By Jim Qualls

We have a new and interesting opportunity here on BrownsGuides.com to share what many of us already know about Georgia (because we’re here) and what others wonder about Georgia (maybe because they want to be here).

Georgia has been my home for 41 of my 46 years, and I plan to be a Georgian the rest of my life. Over these years, I have seen great change in Georgia, especially in the metro Atlanta area, but in other areas as well. Those changes are probably more than most realize from the outside looking in. Population growth, cultural changes, changes in the land, changes in socioeconomics can be explored and studied in as much detail as any of us desire.

Like most any other place, Georgia has its needs and its struggles. But undoubtedly Georgia has much to celebrate.

Just last week, I relished the chance to spend an hour or two walking around the historic district of Savannah, Georgia’s oldest city. A quick business trip back down to where it all began in Georgia was interesting as always. Take a minute to Google some photos of Savannah if you’re not familiar with it. Or, maybe you’ve seen movies made there or have seen Paula Deen’s cooking show. Last week, I savored the noticeable aromas of the azaleas fully in bloom in Savannah. I once again enjoyed the restored beauty of the old buildings. I felt wrapped in the best of culture that is Savannah. In one of the “squares”, I observed a contrasting scene: On one side an artist drawing passersby as he peacefully worked on a new painting, and not so far away an angry street preacher receiving awkward stares as he passed through with his sign. It’s the mix that makes Savannah.

That can be said all over Georgia. I’ve traveled and spent time all over this state. The terrain varies, the dialects vary, and the people do, too. Just when you think you could describe a stereotypical Georgian, you meet yet another, and realize you have to start all over. Well, it keeps it interesting.

From Savannah and the Coastal Plains to Macon and the Piedmont region Blue Ridge and some of the oldest Mountains in the world, Georgia is a beautiful, wonderful, interesting state. I want it to stay that way—I want it to get even better.

So, I invite you to kick around Georgia with me in Brown’s Guides’ “Living In Georgia”, and let’s kick around whatever Georgia is putting “on your mind.” I promise to keep it honest, helpful, and, hopefully, interesting.

Jim Qualls is a realtor with Coldwell Banker Bullard and an avid cyclist who has seen much of the state from the seat of a bicycle. Read his bike tours of the state in the “Bicycle Trails” category of this blog.

By Douglas C. Purcell
Doug Purcell is Executive Director of the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the co-author of Images of America: Lower Chattahoochee River. For a US Army Corps of Engineers map of the lake with three names, click here.

Interestingly southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia share a water resource known, over time, by at least three names—Walter F. George Lake, Lake Eufaula and Lake Chattahoochee. This U. S. Army Corps of Engineers impoundment was formed following the construction of the Walter F. George Lock and Dam at Fort Gaines, Georgia in 1963. Today the lake covers 45,192 acres, is 85 miles long and has a 640 mile shoreline. In 2007 almost 3.8 million visitors took advantage of this asset for fishing, boating, sailing, skiing and a variety of other uses.

To further complicate the situation, the sprawling impoundment has obscured the western Georgia boundary where the Chattahoochee River intersects with a portion of Alabama’s eastern boundary. That boundary was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in a decision rendered on May 1, 1860 and is defined as the “mean high water mark”, as it existed in 1798, on the west bank of the Chattahoochee River. That was clear enough until the impoundment was created a little more than a hundred years later. As a result of this project, thousands of acres of land in Georgia and Alabama were inundated by the waters which overflowed the banks of the Chattahoochee River. 23,387 of these acres (52%) are in Georgia and 21,805 acres (48%) in Alabama. The U. S. Supreme Court decision made it clear that the Chattahoochee River belonged entirely to the State of Georgia but the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers project “muddied” the waters making the location of this boundary difficult to determine. However, it is important to realize that the lake is an almost equally shared resource between Alabama and Georgia since it covers flooded land in both states.

It’s Lake Eufaula
On June 25, 1963, both Houses of the Alabama Legislature signed off on Act No. 60 (sponsored by Senator Jimmy Clark of Eufaula) which endorsed the name, Lake Eufaula, in honor of the Creek Indians who once lived throughout the Chattahoochee Valley of Alabama and Georgia. Some opponents of this name said that the lake could never be referred to as “Lake Eufaula” because there was another lake by that name in Oklahoma. However, the name of that lake is “Eufaula Lake” which is located at Eufaula, Oklahoma. The lake and city were named for the Eufaula tribe of the Creek Indians who were moved from the area around Eufaula, Alabama to Oklahoma during the infamous Trail of Tears in the mid 1830’s.

