The Old Rock Building in Chatsworth, Georgia

The old rock building, a historic site in Chatsworth, Georgia, was built in 1934 as the first consolidated high school of Murray County. The building is special to the community as an historic and architectural landmark. It is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Murray County High School Historic District. The architectural style is arts and crafts or American Craftsman. It is built of native stone from the nearby mountains. The building was officially named as the V.C. Pickering Administrative Center in 2005, prior to Phase I of its renovation. A year or so later, it received a new roof, but then was severely damaged by fire in 2009. The Old Rock Building was fully renovated in 2010 and now serves as the central offices of Murray County Schools.

The building is significant as the first consolidated high school in Murray County, Georgia. It replaced three small high schools: Lucy Hill, Chatsworth, and Eton High Schools. In 2002 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Interestingly, before the new rock high school was even completed, one of the older schools, Chatsworth High, was struck by lightning and burned. Consolidating the schools was a controversial move and caused some squabbling among the various towns, several of which hoped to have the high school in their own community.

Front view of the rock building from Green Road

A side view of the old rock building

Besides being an early consolidated high school, the rock building is also significant for its architecture and stone masonry. The building is made of grayish brown mountain rock that is native to the area. The stone was blasted from the mountains during the construction of the Chatsworth-Ellijay Highway and was donated to the School Board at the request of V.C. Pickering. Local truckers hauled them to the site for fifty cents a load. Mr. Watkins was the head stone mason on the project. The natural stone and unique facade make it one of the most attractive buildings in the county, and one of only a handful of such stone buildings in North Georgia. The surrounding landscape is set off by the cobalt blue of the Cohutta mountains. These features make the building a favorite landmark, much loved by the local community.

The blood, sweat, and tears of the local people went into building this beloved old structure. Some of the men who worked on it were lucky to have completed the third grade, and they wanted their children to have better opportunities than they had had. Perhaps that's why the generation who built it, and their children, were so affectionate toward the old school. This quaint little plaque, inscribed by hand by one of the workers, is a token of that affection. It says simply, "Built 1934 MCHS." To me, the plaque itself is a pretty little piece of folk art...

History of the Old Rock Building

The building was completed as a project of the 1930's Works Progress Administration of the government. According to a 1934 article in Dalton Citizen, over 55 local men were put to work on the project. Workers received one dollar per day and stone masons, two dollars. (The school board later raised this amount and paid hourly wages of up to fifty cents.) V.C. Pickering, a prominent citizen of the county, was instrumental in getting the high school built, obtaining the stone and donating $5,000 and 164 acres of land to the school board; hence, the building's new name, the V.C. Pickering Administrative Center. Other funding came from the state and the Board of Education.

Renovation began on the building in 2005. The plan was to make it the new headquarters for the central office of the Murray County school system. A group of alumni began a fund to help pay for renovations. The Rock Building Committee oversaw fundraising efforts, supported by various local organizations, including the Murray County High School Alumni Association and Whitfield-Murray Historical Society. Various class reunions of the era also raised money for the renovation. The building was given a new roof in 2004, during Phase I of the renovation.

Fire Damages the Old Rock Building

On October 26, 2009, lightning struck the building during a mid-morning thunderstorm. The strike was detected by a  The building smoldered for several hours before breaking out in flames. Though firefighters arrived very quickly, the building was already fully engulfed. The fire devastated the building, destroying the new roof, gutting the interior, and causing severe damage to the exterior stone walls and facade. Early reports called the building a complete loss.

Engineers determined that the building could be saved. The building was fully covered under an insurance policy that made rebuilding more feasible than demolition, so the controversial decision was made to renovate the old rock building. Renovation began in 2010. By 2011, the building was serving as offices for the school system.

On September 26, 2009, during heavy storms and flash flooding, lightning struck the old rock building in Chatsworth, Georgia, causing a devastating fire. The loud clap of thunder that came with the strike was heard and felt for miles. The direct hit of lightning was documented by an Arizona company that monitors storms around the country. News of the disaster came to Murray Countians as some were battling water from heavy rains and flash floods from the overflowing Conasauga River and area creeks. The fire destroyed the new roof, gutted the interior, and caused severe damage to the exterior stone walls. Renovation of the structure was already in progress even before the fire, so the damage came as a double blow to those concerned in the project. The building had recently received a new roof.

