Autumn 2021

News & Updates from the Milton Historical Society

Visit our website: www.miltonhistoricalsociety-georgia.org

The World’s Largest Crabapple ...the rest of the story For years Milton residents have driven past the iconic Broadwell Building at 755 Mayfield Road in Crabapple Crossroads. We have squinted at the faded mural gracing the side of the building, wondering how it looked as painted. Now we know! Thanks to efforts by the Crabapple Mural Committee and facilitated by Bill Lusk, Board member of the Milton Historical Society, the City of Milton recently gave the go-ahead for the mural to be grandfathered in as a restoration.  Jean Rucker Armstrong and Sheila Rucker Pennebaker researched several mural painters and located Professor Joseph Norman and crew from the ‘Color the World Bright’ project at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. The Statham and Rucker families, both with deep roots in the Crabapple community, sponsored the restoration.

Linda and Ben Statham Jean Rucker Armstrong and Sheila Rucker Pennebaker

A Little Crabapple History The Crabapple mural originated in the mid-1960s when Ben and Pat Statham purchased the building. The mural was designed and painted by Ben, influenced in part by an apple mural on a building in Cornelia, Georgia, in the heart of apple country. The Stathams owned the Crabapple Penthouse Antique Shop in the building and created the Crabapple Antique Fair in 1967. The Fair lives on as the annual autumn Crabapple Fest. Ben and Pat Statham also developed a yearly Christmas House event upstairs in the ‘Penthouse.’ Celestine Sibley wrote this in her weekly Atlanta Journal Constitution article: “Pat has long felt that Georgia women were talented cooks, needlewomen, arts and crafts practitioners, and beautiful gardeners.” Mrs. Statham said, "I thought it was a shame for people in Atlanta to have to drive a hundred miles to North Georgia or even to Tennessee or North Carolina to buy pretties which their close neighbors make so beautifully.” Thus the first of many Christmas Houses was started in November of 1967 and continued until Pat's death 21 years later.

UGA painters: Gabrielle Poteet, project manager Katie Eidson, and Alondra Arevalo

Meet ‘Color the World Bright’ Professor Joe Norman and students from the Lamar Dodd School of Art are instrumental in leading the ‘Color the World Bright’ project. In this program, Norman and students create and restore public murals of a bygone time. In restoring these ‘ghost-signs' he says, “A mural becomes a matter of civic pride, with everyone dropping by.” "Not only is this tremendous outreach to the larger Georgia community, but an excellent example of conservation and restoration," says Norman. “We have a simple philosophy, to do good and bring people together,” Norman says. “Murals can transform a community.” In Greensboro, Georgia, they painstakingly revived a faded Chero-Cola advertisement painted on the brick façade of what is now Oconee Brewing Company, and a second Chero-Cola painting in Madison. In Elberton, Georgia, they brought vibrant life back to a Coca-Cola sign. Professor Norman teaches painting and drawing at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art and is a visiting professor at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. Kudos to all involved in this effort! Content provided by Linda and Ben Statham and the University of Georgia Photography by Bob Meyers

A Life Well Lived

Remembering Tera Griffin Morris 1927 - 2021 The Milton Historical Society lost a wonderful supporter and the City of Milton lost a grand lady with the passing of Tera Griffin Morris, wife of local journalist and historian Aubrey Morris. Tera Griffin Morris, age 93, of Milton, Georgia, passed away peacefully at home on April 19, 2021. She and her husband, Aubrey, were Episcopalians and founding members of the Church of the Atonement in Sandy Springs and St. Aidan’s in Alpharetta. The Morris daughters are Rebecca (Robin) Fricton, Rhoda (Paul) Owens, and Susan (Kent) Moe.

Tera Griffin Morris graduated from Grady Hospital Nursing School in 1948. Tera and Aubrey met while he was a reporter for the Atlanta Journal and was covering a beauty pageant that was choosing the prettiest student nurse at Grady. Tera won the pageant and Aubrey’s heart. Tera was proud to have been one of Margaret Mitchell’s nurses the night Mitchell was hit by a car and taken to Grady. The author passed in a few hours. Tera worked tirelessly caring for her patients at both Grady and Piedmont Hospitals.