It’s Lake Chattahoochee
Not to be outdone, House Resolution 268 was adopted by the Georgia House of Representatives on March 12, 1965 to designate the reservoir as “Lake Chattahoochee”. The synopsis of the resolution reads that “…the State Highway Department of Georgia is hereby requested to place signs in sufficient number along the highway adjacent to this reservoir to properly and adequately designate the reservoir as “Lake Chattahoochee”. It was introduced by Representative McKemie of Clay County. In the early to late 1970’s only one of these “Lake Chattahoochee” signs was in evidence in downtown Fort Gaines.

Sometime after Winston Churchill’s death on January 24, 1965, Congressman Maston O’Neal of Bainbridge, Georgia proposed calling the reservoir “Lake Winston Churchill” in honor of this distinguished British Prime Minister. This proposal was strongly opposed by Alabama lawmakers and it failed to generate the necessary support needed for the name change. Other suggested names have included Lake Alaga (combining an abbreviation for Alabama and Georgia), Lake Screamer (after the Screamer community on the lake in north Henry County, Alabama) and Lake Roanoke (after the Stewart County, Georgia community burned by a contingent of Creek Indians on May 15, 1836).

It’s Walter F. George Lake
On March 28, 1958, Public Law 85-368 was approved by the U.S. Congress which officially named the Fort Gaines Lock and Dam on the Chattahoochee River as Walter F. George Lock and Dam in honor of Senator Walter F. George of Georgia. Thus, the project name for the reservoir became the Walter F. George Lake. Because the States of Alabama and Georgia could never get together on a name for the reservoir, the name used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is Walter F. George Lake—sometimes referred to as Lake Walter F. George, Lake George or the Walter F. George Reservoir.

The Historic Chattahoochee Commission, a state agency of both Georgia and Alabama, refers to the reservoir as Lake Eufaula/George in all of its publications in an effort to avoid controversy. Today, on the Alabama side of the reservoir near Eufaula are signs directing visitors to Lake Eufaula while on the Georgia side signs point water enthusiasts to the Walter F. Georgia Reservoir. However recent Alabama and Georgia highway maps depict the lake as the Walter F. George Reservoir. In the past Alabama highway maps would carry the “Lake Eufaula” designation while Georgia highway maps were consistent in the use of the “Walter F. George Reservoir” name.

So What’s in a Name?
So, what’s in a name? Community pride and economic development opportunities come to mind in this case. And the use of two names for the reservoir is confusing to sportsmen who are not familiar with the area. Will a compromise ever be reached on a name for the impoundment? That is not likely because the “Lake Eufaula” name has been promoted by the local media and Eufaula-Barbour County Chamber of Commerce for the last 45 years. One Eufaula company, Techsonic Industries, refers to its city location as “Lake Eufaula, Alabama” on its packaging for fish finders and other equipment that it sells. Still the lake, by whatever name you call it, is a wonderful resource to be enjoyed by the citizens of both states as well as visitors from other parts of the country.

Georgia has the largest percentage of original Indian place names of any U.S. state. Nowhere is this rich Native American legacy more apparent than in the names of the state’s rivers. Out of the 14 major rivers, the names of 12 are of Indian origin (the other two are Spanish and French). None of the Indian languages (with the exception of Cherokee since the mid-nineteenth century) had a written form. The various individuals who heard the spoken Indian words and attempted to reproduce them in writing, whether Spaniards, Frenchmen, Englishmen or otherwise, did the best they could to record the words phonetically in accordance with the alphabetical usage of their particular language. Many times the person who first heard the names could not read or write and the names had to be related to other persons and recorded. It is easy to see why great dissimilarities in spelling have occurred over the years.

Altamaha
The Altamaha was named for a Yamassee Indian Chief, Alatamaha. Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto first recorded the name in 1540. Read more about the Altamaha River.

Chattahoochee
Chattahoochee is Creek for “flowered stones.” It comes from the words chatto, meaning stone, plus hooche, meaning marked, flowered or with designs like flowers. A Creek settlement, Chattahoochee Old Town, at today’s Franklin transferred its name to the river. The first mention of the “Chattahoochee” by that name occurs in Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins travel log of the Chattahoochee River and the Creek country in the years 1798-1799. Read more about the Chattahoochee River.

