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."

Gilmer Arts and Heritage Association: Jewelry Class on April 13

Gilmer Arts and Heritage Association in Ellijay, Georgia will offer a jewelry-making class on Wednesday, April 13, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The jewelry is of semi-precious stones, real crystals, glass, carved wood, and other excellent-quality materials. The class fee is $15, plus a supply fee of $10 (bracelet) or $15 (necklace). Vicki Wagoner, “The Practical Intutive,” guides participants as they create a memory in the form of a piece of jewelry. Wagoner’s class promotes the spiritual joy of working alongside others to share ideas and techniques, while creating a beautiful and meaningful piece of jewelry to keep and wear, or to give to a friend. Wagoner’s workshop is offered the second Wednesday of each month. Call Gilmer Arts at 706-635-5605 to enroll.

Please support the arts in your area!

Gilmer Arts and Heritage Association
207 Dalton Street
Ellijay, GA 30540
(706) 635-5605

Visit the artist’s Facebook Fan Page:
Vicki Wagoner: The Practical Intuitive
https://www.facebook.com/Vicki-Wagoner-The-Practical-Intuitive-161154893949429/

Ellijay, Gilmer County, Georgia, is located in the mountains of North Georgia.

Shout-Out to North Georgia girl's blog: Just Another Story

Here's a quick plug for a North Georgia girl...

Her blog, Just Another Story, has nostalgic memories of Christmas in the South and other stories:

Just Another Story
http://www.nrthgagirl.com/

Chief Vann House Will Display Historic Maps ~ Spring Place, Georgia

The Chief Vann House Historic Site will display a collection of historic maps, all during the month of March. This month also begins new hours for the Vann House: it will be open Thursday through Sunday from 9 to 5. Previously, the historic site had been closed on Sundays.

Most of the maps on display are from a historic collection donated by Ivan Allen, Sr., of Atlanta, years ago. Among the maps are originals and historic reproductions of maps going all the way back to the days of Spanish occupation and French claims to what is now Georgia, from the 1500's, up through the early 18th century.  A few of these maps were acquired by Mr. Allen during visits to Great Britain. Some have titles like "Carta Geografica Della Florida" and "Carte de la Louisiana et du Mississippi."

Other maps on display are a 1776 image entitled a "General Map of the Southern British Colonies" which includes North and South Carolina along with East and West Florida as well as Georgia.  A highlight is a 1795 Georgia map which shows "Vann's Town" here before the current house was even built!  Rounding out the Allen portion of the display are maps of the Cherokee Nation ~ East and West ~ from the 1800's.

Over the years the Vann House has accumulated a variety of maps, but has no permanent display area for them. This is a rare opportunity for map lovers to see all the maps together. To round out the exhibit, the Vann House will also display copies of maps showing Indian trails and stagecoach routes across north Georgia (when Spring Place was a "mission station") as well as an 1890's Murray County map which labels the Vann House as "Goins Hill", reflecting the many changes in ownership the house endured over two centuries.  Completing the display are copies of the original 1832 Murray County Land Lottery surveys from the Georgia Archives.

Biographical Sketch of Ivan Allen:

Allen was a prominent businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist. He was quite instrumental in the purchase and restoration of the Vann House in the 1950's. He also gave the land to start Fort Mountain State Park. Ivan Allen's connections to Murray County, Georgia, go back to the days of Cherokee Removal when his maternal ancestors moved from Tennessee to the frontier town of Spring Place and opened the Chester Inn.  The Chesters later moved to Dalton where Mr. Allen was born and grew up.  Besides the map collection, he also donated funds toward the purchase of the property as well as several pieces of furniture--some of which had been used at the Old Chester Inn in Spring Place in the 1840's!

Mr. Allen's son, Ivan, Jr., was well-known as mayor of Atlanta during a time of tremendous growth and change. The younger Mr. Allen was an integral part of the creation of the Friends of the Vann House group in the 1980's.

The Allen maps and other maps in the Vann House collection will be out for public viewing in both the Robert E. Chambers Visitor Center and the Vann House itself for the next few weeks.

