Monday January 30 1917 Claxton, friut cake capital of the world and a cotton field

Cotton is usually harvested in the fall but some how it was still in the field here

Claxton Fruit cakes are shipped all over, they are even available at Loblaw's in season

Sunday Jan 29 2017 Keller Flea market and Tybee Island

Tybee Island is about ah hours drive outside of Savannah and is beach resort with long beautiful sandy beaches. It was too cold while we were there but on a beautiful day this place would have been crowded. Most of the island is hotels and rental houses and apartments.

Add caption

The down town is very small and 90% of what they sell is tourist trap trinkets. 

The light house is part of a naval museum

Bought this whisky barrel at the Keller Flea market. It will hold 4 or 5 liters of good moonshine while it ages into whisky.

Saturday Jan 28 2017 Savannah

Savannah Georgia

A couple of square miles of the old part of the city has mostly been refurbished. All structures must conform to the look of the second oldest city in the USA. There are has fountains, statues and plaques every few blocks explaining the history.

This is a typical street, with trees covered with moss .

Even the side walks are shaded

The old part has squares like this every few blocks where you can stroll around or just sit and relax

In the center of town is this old cemetery that has been closed since 1850

Like every tourist city on the water, you can take tours on this boat

Thursday Jan 26 2017 Augusta Museum and Riverwalk

Augusta Georgia

Home of the Masters Golf Tournament. We have hoped to tour the club house and get a peek of the golf course, but no such luck. The only time you get to see the course is during the tournament and you must have a ticket. Tickets are not available unless you know someone. Members are only allowed to play 3 or 4 times a year. The course is completely closed during the hot weather and the cold weather. This is a tournament course.

This is a wonderful museum, two floors with all different sections: history of the city, civil war, slavery, local industry, local heroes, business history from the area, and golf. Easy to spend half a day or more here.

Augusta is located along the bank of the Savannah River which over the years has flooded and wiped out parts of the city. They built a levee and now they have built a walk on the top of it.

This is a view of the walk at the rivers edge. Lots of places to sit and relax as well as areas for kids to play: play structures etc

This is the concert set up . The seats are on the bank of the levee.

A view of the homes across the river . North Carolina

Tuesday Jan 24 2017 Georgia State Botanical Gardens

Georgia State Botanical Gardens

We are a bit out off season but they would be truly out standing in the summer. They total are is 313 acres , which include 5 miles of natural hiking trails. They contain 11 botanical and horticultural collections.

We hiked a 3 1/4 mile trail.

Tuesday Jan 24 2017 Georgia Guidestones

Georgia Guidestones

This massive Elberton Granite monument espousing the conservation of mankind was erected by anonymous sponsors in 1980.It weighs  over 115 tons and 20 ft high They are engraved in 12 languages, including the archaic languages of Sanskrit, Babylonian, Cuneiform, Classical Greek, and Egyptian Hieroglyphic which are on the capstones. Other languages include English, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Classical Hebrew, Swahili, Hindu, and Spanish.

The sun shines through the small hole at eyelevel at noon every day of the year as long as the sun is shining. Because of the way the hole was cut , the shadow will also identify the month of the year.

There is a small hole in the cover stone and if you look up through this hole at night , the north star is visible.

On this stone a short distance from the monument is a complete description of the monument.

Monday Jan 23 2017 Elberton , The granit capital of the world

Elberton is the granite capital of the World. 30% of all of the granite in the USA comes the one vein around Elberton. There are 45 quarries operating within a 20 mile radius and over 150 manufacturing plants. Granite in this are is almost entirely grey. Other colours of granite come from different areas of the country or from other countries such as Brazil. Knowledgeable people recognize where it comes from just by the colour. Over 40% of the residents derive their income from this one industry. The granite is mined in open pits up to 150 feet deep. Most are used for cemetery monuments. They are shipped out as blanks or there are a number of plants using various processed to  finish the monuments with beautiful and unique artistry.

Almost every building in the town has a at least a front of granite

This 50 foot Spire made of one piece is one of the worlds tallest pieces of granite. It was originally quarried and produced for the Argo trucking company but was later donated to the museum when the company was sold

A typical granite mine

Dutchy

This monument was first built by the Confederate Memorial Association after the civil war. It is credited as being what started the monument business in Elberton.  Because the local people didn't think he looked like a confederate soldier, he was pulled down with a rope and buried in 1900 right in front of the monument. 82 years later he was dug up and washed of and put in the museum. He now is the main attractions in the museum. The industry points out that even after 82 years underground and only a cleaning at a car was the granite looks like the day it was carved

Mon Jan 23 2017 Elachee

Gainsville 

History of Elachee

Elachee’s Grassroots Origin

The name Ĕ-lă-chēe is from the Cherokee language and means New Green Earth.

