Holiday Tour: Historic Cook-Huff House in Dalton, Georgia

The Cook-Huff House in Dalton, Georgia, has been chosen as Whitfield-Murray Historical Society's Holiday House for 2013. The historic house will be open for tour December 7th and 8th from 2-5 p.m. for the first time in fifteen years. The antebellum home, owned by R.L. Cook, served as the headquarters of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston from 1863 to 1864 during the Civil War. While there in 1863, General Patrick Cleburne presented a proposal to the leaders of the Army of Tennessee, that the Confederacy should offer slaves their freedom if they agreed to fight for the Confederacy. His plan to arm slaves to fight for the Southern cause was declined.

The Cook-Huff House is located at 314 N. Selvidge Street in Dalton, Georgia. Tickets for the 2013 Holiday House Celebration are fifteen dollars for adults, five dollars for children eleven and under. You may purchase tickets directly from the historical society or pay at the door on the day of the event.

Event:  WMHS Holiday House Celebration 2013

Location: 314 N. Selvidge Street, Dalton, Georgia

Date: Sat., Dec. 7 and Sun., Dec. 8

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Cost: $15.00 adults; $5.00 children 11 and under

Sponsor: Whitfield-Murray Historical Society

Contact information: 

Whitfield-Murray Historical Society

Phone: 706-278-0217

Spring Place Festival (Saturday Aug 18th)

Spring Place Festival is here again! Saturday, August 18th, beginning at 8 a.m. at the Old Spring Place Methodist Church on Elm Street in Spring Place. (Directions at bottom of this article).

Features: Flea market, book sale, concessions, bake sale, vendors, booths.
This year's theme: The Civil War Comes to Spring Place.

Confederate Cemetery Tours: The William Luffman Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans will lead tours of the historic Spring Place Cemetery on Tibbs Bridge Road. Seventy Civil War veterans are buried there.
Photos of some of the soldiers will be included in the display of Spring Place-related Civil War artifacts inside the church. (9 a.m. to 1 p.m., continuous tours).

Civil War Map: (reprints) Chatsworth-Murray County Library will sell reprints of a Civil War-era map.

New books available: (by local author, Ruth Cox): 'Murray County's Civil War Heritage' and also a memoir of her life.


Spring Place Festival
Date/Time: Saturday, August 18th, 2012
Time: Begins at 8 a.m.   
Auction: 10 a.m.
Confederate Cemetery Tours: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (fee)
Location: Elm Street, Spring Place, Georgia
                 at the Old Spring Place Methodist Church
Sponsors: Whitfield-Murray Historical Society
                 Spring Place Ruritan Club.

If the state of Georgia recognized our historic communities as 'towns,' it wouldn't be so difficult to pinpoint us on Google Maps. As it is, we have to 'trick' Google...

Directions:

The Chief Vann House is located three miles west of Chatsworth, Georgia, at the intersection of GA Hwy 52 Alternate and Ga Hwy 225. From the Vann House, take Hwy 225 SOUTH 1.9 miles and turn LEFT onto Fort St W (about 184 feet). This takes you to the intersection of Elm Street and Fort Street, Chatsworth, Georgia (old Spring Place community). The festival is on Elm Street, approximately two miles South of the Chief Vann House, just off of Georgia Highway 225. This map is from a viewpoint in back of the old church. The front of the church is on a little unnamed section of pavement just south of Elm Street and Fort Street intersection, in the triangle that is formed where Elm Street meets Spring Place-Smyrna Road.

MAP (BACK VIEW OF CHURCH): 2700 Spring Place-Smyrna Road, Chatsworth, Georgia.



View Larger Map


To find the Chief Vann House, this search will work on Google maps:
hwy 52 alternate and hwy 225 intersection, chatsworth, ga

To find the church, this search will work:  Elm St and Fort Street, Chatsworth, GA

For more information: (use North Georgia area code *706* for all three numbers):

C. McDaniel 695=2110.
T. Howard 695=2740.
C. Smith 695=8297.

Funds will go to preserve the Old Spring Place Methodist Church (museum), Murray County's oldest public building.

Note to Civil War addicts: After the Battle of Chattanooga, the Yanks camped at Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee ~ Cleveland's most important asset being the railroad there. (The railroad was the key to the supply line for whichever army controlled it.) Confederates were gathering at Dalton. The Union army reorganized to begin The Atlanta Campaign, which was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Spring Place, at that time, was still Confederate territory, but Yanks were sending scouts from Cleveland to spy on them. Spring Place was the home of Edmonson's Raiders (Confederate). There weren't any major battles on Murray County soil ~ just a few skirmishes. Renegades and bushwhackers were active in the area, as were Wheeler's men, out to sabotage the railroad at Cleveland and points north. The entire action quickly bypassed Murray County as battles were fought in Tunnel Hill, Dalton, and Resaca, then South from there...

Booth Western Art Museum

Cartersville, Georgia: Our day trip got sidetracked, but we enjoyed the day after all. Our first stop, a museum, was closed. We decided to try the Booth Western Art Museum, and it was a very nice visit. The Booth has a large collection of original oil paintings of Civil War scenes. They are professionally executed and highly illustrative. Plaques give a brief history of each battle. Civil War buffs should enjoy this exhibit. One gallery features posters for western movies. For some, the original gouache cover illustrations hung alongside the paperback books that featured the art. One room has a stagecoach. Another gallery features the presidential collection: Reproductions of American presidents hang over original letters and brief biographies of each featured president: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and many others; and modern presidents (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Bush). Some letters are of more importance than others, but it is a large, nice collection ~ sure to please the history buff.

Tuesday, The Day I Was Ambushed by Civil War Soldiers...

Dalton, Georgia. Tuesday morning, I unlocked the door of the archives and was startled out of my wits by an ugly, hairy, bearded guy who had taken up residence on our elegant French Provincial sofa. His friend was a cold, angry-looking blond. Although my life didn't flash before my eyes, many thoughts flashed through my brain in quick succession. My initial fear was that I was late for work and people were waiting. Before I even had time to think, "No, wait ~ I'm early," it occurred to me that the door had been locked, the alarm set. "How did they get past the dead-bolt?" I wondered frantically ~ as an even weirder thought struck me: "These guys look dead." As Huck Finn said, "It most give me the fantods."

I recovered my wits to realize that Marvin had brought over two very real-looking dummies for the upcoming Civil War display. The Civil War soldiers ~ two mannikins ~ were dressed in woolen coats and hats, 1860's fashion, which should have tipped me off at once, but I was not prepared for the sight of them, sprawled out as they were, in the parlor just inside the front door.

Since that initial reaction of mine, they've given me a turn more than once as I've walked by or glanced through the window, forgetting their presence. They look quite at odds with our frilly lace curtains. They've given some visitors to the archives a turn as well. I'll be glad when we get them into the lobby and have them displayed properly ~ though I suspect that even then, I'll be scared many more times as I stroll into the room, distracted by morning routine...

(Crown Gardens and Archives is the headquarters for Whitfield-Murray Historical Society.)