Remember the new Vann House schedule, beginning in March: 9-5 Thursday-Sunday, as announced by Georgia Department of Natural Resources management recently. For more information about the historic map exhibition or the Chief Vann House State Historic Park and Museum, call the site at 706-695-2598. Chief Vann House Historic Site is located at 82 Hwy 225 N, Chatsworth, Georgia, in Spring Place, a historic community several miles west of downtown Chatsworth.

Mountain Bluebird

I think I saw a mountain bluebird today. They are birds of the American West, and of Mexico, so North Georgia seems outside the range. According to one site, though, they do sometimes show up in the eastern states in winter, and as far north as Alaska. These small birds are a brilliant cyan blue, very different from the softer, true blue of the usual bluebirds ~ and there's no red on his breast. This one was on the fence of a pasture at Cohutta Springs Conference Center. The first one I ever spotted was in Varnell, Georgia, some years ago. I've seen maybe three or four since, all near Crandall. A couple of days ago I saw an owl. I've only seen a handful of those in my lifetime. He was perched atop some roadkill. The face was very round and cream-colored, with no prominent ear feathers. I can't decide if he was a barred owl or a barn owl. They're really not that much alike, but I didn't get to look at him closely. That same day, I spotted two flocks of redbirds, of about eight or ten each. They looked smaller than cardinals and didn't seem to have a hood (though I could have missed this detail). I've looked for similar birds on-line. The closest I found to it was the summer tanager (not to be confused with the scarlet tanager, which has black on its wing). North Georgia is definitely outside the range for summer tanagers in winter, though they come here to breed in summer, according to the range maps. So... I'm just a little confused. (I'm no expert on birds ~ but when I spot an interesting one, I try to find a description to figure out what I've seen.)

Mountain Bluebird: http://the.owyhees.com/bluebird.htm
Summer Tanager:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MigratoryBirds/Featured_photo/Images/Bigpic/suta3.jpg

Christmas without Santa Claus

Poverty pervades the stories of North Georgia and of the American South. Poverty has shaped the life of Southern Muse, though in no way has my life been poor. The feeling of poverty came instead in stories that were told to us. It came to us as a fear from our parents. A fear that the Great Depression would return. The Depression, more than anything else, shaped the lives of the people of Franklin D. Roosevelt's generation. Those who were touched by The Great Depression in childhood never escaped it, quite. They passed those fears on to their children, and even their grandchildren, the child of the cellphone and big-screen TV, as hard as that might be to fathom. Here's a story that my aunt once told me.

She had been taken in. Her own parents were in dire straits, partly of their own making. Their parents took in my aunt and her two brothers. They stayed in a little lean-to in the small house, along with their cousin, Bill, who had also been taken in. That Christmas, their father came to them and told them there would be no Santa Claus that Christmas. Times were just too hard. They noticed, though, that Bill's daddy didn't tell him that. So they wondered about it. Santa Claus might, they thought ~ he might just come anyway. Christmas Eve, they waited and wondered. Would Santa Claus come? They finally fell asleep.

Christmas morning, they awoke and looked around eagerly. Sure enough, Bill's side of the lean-to had a little red wagon. It was a Radio Flyer, no doubt. Sadly, their side of the lean-to had nothing. Not a sugarplum. Not an orange. Not a shiny new penny. Nothing.

Thunderstorm!

"The bottom just dropped out!" That's the way Mama would say it, when it came a big thunderstorm. "It rained like all get-out!" I don't know where she got that saying. Appalachian people never say a thing plain when they can embellish the words. The rain on our tin roof sounds like a loud roar, but wonderful in this time of drought. This kind of thunderstorm usually comes in the summertime. It rages and roars and the lightning flashes, wild. There's no fear ~ it's not a tornado. (We get tornadoes in spring.) I don't dread a storm. I love it!