After the fire, community and school-board members held public forums to discuss the future of the building. The general sentiment among the public was to save the structure if at all possible, though there was some dissent. The building was insured and engineering reports showed that rebuilding was feasible. To those of us who love the old building, it seemed almost impossible, even miraculous, to think that this phoenix could once again rise out of the ashes, but it did. Renovation began in 2010 and was completed by 2011. The building is once again a landmark.

Murray County Museum (a virtual museum) has articles about the school. It has some photos of the fire (down toward the bottom of the page).
https://www.murraycountymuseum.com/mchs_rev.html


Background

Phase I of the Rock Building Renovation, before the fire, had put a new roof on the old rock building. After the fire, it appeared that all the hard work was in vain. First reports indicated that the building might have to be demolished. The local school board, citizens, and builders met to discuss options. Feelings were mixed, as some citizens felt that the building could not be saved; some thought that it might be saved, but that attempts to renovate would be too costly; and others felt that it should not be saved ~ that taxpayer funds would be best used elsewhere. In the event that the building could not be saved, general sentiment leaned toward building a memorial park, pavilion, or monument from some of the stone. Further studies were done to determine which options were feasible. The terms of the insurance made rebuilding more cost-effective than demolition. Engineers determined that the structure could be saved, so the decision was made to renovate. Once the renovation was complete, the building was dedicated for use as the central office.

Rock Building Information

The V.C. Pickering Administrative Center, or "Old Rock Building," as it is more affectionately called, serves as the central offices for Murray County Schools. The building is located on Green Road in Chatsworth, Georgia, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1934 and was in continuous use until the 1980s by Murray County High and later, Bagley Middle School. The building was devastated by fire in 2009, after a direct hit by lightning, and was renovated in 2010.

Our beloved "Old Rock Building" is located at 1004 Green Street, Chatsworth, Georgia. The site is included on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, as part of the Murray County High School Historic District (added 2004, no. 04000628)

Murray County, Georgia, as featured in the National Register of Historic Places...
https://nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/GA/Murray/state.html

References to Related Articles (links not available):

"Fundraisers to start to save rock building" Daily Citizen, Dalton, Georgia: Wednesday, October 12, 2005, page A1, article by Misty Watson. 

The Works Progress Administration connection to the stone building was mentioned in an article on Murray County on-line at New Georgia Encyclopedia. The old link is no longer extant. The National Register of Historic Places (Murray Co., GA) shows this property as: Murray County High School Historic District (added 2004 - District - #04000628).

The old rock building was mentioned under North Georgia, Murray County History, at Georgia Magazine (accessed 17 October 2005). 

This article was written in 2006. It was first published on my main website, Southern Muse (Southern Muse.com). It was updated on that original website in 2012, and republished here on February 11, 2019.

North Georgia, Featuring Murray and Whitfield Counties

North Georgia, was once part of the Cherokee Nation, and was one of the last places that the Cherokee lived in Georgia. When gold was discovered in Dahlonega (Lumpkin County), Georgia, the State of Georgia became eager to remove the Cherokees from the land. Cherokees were forced from their native land and left Georgia on the Trail of Tears, also known as The Place Where They Cried. As the Cherokee moved out, pioneers of European descent moved in. Citizens ~ many of them speculators ~ bought land and gold stakes cheap in lotteries that took place between 1828 and 1838.

Murray County, Georgia, and nearby Whitfield, were two of the northernmost counties of the state. As those early land lots were resold, homesteaders began to settle Murray County in 1838 to start small farms. It was a rough and wild place, as some early Murray Countians tell of it. The Civil War came in 1865. Murray County did not see battle (beyond a few skirmishes with Yanks who were camped just north of them in Cleveland, Tennessee); but nearby Whitfield and Gordon Counties endured battles, at Tunnel Hill and Resaca respectively ~ the first battles of the Atlanta Campaign. The action quickly by-passed Murray County as Sherman headed further South. After the War, the people returned to farming.

