Volume 20, no. 1 • April 2002

WELCOME GEORGIA TRUST!

Site of Friday's registration

Friday afternoon will see participants arriving into town. Registration takes place at the Troup County Archives. Guided walking tours of downtown by staff member Barry Jackson and Trust Heritage Education coordinator Jennifer Holcombe will then take place in the downtown LaGrange historic district. The tours will be similar to walking tours done during heritage education classes for teachers. Sanborn maps and historic photographs will be studied to determine how downtown has changed. Sites included on the Friday afternoon tour include the Gallery on the Square, the Troup County Courthouse, the Heard-Beall-Dallis home, Thyme Away Bed and Breakfast, Warren Temple United Methodist Church, LC Connection, and Hill Street House. The afternoon concludes with refreshments in the garden of the Arnold-Mattox house. Tessa Matthews, a former Miss Troup County, will be playing the cello in the gardens.

A reception will be held at the Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum for first time attendees and new members in the late afternoon. The day will conclude with a barbecue at Cloverland. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the home features a broad front porch with massive columns. The drive to the home is lined with pecan trees. The evening will conclude with entertainment by Jerry Smith followed by Debbie Nagel of the Shondrells. Jerry Nagel will be our Master of Ceremonies.

Saturday will start at Callaway Auditorium with an official welcome to LaGrange and “orientation Bingo” by teachers who participated in the 2001 Troup County Heritage Education class. The Trust will then present its annual awards for the best historic preservation activities in the state. A picnic lunch follows.

A tour of homes on Saturday afternoon promises to have something for every taste. Homes on the tour date from the early 1850s to the 1930s. The tour will focus on the Broad Street and Vernon Road Historic Districts in LaGrange. Two LaGrange College properties are included on the driving tour: historic Smith Hall and the newly renovated Sunny Gables, now home for the Alumni office of LaGrange College. The Callaway-Edge-Locke-Callaway Home on Vernon Road which was designed by famed Georgia architect Neel Reid will be open as a “work in progress” since renovations are underway. Other homes on the tour include two apartments in the Yancey-Traylor House at 600 Broad Street, the Hammett-Mattox home on Gordon Street, the Park-Holtrey-Pitts home on Broad Street, and the Morgan-Culpepper-Birkeli home on Broad. Bellevue, the only National Landmark in Troup County, will also be open.

On Saturday night, participants will go to one of two receptions: either the membership reception at Bellevue which will be hosted by the LaGrange Women’s Club or the Heritage Reception at the Farmer-Cauble Home on Broad Street. The Cauble home was designed by Neel Reid. Then for dinner, everyone will gather on the lawn of the Oaks. A quartet from the LaGrange Symphony will provide a musical accompaniment. The dinner will be catered by Lee Epting of Athens. Participants in the Saturday evening Progressive dinner will then move on to the Lamar Dodd Art Center for dessert. This will be the final evening of the LaGrange National Art exhibit.

On Sunday morning, participants will gather at Hills and Dales. They will tour the gardens and the house and enjoy brunch.

As you can tell by this agenda, everyone should have a fabulous time! Great locations and music, and great old and new friends should come together for a memorable weekend.

Members of the LaGrange host committee have been working since May of 2001 on this meeting. The committee members have worked hard and diligently to assure that this is a great meeting.

Members of the committee are:

• Susan Hall
• Ellen Harris
• Kathleen Gulley
• Julia Dyar
• Betty Fagundes
• Harriett Edge
• Susan Hall
• Bit Taylor
• Karen Scarborough
• Kaye Minchew, chair

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:

ORACLE IS A WINNER!

The book about Mayhayley Lancaster, a lawyer, school teacher, political activist, fortune teller, and self-proclaimed “Oracle of the Ages” has certainly been a hit in Troup County and elsewhere. The Troup County Historical Society has sold several hundred copies making it one of our best selling volumes. Both people who remember Mayhayley, and perhaps had their fortunes told, and those who have only recently learned of this real-life character from West Georgia, have enjoyed the book and bought extra copies to give to family and friends!

The book has been featured in the Troup County section of the Georgia EMC magazines and is expected to be mentioned in an article about Mayhayley in an upcoming issue. Local author Jackie Kennedy is writing the article.

The volume was published by New South Press in Montgomery and is now in its third printing. The Troup County Historical Society and Archives should have autographed copies for sale by mid-April. The cost is $23.95. You can pick up a copy at the Archives at 136 Main Street in LaGrange or call at 706-884-1828 to reserve your copy. Copies can also be mailed if that is more convenient.