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Becky Fricton remembers that her mother always “had a sense that we were in trouble or had a problem we did not want to admit. She taught us to be independent and always honest. We are so proud to be her daughters.” Indeed, Becky talks about attending history class (her major) at Valdosta State. She was one of the few women in the classroom, and the professor opined that most girls went to college to get an Mrs. degree. Becky promptly got up and walked out of class. “Mother was a wise counselor for so many family and friends. Her niece Kathy Ladner, a nurse in Mississippi, credits mother for encouraging her to go into the medical field.”

The Perkins House circa 1839 was restored and moved from Roswell to Francis Road, Milton in 1986. It was a labor of love to restore this as a retirement home for Aubrey and Tera. Tera resided in this jewel for over 30 years. An avid gardener, Tera loved being outside and her garden was a masterpiece of color and plant varieties.

Married for 60 years prior to Aubrey's passing, their marriage was a model for loyalty, respect, and love. The couple had six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Proud Legacy Tera was born in 1927 on a farm in Alapaha, Georgia to Perlie and Dallas Griffin. In an article entitled “Family roots go deep into country’s history” published in the Alpharetta-REVUE & News October 18, 2007, Aubrey Morris wrote about Tera’s ancestry. “We (recently) made a pilgrimage to historic sites in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia which not only figured in the founding days of the good old United States of America, but in the growth, and preservation, of our blessed land. They are sites where my wife’s family roots have been planted over a period of four centuries.” “Three Virginia charter companies were stock companies with Royal backing, King James I issuing the charters in 1606, 1609, and 1612. Among the 1609 subscribers (‘adventurers’ as they were called) was William Handcock, born, 1575, in Devonshire, England, a shipbuilder in Bristol, who had taken a flyer and invested 62 pounds, 10 shillings, 5 pence in the London Company’s crazy Virginia colonization experiment.”  William Handcock, in the year 1620, embarked for Berkeley Plantation near the James River above Jamestown searching for timber for his ships. Morris continues: “My wife, Tera Griffin Morris, is a 10th generation descendant of Nancy Anne (Handcock) Griner, born at New Bern, N.C., up the Neuse River from Handcock Creek, on July 4, 1776.” Nancy Anne was a direct descendant of William Handcock, the shipbuilder who originally settled in Virginia. Becky mentioned that Aubrey had taken a genealogy course at Cambridge University in England. We have all benefitted from Aubrey’s love of history and his dedication to research.  The Milton Historical Society is grateful for the continued support of the Morris daughters and their cooperation in sharing their family story and photographs.  Aubrey Morris was a reporter for the Atlanta Journal newspaper, and in 1957 was hired at WSB radio to create and manage the news department, where he served for over 30 years. Morris wrote over 150 columns for local papers, including the Alpharetta & Roswell ReVue. The Morris family has generously allowed the Milton Historical Society to copy the articles.

Muse of the month! Wisdom from journalist and historian Sir Max Hastings: "We (historians) are all taking a stab at the truth. There is no such thing as the definitive history or biography."  Photographer unknown Wisdom from the internet: "To steal ideas from one person is plagarism. To steal from many is research."