Coosa
Coosa was the name of a number of Creek towns throughout northern Georgia and Alabama and was also the name given the Upper Creeks by the Cherokees. The exact meaning is unknown, but it may have come from the Choctaw kusha, meaning cane or canebrake. Read more about the Coosa River.

Flint
The Creek Indian name for the Flint River was Thronateeska, which meant flint-picking-up place. (The properties of flint made it ideal for chipping into arrowheads or spear points. It was highly valued and traded throughout the region.) The name derives from the Creek word ronoto, meaning flint, and hachi, meaning creek stream. Some old maps show the river as Hlonotiskahachi. Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins wrote that the Indian name for the Flint River was Lonatiskahatchee and that the word lonato meant flint; hachee was the Creek word for stream or creek. Read more about the Flint River.

Ochlockonee
Ochlockonee is Hitchiti Indian for “yellow water” from the Hitchiti oki, meaning water, and lanee, meaning yellow. Read more about the Ochlockonee River.

Ocmulgee
Ocmulgee is a Creek word freely translated to mean boiling or bubbling water. It is a combination of the prefix ak, which has location and directional connotations, and mulgis, which means bubbling or boiling. From the Hitchiti tongue, a dialect spoken among the Lower Creeks, it is pronounced as though spelled oak-mull-ghee (the g hard), with the stress on the second syllable. An early name for the Ocmulgee River was Ocheese Creek. The English called inhabitants living along that stream “Ocheese Creek Indians.” Later this was shortened to simply Creek Indians, and many believe that this is the origin of the name “Creek Indians.” Ocheese signifies “bubbling up of water from a spring” and could have originated from Indian Springs at Jackson. Read more about the Ocmulgee River.

Oconee
Oconee Old Town, the name of a Creek settlement, was located a few miles south of present-day Milledgeville. The Indian village gave its name to the Oconee River. The meaning of the word is unknown. Read more about the Oconee River.

Ogeechee
Freely translated to be “River of the Uchees,” the Ogeechee referred to a sub-tribe of the Creek Confederation. The British settlers called the stream “Hogeechee.” Read more about the Ogeechee River.

St. Marys
The name comes from a Spanish mission, Santa Maria de Guadeloupe, located near the river. The mission was founded in 1568 by Pedro Menendez de Avilles, founder of St. Augustine in Florida. Previously, during the French exploration in 1562, Captain Jean Ribault called it the Seine. The Indians called the river Thalthlothlaguphka, a name that translates to rotten fish. Read more about the St. Marys River.

Satilla
French explorer Jean Ribault named the river Riviere Somme, but a Spanish explorer, St. Illa, gave the river his own name, which is the one that stuck. English usage converted St. Illa to Satilla. Read more about the Satilla River.

Savannah
Savannah means “River of the Shawnees,” so named for a remnant of that tribe who lived on the middle waters of the river in early Colonial days. Read more about the Savannah River.

Suwannee
Suwannee comes from the Creek Indian word suwani, meaning echo. Learn more about the Suwannee River.

Tallapoosa
The exact meaning of this Creek Indian word is unknown, but it may have come from the Choctaw word tali, meaning rock, and pushi, meaning crushed or pulverized. Learn more about the Tallapoosa River.

Tennessee
Tennessee was the name of a number of Cherokee towns in present-day Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. The meaning of the word is unknown. Learn more about the Tennessee River.
SOURCES: Indian Heritage of Georgia by Marion R. Hemperley (Garden Club of Georgia, Inc.); How Georgia Got Her Names by Hal E. Brinkley (CSA Printing); Georgia Place Names by Kenneth K. Krakow (Winship Press).

For centuries, Liberty County has held a mystical power over explorers. The Historic Liberty Trail is a unique driving tour offering a diverse experience integrating history, culture and ecology. It covers 10 stops including: Midway Museum and Historic District, Cay Creek Wetlands, Geechee Kunda Cultural Arts Center, LeConte-Woodmanston Botanical Gardens, Dorchester Academy and Museum, Fort Stewart Museum, Melon Bluff Nature and Heritage Preserve, Seabrook Village, Fort Morris State Historic Site and Sunbury Cemetery.