CONGRATULATIONS DOT AND KATIE! This is a great book and most deserving of this grand award!!

MUSEUM ON MAIN

A kickoff meeting of the fundraising committee was held on January 22, 2002, to develop a fundraising strategy. Jenny Copeland is chairing the committee with Betty Fagundes and Jane Foster serving as cochairs. The committee recommended that the name be Museum On Main and the Board of Trustees of the Troup County Historical Society has endorsed this idea. The museum will provide space for displays on Indians (including artifacts removed during the excavation for West Point Lake in the early 1970s), the Nancy Harts, Horace King and early builders, textiles, and much more as well as space for traveling exhibits like the Smithsonian’s Barn Again which proved so popular in 1997. Space will be available for storing artifacts donated to the project. Those interested in donating to the project or working with the fundraising committee should call 884-1828.

Renovation of the 1924 building, which was designed by Atlanta architects Ivey and Crook for Fuller E. Callaway, Sr., will enhance improvements to Main Street begun in the early 1990s. This will be the first museum dedicated to history in Troup County. The Troup County Historical Society also operates the Troup County Archives, which is located across the street from the proposed museum at 136 Main Street. The Archives houses historical documents, photographs, and books about Troup County and West Georgia.

RECENT DONATIONS TO THE TROUP COUNTY ARCHIVES

“The Oaks” print, 1980. Teaching Certificate & Sunday School Certificate of Katherine Tigner, 1905, 1916, & Topographical Maps of Troup County. Donated by Earl Cook, Jr. of Atlanta.

Abstracts of Colonial Wills-Georgia, plus several other genealogy volumes about Georgia and the South, plus an extensive collection of periodicals, donated by Mrs. Harvey J. Reid, Atlanta,

Atlanta & West Point Railroad Company Remembered by Walter Skinner, Sr., Newnan.

Attack on America—September 11, 2001, Archives created, includes newspapers; prayer services; comments; Rotary Prayer, snapshots.

Callaway Family Association additions, including descendants of George O. Calloway, donated by David Calloway, Woodland Hills, CA

Camp-Kemp Family History, donated by Grover Hobbs.

Confederate Reminiscences, vol. 17, prepared & donated by UDC of Georgia, Atlanta.

Davidson Family of Harris and Troup Co. donated by John Caldwell, Newnan.

Dixie Methodist Church (history), donated by Pat P. McVay, Lanett, AL.

Earnest, Allen Buckner and Martha Grant: Descendants, Lafayette: A Life & Williams Family Photographs, donated by Earl Williams.

Elm City Plant—Aerial Photo, c. 1940s, donated by Juanita Bailey.

Farmers Cotton Oil Company—Money Till and Coin Cans, Rubber Stamp, & Glass Gin Company Cottonseed & Bale Receipt book, donated by Barry N. Jackson.

History of Siloan Baptist Church(SC), donated by Jimmy Woodyard, Mineral Bluff, GA

Rare books on the Chicago Worlds Fair, Leslie’s Official History of the Spanish-American War, donated by Iris Edelson.

Memoirs of Jefferson Davis, Vols. I and II, 1890, donated by David and Mary Funk.

Neil Glass: Retirement Dinner, 1954, donated by Norman Loftin.

Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, 1607-1993. Donated by Luther Jones.

Rosemont High School Girls Champion Basketball Team 1937, photo. Donated by Frances Moore.

Southwest LaGrange School, c.1952, 2 photos. Larry Williamson.

Southwest LaGrange School, 1953, donated by Wadene Powers Taylor

Troup High Interact Scrapbooks, 1981-1986, deposited by Barry Jackson.

Two Cents Worth: Anthology. Donated by Charlie Farrar, Highlands, TX (a Troup Co. boy remembers growing up in LaGrange in 50s and early 60s)

W. B. Whatley Estate Papers, 1879-1987, donated by Annice TRP-266

Margaret Frances Williamson, Scrapbook, 7th & 8th grades in LaGrange, 1927-1928, donated by Roy W. Mann, Rome.

EXHIBIT FEATURES: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE 1930S

1930s Exhibit Photograph

from family friend, George Eastman, she apprenticed with Dr. T. W. Smillie of the Smithsonian Institution. She opened a photography studio in Washington D. C. in the 1890s, and photographed many presidents and other politicians, as well as their wives and families. During the 1920s she became the first woman to specialize in color photography. In the 1930s she documented the historic homes and gardens of the South, for which she received four consecutive Carnegie Foundation Grants. Before her death in 1952 Johnston donated most of her collection of works to the Library of Congress.