Sketch by Rev. Charles O. Walker A long time ago (1805 to 1839) in a land far, far away (Varnell Station, Whitfield County, Georgia) existed an amazing collection of 13 structures on 143 acres owned by Cherokee Annie Wolf and her white husband… Witness the Story of the Wolf Stand by Lynne Cabe Georgia Trail of Tears Board Member The Wolf Stand was a fine two-story, hewn log home with two chimneys which served as a stage coach stop and wayside for weary travelers at Red Hill (later Varnell Station in Whitfield County, Georgia). The stand was located on the Federal Road and operated from the time of the establishment of the Road in 1805 through the Removal of the Cherokees in 1838-39. The Wolf Stand was one of many Cherokee-owned stands along the Federal Road providing food and lodging as well as fodder for animals. Stands were located about 10 miles apart, a day’s travel.  Federal Roads and Georgia Waysides Federal Road construction, while approved by the federal government, was not funded to any extent by either the federal government or the state of Georgia. It was primarily locally built following the ancient Middle Cherokee Path and designed for the passage of trains of pack animals, mail carriers, wagons, carriages, and stagecoaches.(1) It was often quite narrow (estimated at some points at only 14 feet wide) and rutted. Cherokees who lived along the route recognized the economic opportunity provided by the road and perhaps also the chance to be accepted by white peers who desired Natives to be more like themselves. Tragically, the federal removal of the indigenous people in 1838-39, the Trail of Tears, utilized the Federal Road for the exodus. The Federal Road connected important Cherokee destinations including New Echota, Vann House, and Spring Place Mission, Red Clay Council Ground, the Ross and Ridge homes, and Brainerd Mission, places traveled by missionaries, dignitaries, and policy makers. Individuals traveling to and from these destinations utilized the amenities of the Cherokee-owned stands along the route increasing the wealth of Cherokee owners.  Annie Wolf and the Wolf Stand The Wolf Stand was managed by Annie Wolf, a successful Cherokee business woman. According to the diary of Ebenezer Newton, his party of travelers enjoyed a meal at the Wolf Stand in May, 1818. The travelers attempted to negotiate their breakfast with “Widow Wolf, an old Indian lady.” The party did get a “more than tolerable breakfast” and Mr. Newton noted in his diary that Mrs. Wolf “managed the business cleverly.”(2) In other words, Mrs. Wolf strictly adhered to successful business practices and avoided favors which might have resulted in financial loss. The Wolf Stand property improvements and additions were itemized in 1836 for Land Lot 228, by William Williams, husband of Annie Wolf, when he filed for reimbursement for property loss related to the Removal. The two story log house (37’ x 22’) had two stone chimneys and fireplaces, and good floors and doors. Twelve other structures on the property included a separate hewn log kitchen, smokehouse, springhouse, corncrib, two large stables, and six cabins. The property included 143 acres and 283 fruit trees, a sizable operation valued at $2,500 in 1836 (according to Whitfield County History, 1999). The Wolf family was certainly a very successful Cherokee family. Notable Visitors Many important individuals who played active parts in decisions leading to the Removal visited the Wolf Stand and other Cherokee-owned waysides. Visitors to the Wolf Stand included Samuel Worcester, missionary to the Cherokees and delegate to Washington on their behalf. Red Hill, Big Spring, and Wolf Stand were very busy places in the 1830s. In John Goff’s colorful account “Retracing the Old Federal Road,” the statement of a local settler about the Wolf Stand is recorded: “the log house was a public stop whur traveling people put up at!”(3) Rattling Gourd Family The Wolf Stand property once was the home of Annie Wolf’s uncle, Rattlinggourd Conrad, who married Polly Toney, daughter of Chief Tenooyee. Annie Wolf was the daughter of Rattlinggourd’s brother Youngwolf Conrad. The Wolf Stand property on which this family lived and thrived was known for years as Rattlinggourd Field. All the children of this large Cherokee family attended school at the Spring Place Moravian Mission near Vann House. The Dalton, Georgia Argus newspaper described in March 1895 the report of Mr. Brown, who had visited Indian Territory “looking after his Cherokee claim.” Brown saw the Rattling Gourds among others, and noted “old lady Rattling Gourd is reported as having been very wealthy and it is said she threw a pot of gold and silver in a bottomless spring when she was being run out of the area. It is supposed that she threw it in the bottomless spring to keep her enemies from getting the cache.”(4) Perhaps there is still gold in Varnell’s Big Spring!