Begin the Historic Liberty Trail Driving Tour

Begin your tour at Exit 76 off I-95, where an information kiosk gives a glimpse of The Historic Liberty Trail. Visitors traveling the trail explore Liberty County, home of Dr. Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett, signers of the Declaration of Independence. Your first stop is the Midway National Historic District. Leaving the kiosk, turn right (west) on US 84. Drive 2.2 miles, turn right on Martin Road. Drive 1.3 miles to arrive at the Midway National Historic District. The cemetery is straight ahead, the church and museum are on the right.

Midway National Historic District

Midway Museum, honors the community famed as Georgia’s Cradle of Liberty. Browse through the museum, built in the raised cottage-style architecture, typical of 18th Century plantation houses. Exhibits, documents and furnishings used in coastal Georgia homes from colonial days until the Civil War reanimate the love of Liberty. Tour the grounds which include a detached kitchen, salt vat and extensive nature trail. One of the best sources in the area for genealogical research. Also on the property is the Midway Church, built in 1756, was burned during the American Revolution and rebuilt in 1792. In this white-frame, New England-style church, Sherman’s cavalry set up foraging headquarters during the Civil War. Today, giant live oaks draped with Spanish moss shade about 1,200 graves in the cemetery, among them two generals of the American Revolution and Governor Nathan Brownson. During the Civil War, Sherman’s cavalry plundered county plantations and corralled animals in the walled, two-acre cemetery.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-4pm, Sunday: 2pm-4pm
Facilities: Small gift shop with a good selection of books on local history.
Restrooms available.
Fees: Small fee required. Group rates available.
For More Information: (912) 884-5837

Cay Creek Wetlands

DIRECTIONS: Leaving Midway Museum, turn left on US 17. Drive 0.5 miles, at the traffic light turn left on US 84. Drive 2.4 miles until you reach Charlie Butler Road. Turn right on Charlie Butler Road. Travel approximately 0.2 miles until you see the Cay Creek Wetlands sign on your right.

As an excellent example of tidal, freshwater wetlands, Cay Creek Wetlands provide a unique opportunity for education and appreciation. The area is rich in diversity. Bay, Cypress and Oak trees are abundant, as are Palms, Palmettos and Magnolias. The area provides habitats for numerous species of animals, including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. The site is several different ecosystems. Each has specific traits that give it character, but the distinctions may be overlooked by the casual observer. Look closely and you may notice the differences in plant and animal life in those areas that are permanently wet when compared with areas that are intermittently wet and dry. The site has its history, too. Look for the low earthen berms that cross the landscape. In some instances, they may be the high ground on which you stand. These are the remains of dikes that were used for growing rice. Rice production was common to the area in the 19th Century. Cay Creek Wetlands has seen exciting activity recently with the completion of a boardwalk, allowing visitors to easily access the wetlands in both wet and dry seasons. An interpretive center building, designed to house exhibits and information, will soon follow.

Days and Hours: Monday-Friday: 8am-4pm
Facilities: None.
Fees: Free.
For More Information: (912) 884-3344

Geechee Kunda Cultural Arts Center

DIRECTIONS: Take a right onto Charlie Butler Road out of the drive and travel 0.7 miles, turn right onto Historic Cay Creek Road, a well-maintained, unpaved road. Only 3.8 miles from US 17. Enjoy the canopy of moss-draped oaks and the incredible marsh vistas as well as vibrant flowers and coastal wildlife on this scenic road. Once you’ve reached US 17 take a left and travel through the quaint town of Riceboro. Travel approximately 4.6 miles and turn left onto Ways Temple Road, Geechee Kunda is on the right 0.2 miles. Note: Nice picnic facilities at US 17 junction.

Geechee Kunda (a Sarakole’ word meaning compound) is indicative of the culture of Gullah Geechees. Geechee Kunda is reflective of the family compounds that exist throughout the Gullah Geechee areas of the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida as well as Africa. It is a living institution dedicated to preserving the culture of a living people. Its museum is filled with African art, textiles, painting, tools, utensils, implements, craftworks and essentials used by Gullah Geechees from the 1700’s to the 1900’s. The museum houses artifacts from the period of slavery and it’s an educational facility for lectures, workshops, classes, seminars, weddings and more.

