If you’re familiar with this website, you may know that I sometimes just post whimsical things I encounter in my travels. This fiberglass giraffe, beckoning customers into an antique and thrift shop on Georgia Highway 17, may just be one of the most interesting things I’ve found.
Mrs. Lena Braswell has been known to generations of readers of Georgia’s Farmers & Consumers Market Bulletin for being the go-to supplier of every possible variety of gourd and then some. What started as a challenge from a favorite aunt to grow gourds to attract nesting Purple Martins grew into a legendary business, built entirely on reputation and Mrs. Braswell’s love of her many customers from all over the world.
My father has always subscribed to the Market Bulletin and got to know Lena Braswell through his orders from her over the years. He said no matter the size of the order, there was always a personal thank-you. She was always glad to talk to customers over the phone about the gourds and imparted her knowledge about the best ways to cultivate them.
This is one of the strangest but most heartwarming monuments you will see in Georgia.
On this spot in 1933 during the Great Depression neighbors of a farmer named Bartow Barron joined together to rescue his pig from a dry well. This monument is erected to the spirit of friendship and community so characteristic of those times.
Donors listed on the monument: Reynolds Allen, Beegee Baugh, John Burkey, Suzanne Caskey, Chris Chandler, Beaufort Cranford, Ruth Cranford, Nancy Culberson, Lee Dickens, May Donnelly, Charles W. Ennis, Noel Fowler, Floride Gardner, Emily Garner, Don Hartsfield, Myralyn Hartsfield, Goat Helton, Francis Ross Hicks, Cecil Hodges, Mary Holt, Martha Johnson, Maxa Osterman, Brenda Phillips, Rubye C. Pittman, Wesley Pittman, Randolph Puckett, Gus Pursley, Leon Thigpen, Catherine Everett Thurston, Elizabeth Tinley, and Harriett Wright.
I’m not sure when the monument was erected, but I would guess the mid-1990s. I believe a poem about this incident was published by Harold A. Martin in his book Southland and Other Poems of the South [Cherokee Publishing, 1992], which is referenced at the bottom of the marker.
Goat Town isn’t really a town and it never was, though you can locate it on a good map. It’s just down the hill from Deepstep, whose iconic old store is also associated with the Veal family. T. Jeff Veal III, who uses his grandfather’s old country store [built circa 1920] as a workshop to build custom furniture, explained to me that a large herd of goats was kept around the corner in years gone by and the name just stuck. I’ve been here a couple of times and it never ceases to amaze me; it’s widely popular with Georgia’s backroads photographers.
Here’s a great vintage slide from around 1960, shared by Brett Schneider who bought it at an estate sale. The photographer and subject are unknown at this time, but that’s likely one of the Veal boys working on his bicycle in the background.
This old store at Peacock’s Crossing features regularly updated murals about the Georgia Bulldogs. Some are good and some are bad, depending on your perspective. [This one complains about the effectiveness of the University of Georgia’s head football coach Mark Richt. The artists obviously love the Bulldogs and think they could do better. No matter your loyalties, I think they make a valid point]. I photographed this one in 2010.
Check out the sign’s Facebook page.
Allentown has the unusual distinction of being located in four counties: Wilkinson, Laurens, Bleckley, and Twiggs.
Besides being the site of the most isolated and endangered historic African-American community in Georgia, Sapelo Island is also home to the University of Georgia’s Marine Institute. The island was owned by tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds, Jr., from 1934 until his death in 1964, and during most of his ownership he allowed the University the use of facilities for research. According to the Marine Institute, Reynolds commissioned German sculptor Fritz Zimmer to create a fountain honoring the turkey, in 1936. A large turkey (seen above) is the centerpiece and two smaller turkeys flank the sides of the unusual landmark.
Reynolds spent a lot of time hunting on the island, so perhaps it was just an extension of his love of the sport. But at least one persitent rumor of a more tongue-in-cheek origin suggests that he built it as a Christmas gift to his wife. Apparently, she wasn’t impressed, but the fountain remains. It’s been dry for years but the last I read it was being restored.
If you visit Sapelo, it’s located on the quadrangle of the Marine Institute and it can’t be missed. It’s one of the most curious pieces of outdoor sculpture in Georgia and pays homage to one of our greatest gamebirds.
These decorations are nearly 20 feet tall and are a well-loved annual tradition which was started by J. Hall Neesmith. Thanks to Kate Moses for the background information.
The most-photographed roadside symbol in Plains, the “Smiling Peanut” was made for a rally in Evanston, Indiana in 1976 by James Kiely, Doyle Kifer, and Loretta Townsend. After spending years beside the depot, it was later moved to the Davis E-Z Mart on Highway 45.
