON • GORDON COUNTY

44
Fort Mountain State Park as You’ve Never Experienced It
Rugged trails in this popular state park lead to the ruins of Georgia’s once-thriving talc-mining industry.
BY SHEPHERD HOWELL • MURRAY COUNTY

47
Still Standing – Odessadale Elementary School
A community rallied in time to save an historic Rosenwald school.
BY TONY B. LOWE • MERIWETHER COUNTY

50
The Fort Pulaski Yankees
In the midst of civil war, the first-known photo of a baseball game was taken in Georgia.
BY JONATHAN SHIPLEY • CHATHAM 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
Rising from the Ashes

The historic Cochran-Davenport farmstead is a gem perfectly set in beautiful Dial Valley.

BY STEVE PROCKO • FANNIN COUNTY

61
Civil War Portrait

Private Melanethon H. Cutter served in the 2nd Infantry Battalion and left a mark in Macon as a carpenter and furniture maker.

BY DAVID W. VAUGHAN • BIBB COUNTY