Days and Hours: Group tours and classes available, call for an appointment.
Facilities: Gift shop, meeting and classroom space.
Fees: Call for further information.
For More Information: (912) 884-4440

LeConte-Woodmanston Botanical Gardens

DIRECTIONS: Leaving Ways Temple Road turn right onto US 17 toward Riceboro. Travel approximately 0.7 miles and turn left onto Sandy Run Road. Travel 4.3 miles then turn left at stop sign onto Barrington Ferry Road. Barrington Ferry Road is unpaved, but well-maintained. Look for wood storks, ospreys, egrets and herons that feed in the wetlands. Almost one mile south of the intersection you will find a historic marker for the Bartram Trail on the left. The sign marks the entrance to LeConte-Woodmanston.

LeConte-Woodmanston, formerly the home of Dr. Louis LeConte, flourished as one of Georgia’s earliest inland swamp rice plantations and is now a nature preserve. Dr. LeConte achieved international fame in scientific circles as did his sons, John and Joseph. John was the first president of the University of California at Berkeley. Joseph and his friend, John Muir, co-founded the Sierra Club. Today, Louis LeConte’s world-famous 18th Century botanical gardens are being recreated with a myriad of antique plants. Visit the cypress forest and walk the interpretative trail along the earthen rice dikes leading through the Bulltown Swamp black-water eco-system. Take a stroll along the Avenue of Oaks or bask in an 18th Century nature experience. They are all part of the Historic Bartram Trail.

Days and Hours: Typically open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 10am-3pm or by appointment. Call to verify times before visiting.
Facilities: A small fee required.
Fees: Restrooms.
For More Information: (912) 884-6500

Dorchester Academy and Museum

DIRECTIONS: Leaving LeConte-Woodmanston, follow drive back to Barrington Ferry Road. Turn right and follow road until it dead ends into US 17, approximately 5 miles. Turn left and travel another 2.1 miles to the intersection of US 17 and US 84, turn left on US 84 and drive 2 miles. Dorchester Academy is on the left.

The Academy, today an active community center and museum, was founded after the Civil War as a school for freed slaves. By 1917, the fully-accredited high school had eight frame buildings and 300 students. In the 1940s, its academic program ended when a consolidated school for black youth was built in nearby Riceboro. The brick school building, an example of Georgian Revival style architecture is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prepared for the 1963 Birmingham campaign, one of the first major victories of the Civil Rights Movement.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 11am-2pm, Saturday: 2pm-4pm
Facilities: Free.
Fees: Pavilion with barbecue pit and restrooms.
For More Information: (912) 884-2347

Fort Stewart Museum

DIRECTIONS: Leaving Dorchester Academy, turn left (west) on US 84. Travel approximately 10 miles to General Stewart Way and take right fork. Travel 0.8 miles and turn left onto North Main Street. Travel 0.6 miles through historic Hinesville, where you will enjoy specialty shopping and excellent restaurants. Traveling another 0.9 miles take the right fork and drive 0.1 miles to General Screven Way. Take a right onto General Screven Way and drive 0.9 miles to the main entrance of Fort Stewart. Continue straight on GA 119 for 0.3 miles. From GA 119 turn left onto Bunker Road (the first left). Follow Bunker Road to a stop sign. At the stop sign make a left onto Frank Cochran Drive. The museum is on the immediate left.

Fort Stewart, the largest military post east of the Mississippi, is home to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (Mech) and is the summer training grounds for the National Guard. At the museum, Liberty County’s military heritage is showcased in ever-changing exhibits featuring objects from World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm and present-day military activities.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-4pm Closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Federal Holidays.
Facilities: Gift shop, snack machine, restrooms and picnic area.
Fees: Free. Group tours upon request.
For More Information: (912) 767-7885

Please Note: Due to heightened security, Fort Stewart is now a closed post and requires all visitors to stop at the main gate. At the gate visitors must provide proof of registration, insurance and drivers license to receive a visitor’s pass.

Melon Bluff Nature and Heritage Preserve

DIRECTIONS: Leaving Fort Stewart drive straight on GA 119 until it dead ends into US 84 turn left, approximately 0.5 miles. Travel approximately 15 miles to I-95, as you cross I-95 travel another 2.9 miles and you will see Melon Bluff on your right.

Nestled amongst 3,000 unspoiled acres on Georgia’s coast, Melon Bluff is set amid gorgeous, moss-hung oaks at the river’s edge. Melon Bluff offers 25 miles of grassy, forest trails for hiking, biking, picnics and riding. Birding is the prime attraction, offering 309 species, many uncommon and endangered. Visitors can find overnight accommodations ranging from a restored barn to a plantation cottage. On site, there is a delightful gift shop, a screened pool and a facility for small conferences.