Chatsworth, Georgia, is Murray's county seat. Other towns in Murray include Eton, Crandall, and Cisco, in the northern part of the county. There are quite a few historic communities in Murray, which are not official townships, by Georgia's definition. Those include Spring Place, home of the Chief Vann House, and once the county seat; Ramhurst; and Cohutta Springs, once a thriving watering place, famous for its mineral springs (and now part of Crandall). Many of Murray County's homestead farms were handed down among families for several generations. Only recently have some of those farms been subdivided by developers. Whitfield County developed somewhat differently, as a cottage-tufting industry took hold and grew there. Dalton eventually became "The Carpet Capital of the World."

R.S. Thomas Memorial Singing Saturday, May 28 ~ Shaped-Note Singing, Chatsworth, Georgia

North Georgia Events, Chatsworth, Georgia: 

R.S. Thomas Memorial Singing Saturday, May 28 at 7:00 p.m.
at Smyrna Baptist Church on Smyrna Church Road south of Chatsworth...

A century ago, virtually every one of Georgia’s counties, like those in most states from Virginia to Texas, had singing conventions where individuals and groups from churches of various denominations would come together periodically to learn and sing new southern gospel songs published by various companies scattered across the southeast.  The songs were printed in “shaped note” format and singers learned, and, sometimes sang, the syllable names—do, re, me, fa, sol, la, and ti as well as the lyrics, accompanied by musicians on piano and/or organ. It came to be called “shaped-note singing” or “sacred-harp singing” (the human voice being the sacred harp).

The Murray County Singing Convention was organized in 1909 and met at churches throughout the county in both spring and fall sessions for about seventy-five years.  When this group disbanded, Mr. R.S. Thomas of Whitfield County, but choir director at Smyrna Baptist Church in Murray County, began a “combined” convention singing at his home church.

Mr. Thomas, who worked in the carpet and then in the printing industries for many years as well as serving in the Georgia Senate, had been a part of gospel singing since the 1920’s when he went to conventions at the “shed” at Pleasant Grove in Whitfield County.  He traveled to singings in several states for most of eight decades before his death in the summer of 2011 at the age of 93.  He continued to be a part of the music program at Smyrna, too, leading songs until just weeks before his passing.

Leaders of the quarterly Murray County Singing Convention have named the next session the R.S. Thomas Memorial Singing which will be held on Saturday, May 28 at Smyrna Baptist Church on Smyrna Church Road south of Chatsworth.  The music begins at 7 p.m. and will include a selection of songs in tribute to this singer, leader, and promoter of convention style gospel music.

Special guest for the singing will be well-known North Georgia composer Mr. Morris Stancil who has written such songs as “Because He Loved Me” and “Beautiful Home.” Efforts are underway to publish a new compilation of Stancil’s songs, some of which will be heard at the convention.

Refreshments will be served after the singing.  An offering will be received for the R. S. Thomas Music Scholarship Fund.  Rev. Andrew Bowen, pastor, invites all those who knew R.S. or love this music to attend.  For more information call 706-695-2740 or visit the church website at www.smyrnabaptistchurch.org.

Address: 

Smyrna Baptist Church

1913 Smyrna Church Road

Chatsworth, GA 30705

Heart, Hands, and Healing Art Workshop in Blue Ridge and Chatsworth, Georgia

Feeling God's Love ~ Vicki Wagoner, The Practical Intuitive

Vicki Wagoner, "The Practical Intuitive," presents her nationally recognized Heart, Hands, and Healing Art (a workshop for therapy and personal expression), on Saturday, March 26 at 10 a.m. to noon at the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association (The Art Center), located at 420 W. Main Street, Blue Ridge, Georgia.