The exhibit features photographs of many Troup County Homes taken by Johnston during her visit in 1939. Among the houses featured are the Nathan Van Boddie House in Mountville, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other homes include the Oaks on Vernon Road and the Frost-Gray Home on Greenville Street, which burned in 1988. Several other homes are included as well.

Mary Jane Crayton helped the Troup County Archives in getting these photographs. She made photocopies of the Troup County homes while on a visit to the Library of Congress in the early 1980s and encouraged the Archives to get copies of the photos.

The exhibit will be on display at the Troup County Archives through August. Admission is free. The Troup County Archives is located at 136 Main Street in LaGrange. The Archives hours of operation are Monday and Wednesday – Friday from 9:00 a.m. till 5:00 p.m., Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. till 8:00 p.m., and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. till 1:00 p.m.

VINTAGE TROUP COUNTY POSTCARDS

The Troup County volume will cover LaGrange, West Point and Hogansville. Coauthors include Chris Cleaveland, Stephen Johnson (both of whom are sharing

The Swimming Pool, LaGrange, GA

their personal postcard collection with the project), Chris Joseph, Clark Johnson, and Kaye Minchew.

Postcards will date from the heyday of postcards in the early 20th century to more modern times. Postcards from Chris Cleaveland, Stephen Johnson and the Troup County Archives will be used for the book. But WE NEED MORE! We are especially looking for cards featuring people. Another area we need are cards featuring Hogansville sites. If you have postcards you are willing to share, please bring them by the Archives at 136 Main Street, call us at 884-1828, or e-mail us the images at info@trouparchives.org. We will know fairly quickly if we have the image and if we don’t we would love to have the postcard or borrow it. So please let us know if you have postcards of Troup County!

The postcard books should be available by October and will cost about $20 -- perfect for your Christmas gift buying!! Proceeds will go into the Troup County Historical Society’s museum fund.

Where Were You on September 11th??

The Troup County Archives would like to know what you were doing and how you felt. Were you washing breakfast dishes, buying groceries, or sitting in a meeting? Did you feel frightened? Shocked? Devastated? Were you worried about family members? Were you concerned about the trip you were suppose to make the next day or about a friend who might be called into active military duty?

Please take a moment and record this information on plain paper or a postcard or a 3 x 5 index card and mail or bring to the Archives. All we need is a few sentences, nothing long. The cards will be assembled and made available for future generations to review. Date the paper and sign your name and add your age. If you would rather remain unidentified, just list your sex and your age, for example, female, age 65, April 11, 2002.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

As you have read elsewhere in this newsletter, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation will be visiting in April. We are also working with the Museum committee and on the new postcard volume. We are also excited about plans for a new local history museum.Archives staff members continue to assist researchers - both those who visit in person and those who communicate via the mail or e-mail. One University of North Carolina professor who we helped a year or so ago has a new book coming out this fall about Walter White, the head of the NCAAP decades ago. White’s mother was born in LaGrange and Clark Johnson and I helped identify grandparents and document some details of their past.

We also help those closer by. Dr. Tom West has been using our World War II files to document soldiers from Troup County. In turn, Dr. West will be adding information to our files by giving us more documentation about local soldiers from the Korean War up to Desert Storm and into modern day conflicts.

We invite you to visit at 136 Main Street or at www.trouparchives.org. If we can be of assistance, let us know. We appreciate your support and hope we can be of assistance if you have questions or comments about our heritage.

Thanks,
Kaye!

SPOTLIGHT: Usually on this page, we spotlight a recent accession to the Troup County Archives or a particular document of interest. This issue, we will instead focus on one of our own publications, Travels Through Troup County: A Guide to its Architecture and History. This volume was published by the Troup County Historical Society in 1996. The volume features photographs of one hundred historic homes and buildings by Professor John Lawrence of LaGrange College’s Art Department. The Archives currently has on display photos by Frances Benjamin Johnston from the 1930s (see related article above). Lawrence’s photos have a similar quality -- great photography used to provide a close-up look at historic homes in the county. The rest of Travels includes historical details about each home and a short history of the county written by Glenda Major, Clark Johnson, Julie Turner and Kaye Minchew. Copies of the volume are for sell at the Archives at 136 Main Street for $25 for hardbound or $15 for softbound. They can be ordered on the Archives’ website at www.trouparchives.org.

Travels through Troup County