Days and Hours: Saturdays: 9am-4pm from September 15th through May 15th. Public events are scheduled throughout the year.
Facilities: Overnight accommodations, full gourmet meal service, scheduled wagon rides, kayak expeditions, gift shop, pool and facility for small conferences.
Fees: Prices vary - Call for further information.

Seabrook Village

DIRECTIONS: From Melon Bluff, turn right onto Islands Highway. Travel 0.7 miles until you come to Trade Hill Road (Seabrook Village signs will be on your left). Turn left on to Trade Hill and drive 0.6 miles. Seabrook Village office will be on your left.

An award-winning living history museum, Seabrook Village features eight turn-of-the-century buildings on a developing 104-acre site. Visit the one-room Seabrook School where “reading, writing and ‘rithmetic were taught to the tune of a hick’ry stick.” Or try your hand at grinding corn into meal and grits or washing clothes on a scrub board. Planned group visits are fully interactive as costumed interpreters engage visitors in all aspects of old time village life. On-going exhibits include the grave art of Cyrus Bowens, featured in Drums and Shadows, and the Willis Hakim J. Hones Material Culture Collection of hand-made items from a peanut roaster to twig furniture.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-4pm. Interactive tours available for groups of 15 or more. Special educational and Girl Scout programs available.
Facilities: Seabrook Village Museum Shop and Craft Gallery, meal service (by reservation), restrooms.
Fees: Small fee required.
Group Tours: Call for rates, brochure and availability.
For More Information: (912) 884-7008

Fort Morris State Historic Site

DIRECTIONS: Leaving Seabrook, turn left on Trade Hill Road. Drive 0.2 miles to the intersection of Fort Morris Road. Turn left, drive 2 miles. The entrance to Fort Morris is on the right.

Fort Morris was built to defend the former town of Sunbury, once a bustling seaport second in Georgia only to Savannah. Fort Morris was used as a coastal fortification during the Revolutionary War. The earthen works were reconstructed during the War of 1812 and were later used as a Civil War Encampment. The site’s museum features displays of civilian and military life during Georgia’s Colonial, Revolutionary and Antebellum past. During periodic special events, reenactments bring Fort Morris alive with roaring cannons and the measured tread of marching soldiers. Listen! You can almost hear the fife and drums.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 9am-5pm, Sunday: 2:00pm-5:30pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Mondays, except some legal holidays.
Facilities: Museum, gift shop, pioneer camping, picnic area, restrooms and nature trail.
Fees: Small fee required.
For More Information: (912) 884-5999

Sunbury Cemetery

DIRECTIONS: Leaving Fort Morris, turn right onto Fort Morris Road. Travel 0.7 miles past Sunbury Village and turn left onto Sunbury Road (dirt). Drive 0.1 miles to Dutchman Cove Road. Drive 0.1 miles to the end of the road, it will dead end into the cemetery.

From the beginning of the town’s history, public burials were performed at a community cemetery located at the southeast corner of Church Square. Sunbury Cemetery housed the remains of members from the Midway Congregational Church, Sunbury Baptist Church and others. A sense of integrity remains even though no complete interment records are known to exist for the cemetery. Most of the markers were gone by the 1870’s. Of the thirty-four remaining, the oldest is dated 1788 and the most recent, 1911. Two iron fenced family enclosures are carefully arrayed with neatly lined markers for the Dunham and Fleming-Law families. The most famous tombstone is a full-length marker for Reverend William McWhir. The graves of Josiah Powell and Samuel Law, notables of the town of Sunbury, are also marked.

The cemetery is open year-round and is free to the public.

By Clyde Jolly

Clyde Jolly, who grew up in the rural south in the 1920’s, passes along these Southernisms. We’d like to hear yours.

When my grandson said that a sweet little girl he knew was “tough,” I reprimanded him: certainly that well-behaved young woman was not “tough.” A little impatiently, he explained to me that “tough” meant “neat” or “nice.” Why didn’t he say “neat” or “nice,” then? I wondered. But if he could be transported back to the ‘Twenties and hear the Elizabethan expressions I was brought up on, he probably would be just as puzzled by them as am I by today’s talk.

