More Georgia
Comment via blog
Check Granny's letters of the day
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Day 6: October 30, 2023 More Georgia Comment via blog Check Granny's letters of the day |
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I spent the night on the outskirts of Griffin which led to me taking
another shot at finding that Woolworth's. The town's welcome center was my
first stop. It had been closed on Sunday but was open today. Both of the
women working there tried to help me and even dug into a photo book of
Griffin history but neither knew just where the store had been. One
suggested a building that it might have been because she had her ears
pierced there as a child and recalled that it contained a lunch counter. I
decided to stop and grab some pictures in case that was later determined
to be the place. I left the welcome center thinking I might call on
Tuesday when someone they called their historian would be working.
I stopped downtown to photograph the site of the ear piercing then felt a sudden gust of common sense as I walked back to the car. Using my phone, I found a 1963 Griffin city directory online with this line in it: Woolworth F W Co D L Gupton mgr variety 111 N HillThe building in the picture is 111 N Hill. It was closed so there was no one to ask questions of and being Woolworth's in 1963 does not necessarily mean it was Woolworth's in 1923. But maybe. |
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The Robbinses stopped in Barnesville for "a few minutes" and so
did I. Carter Drugs closed in 2011 and a beauty salon now occupies the
building but the great looking sign is still on display. Here's hoping it
stays. Barnesville once called itself the "Buggy Capital of the
South" and Jackson G. Smith is the reason. His Barnesville Buggies
was by far the largest of several buggy manufacturers in the city.
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I paused too snap a picture of the courthouse in Forsyth just as I did in
2020. Apparently stopping at
Fox City
Brewing was also a repeat although I don't remember much about the
first time. This time I had a delightful conversation with beertender and
Shovels & Rope fan Cat that will make this visit easy to remember. The
pause and picture at the theater are, as best I remember, new.
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From the road, Fort Valley's water tower peeking over the train station
caught my eye. But I couldn't reproduce the perspective after I pulled
over so had to settle for this. This is where Granny bought bread for
4¢ a loaf. The wall of inspiration was a bonus from driving through
the town.
When Granny reports her bread purchase, she also mentions that gas in Georgia was a constant 20¢ per gallon which may or may not have included the three cent state tax. The least I've paid for gas on this trip was $2.72 in Cartersvill, GA. The posted price was $2.77 and my Speedway loyalty card knocked a nickel off of that. $2.65 is the lowest I've seen. Ironically, in her discussion of gas and other prices, Granny singles out Cartersville for a 35¢ a pound price gouge on meat. It was 15-20¢ per pound everywhere else in Georgia. |
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Ever since reading Granny's 1920 description of hitting the National
Highway ("the finest roads I ever saw") "about 3 miles from
Ft Vally", I have associated that town with this road. There may be
no more appropriate place than the National Highway to practice the
national pastime: applying anti-tank weaponry to things that stand still.
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