After having a profound experience while participating at an art workshop, hypnotherapist and artist, Vicki Wagoner, was inspired to create her own art program Heart, Hands, and Healing Art, as a life-transforming experience in creativity. Her technique encourages creative and personal expression through a process of painting with the hands – no brushes, rules, or artistic abilities required. The painting creates itself. Each participant starts with the same blank canvas, and when the session is over, Vicki assists them in discovering the epiphanies of new perspectives, possibilities, and insight that have been subconsciously created during the painting process. Group participation is welcome and encouraged. The workshop is open to people of all ages. The artist suggests wearing old clothes to allow for full self expression.

Wagoner's workshop has been featured on the Telly award-winning, national cable TV show, Art of Living. Wagoner, an expressionist artist, has given workshops in Georgia, New York, Alaska, Florida, and Tennessee. Her workshop has been featured as part of a hospital drug and alcohol abuse program, in spiritual healing sessions for abused and traumatized women and children, and in corporate creativity seminars.

Vicki Wagoner is from Blue Ridge, Georgia. Her Facebook Fan page is: https://www.facebook.com/Vicki-Wagoner-The-Practical-Intuitive-161154893949429/ .

There was also to be a Heart, Hands, and Healing Art in Chatsworth, Georgia, on April 3. That event has been postponed. Please see the artist's Facebook Fan page (above) and check with the artist for details of her next workshop.

Forging Ahead ~ Vicki Wagoner, The Practical Intuitive

Blue Ridge Mountains Art Association, Blue Ridge, Georgia:
https://www.facebook.com/Blue-Ridge-Mountains-Arts-Association-The-Art-Center-71399694474/

Works by Aunspaugh features the artist's newest obsession: balls of crap!

Works by Aunspaugh opens Thursday, March 10, at MAC Gallery at 121 E. Market Street in Chatsworth, Georgia. The meet-and-greet reception will be from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Richard "Dick" Aunspaugh will exhibit his newest work. The show features watercolors, drawings, mixed-media pieces, sculpture, and pottery.

Most of the visual images center around the artist's newest obsession, "balls of crap." Aunspaugh creates sculptures from miscellaneous found objects ~ ahem, crap! that we all have lying around our houses. There's so much of it these days. He recycles these artifacts of modern civilization into sculptural balls and amorphous forms, some of metal, some of plastic, and some a strange conglomeration of both. The sculptures stand alone, but he also does intricate paintings of the same, turning them into surreal landscapes.

Aunspaugh is environmentally conscious. Last summer, he raised money by completing a canoe-a-thon, Georgia River Network's Paddle Georgia 2015, a seven-day, 95-mile trip down the Ogeechee River. He plans to do the same for the charity's Paddle Georgia 2016 tour, a 103-mile water journey from Dalton to Rome, Georgia, down the Conasauga, Oostanaula and Coosa rivers. He has already raised about $375 this year.

Aunspaugh taught art for 33 years at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia, retiring in 2006. His work has appeared in various exhibits throughout the country. In August the artist loaned some works to Murray Arts Council for an eclectic exhibit. He visited the gallery, which is housed in the century-old Cohutta Bank building, and was charmed by the space. He agreed to do a solo exhibit there.

Admission to the gallery is free to the public. The art will remain up through May 27. For more information, email Dave Robinson, daverobinson1764@charter.net or call 706-229-1575 (bus. cell).

Related Links:

For more about the artist, Richard Aunspaugh, see my previous post, http://southernmusejournal.blogspot.com/2016/01/art-by-aunspaugh-at-murray-arts-council.html or...

Visit the artist's Facebook Fan page at: https://www.facebook.com/Dick-Aunspaugh-Artist-Craftsman-405959900190/

Murray Arts Council's Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/murraycountyartscouncil/

Dick Aunspaugh's Paddle Georgia 2016 Fundraiser: https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/richard-aunspaugh/paddle-georgia-canoeathon-2016

Georgia Rivers website: http://www.garivers.org/paddle_georgia/index.html

Tiffany Beavers: Women Who Don't Disappoint was a success!