For starters, my contemporaries and elders almost always added extra letters to personal pronouns. Especially to those showing possession, the letter “n” had to be added. Thus things owned were “his’n,” and “her’n,” “our’n,” “your’n” or “their’n.” They said “we’uns” and “you’uns.” or “their’n.” “It” became “hit” and “ain’t” - that grammatical corruption commonly used in English high society since the Victorian era - often came out as “hain’t.”

Many other words were distorted. Long i’s became low back a’s when followed by r’s, as in “I’m as tard as if I’d been arning all day before a hot far.” Even today it is not too difficult to find a set of “tars” for your car.

“Mout” served for “might,” “holp” for “help,” awrt” for “ought,” “stood” for stayed” (I should have stood in bed), “heered” for “heard,” “pert nigh” for “pretty near,” and “kindly” for “kind of.” Lots of folks had “years” instead of “ears.”

Not only did the settlers of the South bring with them words that had been used since Elizabethan times, but also each section seemed to come up with brand new words not found in the average dictionary. In certain sections of South Georgia, a person never threw an object - he “chunked” it. In my corner of the Appalachian foothills, a lad required his victim in a wrestling match to fight or say “calf rope” as an admission that he was giving up. The side batting in a baseball game was said to be “in holts.” When one teased a companion, he “guyed” him. A person completely tired was not “bushed,” as is now the case - he was “white-eyed.” A fellow embarrassed was “hacked.” An Atlanta newspaper columnist reminded me that the old-fashioned word for diaper was “hippen,” a word whose origin is not too difficult to guess. Oldsters did not address a letter, they “backed” it. “Mountain oysters” were the testicles of a pig, considered a delicacy by many. “Peart” was likely a corruption of “pert” - if a guy quicken his pace, he was said to “parten up.” A good country word still in use is “stob,” meaning a stake. And if you wanted a message delivered to someone, you didn’t ask the carrier to tell it to the receiver, you requested that he “name” it to him.
Similes and other comparisons have always been colorful in Appalachia. A man who was “as pore as Job’s turkey” and “as ugly as a mud fence” or as “ugly as home-made soap” was indeed in a bad way, although, if he was as “crazy as a bed bug, ” it probably didn’t matter. When he passed away, he could be as “dead as a door nail.” That was the ultimate - he couldn’t be deader.

Many sayings about food were in the lexicon of the countryman of the ’20s. When a guest had had enough to eat but was pressed to take another helping, it was proper for him to say, “Thank you, I’ve had a bait but it was powerful good.” The adverb “powerful” as used then was just what it said - “powerful.” When used with “good,” it almost became “goodest.”

Expressions denoting a sizable quantity such as “a good bit,” “a good deal,” and “right much” are probably universally used Americanisms, but when a noted Southern editor said on television that he had a “right smart” of a certain author’s work, he was repeating a colloquialism that rarely appears in print, but is still often heard in conversations all over the rural South.

Ask a country character of the ’20s how he felt, and he might well say, “I feel tol’able” - short for “I feel tolerably well” - or “I’m feelin’ good as common” or “fair to middlin’.” The weather was the subject of several pat expressions. If “it was coming up a cloud,” it didn’t mean just any old cloud. It meant a thunderstorm was brewing. When the oldsters said, “Looks like we’re going to have some weather,” they meant stormy weather. And when rain streaks were seen against the sun on late afternoons, someone was sure to remark that “The sun’s drawing water.”

The sayings of rural Appalachia go on and on. Northerners “make” dinner; city folks in the South “cook” it; but out here in the boondocks we “fix” it. When we “put on the dog, ” one way of doing it would be “dressing fit to kill.” We often substitute “bad” for “prone” or “likes to” - for instance, “he’s bad to drink” or “bad to gamble.” We might even say “he’s bad to have a good time.” The height of laziness is expressed by the man who “wouldn’t hit a lick at a snake with it strikin’ him.” Expressions of astonishment started with the well known. ” Well, I declare,” or “I do declare,” and then wandered into strange and wonderful sayings like “That takes the rag right off the bush.” The last saying may have originated when a thief took all the cloths, including the rags, off a bush where a pioneer woman had spread them out to dry.

One of the areas where Americans all over show originality is in their pet by-words, swear words, or exclamations. The most unusual one I ever heard belonged to old man Will Caldwell, who let the air out of his tires every Sunday morning and them pumped them up again. He said it made the tires last longer. Mr. Will’s constant and favorite by-word, used on every occasion, was “Thus, poodlejack.”

“Thus, poodlejack,” in my considered opinion, takes the rag right off the bush.