“I'm
kinder lopsided an' pidgin-toad, but watch me keepin de middle er de
road.”
Joel
Chandler Harris
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,
zip-a-Dee-ay, Wonderful feeling, wonderful day! (a quote from the movie, Song of
the South). We are are our way to go to the land of 'Brer Rabbit'.
A few of our friends had recommended we go to Eatonton saying it was
a quaint town and to definitely go see the Uncle Remus Museum in
town. We took their advise and couldn't be happier. The Uncle Remus
museum has some very interesting artifacts of the author, Joel
Chandler Harris and inventor of this great character. He was born
in the town of Eatonton on December 9, 1848 and died on July 3, 1908.
The museum is divided into two main sections. One side is all about
the author and the other side is all about his mentor, Joseph Addison
Turner who taught him the printing trade and provided him with
knowledge of how to write and how to be a journalist. Joseph was
owner of Turnwold Plantation and for a while Joel stayed at the
plantation and worked for room and board while reading everything he
could from Joseph's library. The cabin is made of two old slave
cabins. It was interesting how it was built and had the red clay to
fill the gap between the logs. Joel C. Harris spent hundreds of
hours in the slave quarters and learned all he could about the
slaves, their language, and how they lived. His animal stories in
Uncle Remus tales was said to be based on his time spent here.
We
walked around and looked at his collection of books and pictures.
Joe pointed out there are two original Walt Disney pictures at the
museum. How special. As we were walking around, a nice older man
came into the room we were in and said, “Come on, Georgia is going
to tell a story.” We obediently followed him. Georgia was a
lovely and passionate black lady probably in her 70's who wanted to
tell us about one of the authors books, “Little Black Sambo” and
talked to everyone in the room. This was a banned book as it was
thought to be racist. She was asked by a little boy, “Have you
ever felt discriminated against. How was it being a
slave?”
Georgia laughed and stated to him she was never a slave nor had she
ever been discriminated against as she wouldn't allow it. She said
as a little girl, her parent divorced and she has to take a bus by
herself to see her mother. She walked into the bus and the bus
driver said, “You sit right behind me.” She did as she was
told and after that she always felt that was her seat. She said
anytime she got on a bus, she always just sat there. No one every
said anything to her as they knew it was her seat. She stated the
is one word in our country that needs to be eliminated and that word
is “Offend”. She went on to say none of us had anything to do
with the slaves and she would like to have people talk and look
beyond color and be able to say what each other thinks. She had
such a great spirit. I could have listened to her all day. She
recommended the movie, “Song of the South” stating it was a
masterpiece. It has been years since seeing it but we will surely
go watch it again. Georgia, you made the museum fascinating.
The
grounds were lovely with trees shading the area and an iron working
shop. There also was a well shelter dating back to 1839 that was
once in the town square but was moved to this location. This shelter
is in great shape. I love the carved animal characters on the lot
as well. What a fun place to visit.
After
leaving there, we wanted to see the town square. The courthouse is a beautiful brick building with parts dating back to 1824 and was
renovated in 1994. Brer Rabbit graces the front of the building
holding his pipe with style.
In the middle of the town square is a Confederate Statue to honor the soldiers who served in Putnam County. It states - “Those who fought and lived, and those who fought and died.”
We walked around the little town and got to see the site
of Barnes Tavern where the author was born. We also saw the two
room house that he, his mother, and grand-mother lived in the back
yard of the Andrew Reid Mansion in 1853.. The Mansion is now offices
and needs restoration but is a beautiful large white home with columns.
By
then we were feeling a little weak from the heat and needed some
nourishment. We went to The Frisk Pub for some wings, fries, and a
cold drink. That was a nice place with a fun atmosphere and has
live music at night on the weekends. It felt great to sit and
relax. Our waitress was very nice and took good care of us.
We
headed out of town and went to see our next site, the Rock Hawk
Effigy. It is not known why this was here but they know this was on
Native American soil before the early settlers arrived. The rocks are
quartz rocks in the shape of a hawk. Some of the rocks were quite
large and must have been dragged to the site. Not much information
is known about this site. One estimate states it could be 2,000
years old but there are many variations in the dates. This was an
interesting stop. We walked down the path reading all the signs
about the history of his area, the wildlife here, things to see
locally, and maps. When we got to the end of the trail, there was a
large platform where you walk up three flights to get a great view of
the Hawk. You can see the Hawk but there is another effigy in the
area that is more defined. There is also a little outside museum
with signs that you can read about the history of Georgia and Putnam
County. Very interesting information.
Driving
towards our last stop we drove by a most scenic mill called Millmore
Mill established around 1800 on the Shouderbone Creek on Hwy 77.
This has gone by many different names including Baxter's Mill, Sparta
Mil, and the current name, Millmore Mill. We stopped to look at this
beautiful red mill in such a picturesque setting. Georgia does have
some beautiful places to see.
Our
last stop was to stop back at Courson's Winery to pick up a few
bottles of their fruit wines. When we pulled up, the girl who was
running the store was outside with a baby goat. What a cute little
goat. We walked inside with the girl, Heather and Billy, the goat.
I feel instantly in love with that little goat. Billy was only
about three weeks old and was still bottle fed. We had an instant
connection. Billy was the owners goat and Heather was watching for
him. We once again recommend this wine to anyone who is a wine
lover. They let you taste any wine you are interested in buying and
they have a lot of choices. Heather was a terrific host and very
nice to talk to. The bee guy was there also and was showing us a
queen bee and explained the process. He was also very nice. As
we were leaving, Heather picked up Billy and brought him to the door
so we could see he was crying at our departure. Aw. What a cutie.
I will miss you sweet Billy. Wwwcoursonswinery.com.
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