After all the weather delays for snow and ice, Tiffany Beavers finally presented her cabaret, Women Who Don't Disappoint. She sang several great sets of music made famous by Sarah McLaughlin, The Cranberries, Tori Amos, Norah Jones, Billie Holiday and Dolly Parton. Tiffany was accompanied by a band accompaniment. Even on the rescheduled date, the weather was cold and dreary, but she had a pretty good crowd, proving that Chatsworth will come out in force when an event is worth seeing. The musical evening was sponsored by Murray Arts Council, which hopes to have her back for another performance ~ maybe in spring or summer.

Murray Arts Council MAC is a non-profit organization serving Murray County, Georgia. MAC Gallery is located at 121 E. Market Street in Chatsworth. For more information about Murray Arts Council or volunteerism opportunities, email Lori McDaniel, President of the Arts Council, at murrayartscouncil@gmail.com or call Dave Robinson, Vice President, at 706-229-1575 (bus., Peach Realty).

Visit Murray Arts Council's Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/murraycountyartscouncil/

Works by Aunspaugh, at Murray Arts Council Gallery in Chatsworth

Ball of Crap, watercolor by Richard Aunspaugh

Murray Arts Council in Chatsworth, Georgia, will host Works by Aunspaugh, an exhibit of art by Richard Aunspaugh, Fulbright scholar and professor emeritus of Young Harris College. The public is invited to attend a wine-and-cheese reception to view the art and meet the artist on Thursday, March 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the gallery at 121 East Market Street in Chatsworth.

The exhibit will feature the artist's current work. For his “Ball-of-Crap” sculptures, he recycles found objects. He makes intricate drawings and paintings of the same, turning them into eerie landscapes. The pop and Dada influences in his art come from his early immersion in the art scene of New York City. The artist received his Master of Arts degree at New York University in New York City. 

While in New York in the 1960s, Aunspaugh participated in “Happenings,” including You, by Wolf Vostell; The Tart, by Dick Higgins; and Calling, at the Festival of the Avant Garde in New York City.  He also took part in exhibits at Brooklyn Museum of Art, Pepsi Cola Exhibition Gallery, and State University College in Potsdam, as well as exhibits in San Francisco, California, and Georgia.

Aunspaugh, taught at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia, for thirty-three years, retiring in 2006. During his tenure at the college, he continued to both exhibit and study art. He went back to New York for intensive workshops, as part of the Masters program at Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, earning his Master of Fine Arts degree there and participating in the MFA Thesis Painting Exhibit in 1990. 

Richard Aunspaugh - A Retrospective: A Lifelong Look at an Artist's Work (link) was held in 2004 at the William W. Fincher and Eunice L. Fincher Visual Arts Center at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Georgia. Aunspaugh has also exhibited at Nexus Art Center in Atlanta, State College in Minot, North Dakota, the LaGrange National II in LaGrange, and the art department at LaGrange College (his alma mater—he received his Bachelor of Arts degree there in 1963). His work has been in other prominent exhibits throughout the state of Georgia. In 1979, Aunspaugh received the honor of a Fulbright Study Tour: “Art of the Low Countries,” Belgium and the Netherlands.

The gallery in Chatsworth is a small venue for the artist, but he is glad to do a show for the non-profit arts organization. He recently loaned works to Murray Arts Council for a collaborative exhibit. While visiting the gallery, he was charmed by the space—a century-old bank building—and agreed to have a solo show.

Everyone is welcome to attend the March 10 reception from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served. The art will remain on view until May 27. For more information, please call Dave Robinson of Peach Realty at 706-229-1575.

___________

Event Details: 

Art by Aunspaugh

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 10, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Murray Arts Council Gallery

121 East Market Street

Chatsworth, Georgia

Media Contact: Dave Robinson - 706-229-1575

The exhibit will remain up through May 27, 2016.