Thunderstorms make me think of Huckleberry Finn, and the wonderful way that Twain describes the thunderstorms on Jackson's Island, when "it rained like all fury," and it "would get so dark that it looked all blue-black outside, and lovely; and the rain would thrash along by so thick that the trees off a little ways looked dim and spider-webby." (Chapter IX)

We get the most wonderful thunderstorms in North Georgia, and flash floods that cause the mountain ravines to resound with crashing water. Our storm came quickly, dumped buckets of water on us, and faded quietly, as quickly as it came. Now there's just the soothing sound of raindrops and the glad knowledge that Muskrat Creek, all summer-dry and stagnant, will once again echo through these cobalt blue hills.

Yellow Jackets

The other day I stuck my hand into a nest of yellow jackets. Not a smart thing to do, but I didn't know it was there. It was a cold day. I had decided to move an old Christmas tree that was in a box on the back porch. The artificial tree had been sitting there for a month or two, ever since I'd had a wild hare and cleaned up our storage room. Anything sitting outside in North Georgia is likely to house a critter or two. I knew that ~ so I was prepared for beetles or squirrels, or maybe even a little green snake or two. I pulled out the tree top and shook it. It was fine. Then I pulled out a couple of branches. That's when I saw the papery mess in the corner of the box. "Eee-ew-www, termites!" I thought. I reached deep down into the box for the next branch. Underneath there, it looked even worse than I'd thought. And something was moving around. I slapped the branch on the box to get rid of the bits of clinging paper. Now I noticed a bit of movement on the porch, something wiggling. "Kind of big for termites..." I bent to get a closer look. Yellow jackets! Simultaneously, I noticed one yellow jacket curled around the tip of my ring finger! Wow! I dropped that branch and hit the steps flying. The yellow jackets lay sluggish, but wriggling on the porch. They had been stunned by the cold, but startled by the intrusion into their cozy haven. Somehow, I had escaped with only one sting, and I didn't even feel that until later. I ran around the house and bounced into the front door. "Yellow jackets," I said, and told about my close call. We sneaked up the back stairs and looked out the window. Fully awake now, the wasps swarmed angrily around the back porch, seeking the predator that destroyed their nest ~ me! But I was safely inside. Only two days before, we had been on the tail end of a summer like warm spell. Had I moved the box that day... well, I shudder to think of it!

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.

Weinman Mineral Museum

Still laughing at ourselves: we took a day trip to Kingston (near Cartersville, Georgia), to visit the Weinman Mineral Museum ~ only to find out it was closed, and had been since July of last year! The building is under construction. It will reopen about October 2008 as a larger science museum: Tellus: Northwest Georgia Science Museum. The old Weinman Mineral Museum was nice, though small. Tellus promises to be even nicer ~ lets hope it lives up to its promise. Also, I hope they keep the minerals on display!

Art Shows have been disappointing...

Art shows in Dalton, Georgia, were disappointing this year. The Creative Arts Guild Festival 2007 had quite a few jewelers (handmade artisan jewelry). There were few painters and only a couple of sculptors and potters.

The decline might be natural, since jewelry probably sells better than the other arts and crafts in North Georgia. I doubt if many people have the budget or taste for fine arts.

The Patrons Purchase and Exhibition (indoor component of the Creative Arts Guild Festival) was a great disappointment. It's usually a very good show, packed with excellent pieces, of reasonably good quality for a small city. This year, it was dull. It reminded me of an amateur show. There were only a handful of paintings worth looking at, and those took the awards. (Usually, there are many good pieces, and only a few awards ~ so it would be a hard show to judge! Not this year, though.)

Praters Mill ~ Varnell, GA

Prater's Mill was this past weekend, and the weather was beautiful. We did the booth for Whitfield-Murray Historical Society ~ sold some history books and raffled off a painting. We set up in the mill. The Busy Bee Quilters raffled a quilt. The Busy Bee Raffle is a Prater's Mill tradition ~ they've raffled a quilt every year since the 1970's! They also work on quilts during the festival. This year, it was a pretty, embroidered quilt, with a design of kittens.

There were some nice crafts at Prater's Mill: wonderful hand-wrought silver-and-gemstone jewelry and some lovely handmade pocketbooks. I think the blacksmith was there ~ I had to tour quickly and get back to our booth. I didn't see as many traditional appalachian booths. They used to have people with big iron pots of boiled corn and kettle corn (popcorn). They did have some great food vendors, though, including pit-cooked Southern barbecue, funnel cakes, and Cajun jambalaya.