Elachee’s Heritage: The Chicopee Woods
According to archaeological findings circa 3,000 B.C., Archaic Indians were the earliest human inhabitants in the area. Woodland and Mississippian tribes took their place, and by the 16th and 17th centuries the area became home to the Creek and Cherokee nations. During the late 1700s small frontier farms dotted the landscape. Because the Walnut Creek watershed’s geography was not ideal for farming, the area escaped the 1800's cotton cultivation phenomenon.
In 1927, Johnson & Johnson Company, under the leadership of Robert Wood Johnson, Jr., purchased the major part of the Walnut Creek watershed to build the Chicopee Mill and Chicopee Village – a move that protected the forest and its water source. The company reduced mill production in the 1970s about the time a municipal water supply was made available to the Gainesville area. Johnson & Johnson closed the Chicopee Mill water filter plant and donated nearly 3,000-acres of the watershed to the Gainesville Area Park Commission.

This land became Chicopee Woods Area Park. This 2,674-acre greenspace is restricted for recreation and nature preservation uses.

Chicopee Woods Area Park was divided into three parcels with a public golf course on its north side and an agricultural demonstration pavilion on the west. Over 1,400 acres in the center of the Park was set aside as the Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve – land that was then leased to Elachee.

Elachee also began constructing hiking trails that today span 12 miles throughout the Nature Preserve. Among the trails is the finest barrier-free trail for mobility/vision-impaired visitors in the region. Along with hosting numerous traveling environmental literacy exhibits that attracted thousands of annual visitors.

In 2000 the Nature Preserve was recognized by The National Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area (IBA), an area essential to nesting and migrating birds.

Elachee launched a “BioBlitz” plant and animal species inventory program – among them, 38 species of upper story trees, 18 species of mid-story trees, 44 species of shrubs, 25 species of vines and 197 herbaceous plants including many rare and endangered species. The Nature Preserve is also home to countless species of animals and many aquatic animals.
Leading the Way for Environmental Literacy

We hiked the 2 mile trail

Sunday Jan 22 2017 Don Carter State Park

An easy day because of the threat of a tornado which didn't happen. Just lots of rain and wind. We hiked for a hour or so in The Don Carter State park near Gainsville.

Saturday Jan 21 2017 Dahlonega (pronounced dalonega)

Dahlonega was the site of the first major U.S. Gold Rush and is the  Heart of Georgia Wine Country,.

The first US gold rush was started here in 1928 and continued until around 1949 when many left for the gold rush in California. It is a beautiful city of about 5000 population nestled in the mountains. There are a number of gold mines still in operation in the area today.Today there is a vibrant wine industry as well as a whiskey distillery.

Consolidated Mines owns about half a dozen mines in the area but the one we visited is only open for tours. They also have a tour of an open pit mine but it was raining to much for a visit to that mine.

The pictures of the tour underground didn't turn out.

Many people travel into the hills and pan for gold in the streams even today.

View of the main building as you arrive

Rose Panning for gold. You take a tin plate about the size of a pie plate and scoop up a plate full of sand and water. You shake the plate on an angle so most of the water runs out but not the sand. Since gold is heavier than the sand the gold settles to the bottom and the sand to the top. After shaking the pan for a minute or so you dip it into the water at the same angle as you used to get rid of the water. The light sand floats of the plate and you repeat the process until there is only about a hand full of sand left in the plate. At this point you sift through the sand and find the tiny pieces of gold.

Friday Jan 20 Alpine Helen Village

The Village of Helen is patterned after a Swiss Village. It has a complete down town with about 50 stores, plus hotels, convention center, and all kinds of things to entertain you. It has less than 500 permanent residents. Every building in the town is designed to match the Alpine village appearance. An interesting place to visit but really just a tourist trap.

Friday Jan 20 2017 Baby Land General

In 1977 Xavier Roberts created the cabbage patch dolls. I was fortunate enough to have met him at the Montreal toy show the year they were introduced . The bulk of the Cabbage Patch Dolls are imported and sold in Dept sores but he has built this visitor center and sells the original hand made ones here and on line . They are crafted by local artisans around Cleveland.

This is the building that is called Babyland General where all cabbage patches are born. It has an area for kids birthday parties as well as a meeting room for about 200 people. The rest of the space is used as a retail store

This is the nurse delivering the baby cabbage patch. Notice the intervenes bottle.

After they are born they are taken to the nursery where the nurse weighs, checks their heart beat and gives them a name.

These are pictures of some of the displays in the show room