Links:
Richard Aunspaugh - A Retrospective: A Lifelong Look at an Artist's Work 

http://www.reinhardt.edu/News/0304_releases/Aunspaugh_exhibit_020904.html

Five Questions for Dick Aunspaugh (article, Jan. 2012), Today@YHC 
http://www.yhc.edu/about/news-media/publications/today/january-2012#5q

Spring Place Festival, Spring Place, near Chatsworth, Georgia: August 15th

Spring Place Festival Set for August 15, 2015; To Include Dedication of Fort Hoskins Historic Marker

Spring Place, Georgia, near Chatsworth, in Murray County, Georgia: The 18th annual Spring Place Community Festival will be held Saturday, August 15 at the Old Spring Place Methodist Church just off Georgia Highway 225 South.  Sponsored by the Spring Place Ruritan Club and the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, the Festival commemorates Spring Place’s heritage and raises funds for the continued preservation of the Old Spring Place Methodist Church, Murray County’s oldest building designed for public use.  

The Festival’s theme this year is “Spring Place:  Red, White, and You” and will feature a special display of 20th Century U.S. Military memorabilia collected by Murray Countians Dale Sluder and Ronald Scott.  A historic display inside the church will include postcards and photographs from the Hill Jones collection of the Society’s archives, World War II photographs donated by Velma Ray, and “Home Front items from World War II and Korea loaned by Carlton McDaniel.  A highlight of this display will be a copy of a letter written home by Gary Cruse, one of four Murray County men who died in Vietnam along with newspaper clippings and a World War II “Gold Star” banner from the Center Valley community donated by Paul Ross. 

The festival will open at 8 am and will have something for everyone. Members will have their usual bake sale with homemade cakes of all kinds. Breakfast biscuits and hot dog lunches are among other items being sold to raise funds to maintain the old church. A large assortment of “new” and used books, collectibles, and flea market items including Christmas decorations, vinyl records and VHS tapes, glassware, toys, and household items attract buyers as well. The flea market will also include clothes again this year, too. 

Another part of the fundraiser is a raffle for a 20” X 30” Murray County Veterans Memorial Park photograph by Benny Huggins along with a gift card from Hobby Lobby toward framing.  The raffle has a $100 value and tickets are $2 each or three for a $5 donation.

DVD’s, books, maps, post cards, note cards, Christmas ornaments, and posters will be available for purchase at the Historical Society booth. Historic calendars, prints, newspapers, quarterlies, and even a cookbook are among other items that will be for sale. The Old Church Museum room will be open throughout the day, too.

The largest fundraising event is an auction set to begin at 10:00 a.m. Things to be auctioned include several artist prints (including Susan Ingle McKinney’s new Vann House print, Ben Hamptons, and others); gift certificates to area businesses such as Chatsworth Ford; sets of local history books; antique furniture, antique farm equipment, vintage tools, children’s bicycles and a rug donated by Value Carpets.

The culminating activity of the day will be the dedication of the Fort Hoskins historic marker.  Hoskins was a Cherokee Indian removal fort located in Spring Place.  The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. The erection of the marker was a joint project of the Daughters of the American Colonists, Daughters of Indian Wars, and the Friends of the Vann House. 

The MCHS Alumni Association will have rock building post cards, notecards, and prints for sale while First National Community Bank, The Spring Place Ruritan Club, the Murray County Gideon Camp, and Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful will have information tables. Beavers Family Farms will be selling local honey and other products, too.

The church is south of the Chief Vann House State Historic Site, off of Georgia Highway 225. Parking will be available on Elm Street.  To find out more about the festival, call Elizabeth Robinson at 706-695- 6021, Carlton McDaniel at 706-695-2110, Jyana and Chuck Smith at 706-695-8297, or Tim Howard at 706-695-2740.