The fine arts didn't make much of a showing. There weren't many painters. The ones I saw were photo-realists, with Southern scenes as their subjects. One had some nice paintings of Chattanooga's Walnut Street pedestrian bridge (over the Tennessee River).

Even though we set up in the mill, I didn't get a chance to take the tour. I always enjoy it ~ I love to watch the flour and meal being ground, and look out over the millpond. I hope to go again next year, and take my time looking over the booths!

Dalton, Ga: Wedding at the Archives

Saturday was a first for me... we had a wedding at the Crown Gardens and Archives. Actually, the wedding was on the grounds, part of the Crown Loft apartments next door. They only rented our room for the reception. Our meeting room is very pretty, and the front parlor can be used for some individual pictures. It has an old-fashioned charm--though we could use some new carpet. Everyone loved the look of the place, said we have character. We had a little bit of cleaning to do, beforehand--character and cobwebs go together!

(Crown Gardens and Archives is located in Dalton, Georgia. Dalton is in the North Georgia region).

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.

The Bear Came Back

The bear came back! This time, I heard a noise and looked to see him standing, looking through the window of the door. I started to beat a hasty retreat in case the latch gave way, but he got down and started to walk away. I ran and dead-bolted the door, then grabbed my camera. I got in a quick shot from the kitchen (blurred by the curtain and reflected glass), but you can see the pads on the bottom of his feet. Then I ran to a bedroom and captured a snapshot of him looking into my car. My view was blocked by lots of vines, but you can just see his shape, standing tall, head stretched toward the Tracker ~ a big, black bear shape, not unlike a giant teddy bear. Finally, he walked off to the woods, where he stopped to maul a small tree, hoping for fruit. There is none (we had a late freeze, and there has been drought). I snapped one more shot, though it's so far away, he's pretty blurry. My heart was racing. It was scary to know that if the door hadn't been latched, or if he'd brushed the knob just right, he would have been inside the house...

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North Georgia is full of surprises!

Historic Preservation in Dalton, Georgia

Dalton, Georgia: Quick update from the archives... Crown Gardens and Archives was closed for about two hours today to allow Whitfield-Murray Historical Society to set up a table at a local Historic Preservation event that took place at Dalton Green (park). The importance of historic preservation was discussed. Dalton has a large area of Civil War battlements that still exist, including Rocky Face Ridge, a large tract of which has been purchased and is now out of danger of development. There was a nice lunch and had some great entertainment (some funny imitations of the Blues Brothers and a great Patsy Cline act)!

Organizations/Participants:
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
North Georgia Regional Development Center
City of Dalton
Whitfield-Murray Historical Society
Mary Jane Mohr (local author)
(Other groups and participants/complete list not available).

The remainder of the day at the archives was pretty busy, with a couple of researchers and several calls. A woman brought by a beautiful old chenille spread to show us. It is supposed to be one of the Gone-With-The-Wind spreads. It is not known whether the spread was actually used in the movie, or was sold as a souvenir around the time that the movie was released. The spread was gorgeous, as chenille bedspreads go, with a lovely basket-and-vine design. More research would have to be done to find the origin of the spread, and the owner is going to continue to research it. The archives does own one of the actual spreads used in the movie, Gone With the Wind. (Dalton is in North Georgia.)

Mr. Carter: Undertaker in Dalton, Georgia

For the researcher looking for Mr. Carter...

A researcher came by the Crown Gardens and Archives today seeking information on Mr. Carter, a former undertaker and furniture maker in Dalton, Georgia. He was known for having owned or run West Hill Cemetery in Dalton. It got kind of busy at the archives and the researcher left without leaving us any contact information. I've found the first names ~ I believe they were Albert and Charles, possibly a father-and-son pair. (I don't have the source available at home, so please contact us to get the complete source information and to make sure I have the information right.) Sorry about that. It's unusual that we had so many visitors and calls at one time!