Wolf Stand Logs Live On Following the Removal, Judge O. H. Kenan acquired the Wolf Stand property and surrounding area. Judge Kenan was an important contributor to the establishment of Whitfield County. A 1938 Dalton newspaper article described the hewn logs when Kenan’s home was being dismantled as “sound throughout” in spite of more than 100 years of age.(5) A local family historian wrote that a portion of the logs were purchased by John Taliaferro and moved to Varnell-Cohutta Road for a six room house. The square, hand-hewn logs were placed perpendicular instead of horizontal and were still standing in 1987, although covered by siding.(6) The Wolf Stand was an important hub for travelers and locals alike. It represented social and economic achievement for the Cherokees, a fact to be cherished by Cherokee descendants and other advocates for the Native people who were so wrongly exiled from their beloved land. Visitors to the site of the Wolf Stand can only imagine the important activities that took place there long ago. Editorial note: It is believed that logs from the Wolf Stand are being used as a fireplace mantel and part of the walls in several rooms in a home in Whitfield County. Dendochronologist Dr. Georgina DeWeese, PhD. has been enlisted to date the logs. References (1) Georgia Department of Transportation (2007). Phase 1: Development of a Historical Context for the Federal Road in North Georgia, by T. Owenby and D. Wharton, University of Mississippi. (2) Ebenezer Newton’s 1818 Diary, Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. LM, No. 2, June 1969. (3) Goff, J. (1975) Retracing the Old Federal Road. In Placenames of Georgia, Utley, F.L. and Hemperly, M. R., Eds., (1975), University of Georgia Press. (4) Argus, Dalton, GA, March 1895. (5) Dalton, GA newspaper article circa 1938, 100 Year Old House Being Torn Down Recalls Old Settler. (6) Jean Taliaferro Breeden, (Jan. 1987) addendum to Robert Kenan’s personal manuscript, Judge Owen Holmes Kenan. About Author Lynne Cabe… Expanding Public Memory of the Cherokee Lynne McGehee Cabe is a life-long resident of Northwest Georgia. She possesses a strong interest in preserving the historic presence of Native Americans in Georgia. Lynne’s passion grew out of her discovery that her maternal ancestors were awarded Cherokee property in the 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery in East Armuchee, Walker County. Lynne is a Board member with the Georgia Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association. In that role she enjoys researching and writing about Cherokee sites in Whitfield County. Additionally, Lynne has contributed to the development of curriculum for educators to meet the Georgia Department of Education K-12 Social Studies Standards of Excellence which address the Cherokees and Muscogee (Creek). Lynne is a retired public administrator and educator and she resides in Dalton, GA with her husband Doug. They have two daughters and sons-in-law, and three grandchildren.

Coming Attractions... Milton Historical Society events and programs scheduled for 2021 - 2022: Social at Wildberry Creek Farm Booth at the Crabapple Fest Ron Grossman, Presidential Paramours Ann Foskey, Sweet Apple Memories Sue Verhoef, Director of Oral History and Genealogy, Atlanta History Center Ed Malowney, Barbara Latham, Connie Mashburn, Old Milton Post Offices Holiday gathering Watch this space for more information on dates and venues!

Milton Historical Society Patrons Many thanks for your support! Lifetime Patrons Amy and Mark Amick Josephine and Jeff Dufresne Felton Anderson Herbert** Johnny Herbert Bill Lusk Linda and Robert Meyers Adam Orkin Charlie Roberts Sarah Roberts Marsha and Kevin Spear Karen Thurman ** An additional 2021 gift of $250 was made in honor of Robert Meyers Corporate Sponsors Lithic Genealogy Group The William B. Orkin Foundation  2021 Patrons

Sustaining Patrons Kathy Beck Philip Beck Byron Foster Kim and Tom Gauger Sheryl and Carl Jackson Steve Krokoff Holt Lyda Connie Mashburn Curtis Mills Ronnie Rondem Jennifer and Robert Sorcabal Family Patrons Joan Borzilleri Mary and Gregg Cronk Amy Dubroc Linda and James Farris Laura Foster Individual Patrons Elizabeth Montgomery Lynn Tinley

We Love our Founding Members!

Ron Wallace Felton and Johnny Herbert Adam Orkin Pat Miller Dawn and Keith Reed Amy Christiansen Kathy and Philip Beck Jessica and Warren Cheely Heather and Joe Killingsworth Ronnie Rondem Seth Chandlee Curtis Mills Mary Ann and Clarke Otten

Mark Amick Joan Borzilleri Norm Broadwell Jeff Dufresne James Farris Byron Foster Kim Gauger Bill Lusk Connie Mashburn Robert Meyers Charlie Roberts Kevin Spear Karen Thurman