Murray Arts Council in Murray County, Georgia

Murray Arts Council in Murray County, Georgia, is the first organized multi-arts center for this North Georgia County. For a tiny non-profit, it started out with lots of energy and great ideas. First, it promoted Go Murray Arts, a center for visual, theatrical, and musical arts. GMA leased the old bank building on Market Street in Chatsworth: a wonderful brick building over a hundred years old, I think. It has lots of character. John Christian, the director, quickly filled the building with lots of great paintings: big canvases featuring showbills for plays to decorate the walls in the music/stage area, and a multitude of landscapes, portraits, and nature paintings to jump-start the next-door visual-arts and music galleries. He advocated for funds to build a small stage and quickly organized some talent shows for local children. Soon there were monthly block parties, music jam sessions, karaoke, and a small gallery to showcase local visual artists. Our local schools now have scheduled art classes that come to them in the Go Murray Arts van. Bruce opened a coffee shop that serves as a nice stopping place for creative (and hungry) souls. He recently wowed everyone with his rendition of "Just a Gigolo" on karaoke night: what a wonderful, booming voice! It all has such an exciting, metropolitan feel to it. All of these things are a "first" for Chatsworth. The arts center is already experiencing its first growing pains, after barely a year. The bank building, which has great expanses of "character," unfortunately has very little in the way of actual working space. Tables and chairs were crowded around a tiny stage. John Christian has already expanded Go Murray Arts into Eton, Georgia, by opening a visual-arts studio on 1st Street there. At present, the old bank building is still in the picture. The coffee shop and galleries are still there, for now. It's not an easy thing for a small town to support an arts center, but we're hoping that the Murray Arts Council, Go Murray Arts, and the Coffee Shop continue to flourish and grow.

Here's to cultural opportunities in Murray County and North Georgia in general: hoping we can keep everything going and growing!

Related websites:

Go Murray Arts Facebook Fan Page
John Christian's Arts venue, now in Eton, Georgia

The Coffee Shop and Gallery Facebook Fan Page

Murray Arts Center
(Arts council, non-profit)
Chatsworth, Georgia

Note: the non-profit itself was set up in nearby Dalton (Whitfield County) by current board members, with documentation filed by Brad Rowe and Penny Carpenter for the council located in Chatsworth.

Headrick Family Tree

The Headrick family tree has been a project of nearly twenty-five years of research. Over the years, the Southern Muse archives has collected quite a few photos, marriage licenses, death certificates, and photos of tombstones. These are all grist to the genealogist's mill! I have written up various brief stories about the family and printed reports; but, I haven't yet done the complete, all-inclusive book of Headricks. I have uploaded some of my Headrick photos, marriage licenses, and other documents, though. That might make it a little easier for the next generation. Scanning is slow, so I still have a long way to go ~ but this is a start...

Photos and Documents: Headrick Family of Murray County, Georgia

ABOVE: Alice Headrick Burns and Drusilla Headrick Grigsby

Old Rock Building in Ashes

This morning, while it was still dark, I drove by the old rock building. Smoke was still rising from the ruins of the old stone walls, and a faint glow came from what was left of the windows. It had almost a majestic look to it... but the light of day will bring back the dismal truth of it. There is nothing but a charred black shell left of the old building that we so loved. Native stone, of course, does not burn. It only blackens. The roof is gone, though, leaving charred two-by-fours sticking out like burnt toothpicks. Any hope of renovation is gone, as well. No phoenix is expected to rise from these ashes. What is left of the old rock building will most likely be demolished.

References:

Daily Citizen News article by Rachel Brown: Rock Building Burns

Photo of the rock building fire by Misty Watson of the Daily Citizen News.

(More photos of the fire are currently available at pictures.daltoncitizen.com. See Rock Building Fire 9/26/09).

The old rock building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Murray County High School Historic District in Chatsworth, Georgia.

The Old Rock Building Burned

Painting of the Old Rock Building

(Chatsworth, Georgia): The Old Rock Building burned today. I feel as if I've lost an old friend. The old high school has stood since 1934 ~ such a beautiful old building! It was on the National Register of Historic Places. I have a weakness for buildings constructed of stone ~ especially the old thick-hewn mountain stone. The rock building had that lovely old native-stone construction. I loved the old facade, too. The mission style gave it such character.

Not long ago, we were raising the money to have it renovated so that it could be used as the central offices for Murray County schools. It was starting to look good after all the work that had been done on the exterior. Now it is in ruins. I had hoped that the story was untrue, or that the fire was minor; but I've just seen a picture of it. The fire was devastating ~ The stone outer walls are about the only thing left of the building.

I haven't been over to see the ruins of the building. Ironically, I was too busy escaping the flash floods that covered Murray County and all of North Georgia today...

Battle of Athens, Tennessee

Chatsworth, Georgia: Whitfield-Murray Historical Society will meet on Sunday, July 22 at 2:30 pm at the Old Wright Hotel. The program will be on the Battle of Athens, Tennessee (1946). The public is invited. Admission is free. Seating is limited.

This meeting was earlier set to be at the old Spring Place Methodist Church, but was changed to the Wright Hotel.

Spring Place Community Festival, August 18th

Chatsworth, Georgia:

The 10th Annual Spring Place Community Festival is coming up, August the 18th. This is a small but nice, old-fashioned community festival, with a "country" atmosphere. It is held annually in Spring Place community, west of Chatsworth, Georgia (not too far from the Chief Vann House, south of it on Hwy. 225).

This is a small festival, but packed with great events. I don't have all the details, but last year featured an antique automobile show for the first time, and I think this year will do the same.
There's always an auction of goods donated by local businesses and community members ~ usually prints, paintings, and sets of books and coins, as well as household items. You never know what they'll have, and the auction is fun to watch.

They usually have a bake sale. (Community festivals that have bake sales are my absolute favorites ~ I always stuff myself silly on pecan pie, chocolate-chip cookies, and homemade fudge ~ can't eat dessert for the rest of the year!) Indoors is a bookstore, featuring new and used books donated by community members. Whitfield-Murray Historical Society also has
books for sale, featuring local authors on Murray County history. There's also a country store set up inside, with homemade jams, jellies, and handicrafts. They also have a great indoor flea market with antiques, collectibles and household items. I have found some wonderful treasures there in the past, at real flea-market prices.

This is one of my favorite rummage sales! There are a few arts-and-crafts booths, with local crafters. Outside are other vendors and concessions, so you won't go hungry. As always, they'll have several raffles of handmade crafts and goods donated by community members.
Volunteers are needed and welcomed. They usually need someone to help with rummage, help set up tables and booth, etcetera. The date for this year's festival is Saturday, August 18th, 2007, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Come early so you won't miss the auction
and other events!

For locations, directions and more detail on past events, go to:
http://www.southernmuse.com/southern/spf_about.html

Appalachian Wagon Train Parade, July 6th, 2007

Chatsworth, Georgia: It's Wagon Train time! Every year, 'round about the 4th of July, everybody pours into town to see the wagon train. The festival started June 28th and will continue on through July 8th. There's a week's worth of events, with rodeos, barrel racing, horse shows, livestock auctions, you name it ~ If there's a horse, mule or wagon involved, it goes! One of the main events is the wagon-train parade, down the main street of Chatsworth, Georgia. That event will be on July 6th, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. They used to head on over to Ellijay by horseback, but I'm not sure if they do that anymore. Murray County Saddle Club sponsors this event. This year is the 47th annual event!

Fort Mountain, Chatsworth, Georgia.

[Photo has been retouched for color.]

Old Rock Building Prints

Chatsworth, Georgia: Old Rock Building ~

The prints of the Old Rock Building are back. They look good. They are trimmed and have no border, so my framing suggestion would be a gallery mount, leaving a white or off-white border between the print and the mat. Murray County Board of Education will sell the prints to raise funds for the renovation of the Old Rock Building, which is currently under way. The original art was an acrylic painting donated by D.K. Pritchett. You can see the art prints at Pat's Antiques in Chatsworth (posted date, current 06-30-07).

For more information on the Old Rock Building and why it is so special to Chatsworth, see the articles at southernmuse.com/rockbldg.html

FYI: The building is now called the V.C. Pickering Administrative Offices, but is affectionately known as the old rock building. As of 2004, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Murray County High School Historic District (District 04000628) 1004 Green St., Chatsworth, Georgia. After renovation, the building will be the central offices for Murray County Schools.