About StarNews. (Carrollton, GA) 20??-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2010)
Page 4 APRIL 4, 2010 StarNews www. starnewsga.com Doug Mabry: a very busy county historian who is in high demand by Carole Scott Recently, the love of history that led Doug Mabry to spend years researching Carroll County’s history has resulted in him being asked to do more historical research than he has enough time to do. Along with his work for Carroll County’s government, occupying most of his time now and generating requests for his services as a historical researcher is the U.S. Highway 27 Association. The formation of this 18-county group is the result of the State of Georgia deciding to promote economic development (primarily tourism) in the State’s western-most counties Doug Mabry is shown with Dr. Beverly Sparks, associate dean for Extension, UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, and one of Georgia Trend magazine’s Power Women of 2010. Photo courtesy Jeff Miller, Miller’s Images,Inc. and reduce the congestion near Atlanta caused both by tourist and commercial traffic by add ing two lanes to this formerly two-lane road. Assigned by the association to develop a theme for the promotion of this route, he decided to call it the “Must C Route” because of how many connections there are between it and places whose name starts with a “C”. U.S. Highway 27 enters Georgia from Chattanooga and runs through counties the Cherokee and Creek tribes lived in. Other “C” words associated with it are the Chieftains Museum in Rome, Cloudland Canyon, Chattahoochee National Forest, Cave Spring, Cedartown, Carrollton, Chattahoochee River, Callaway Gardens, Columbus, and Civil-War- related locations such as the Chickamauga bat tlefield and the Confederate Naval Museum in Columbus. (And then there is the almost “C” word, Kolomoki Mounds!) Non-”C” attrac tions include the large Berry College campus and Martha Berry’s home, the new infantry museum at Fort Benning, and Providence Canyon, which, though it is vastly smaller, is more colorful than the Grand Canyon or even the Painted Desert. U.S. Highway 27, which begins at the Canadian border in Michigan and ends in Miami, Florida, connects Georgia with Cincinnati, Ohio and Canada. It provides the most direct access to western Florida and Miami to some Canadian “Snow Bird” people and people in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. This is also true for people living in several states located west of these states. U.S. higlrwa^^T^conjnectsjCaimolTton^with^ LaGrange. Highway 27A connects Carrollton with Newnan. Mabry includes among the “Must C” sights for U.S. 27 travelers places on connecting highways. The McIntosh Trail, which connected Chief McIntosh’s Carroll County home with Indian Springs in Butts County, ran pretty much along the route taken much later by Georgia highways 5 and 16. Mabry labels Georgia 100 a rural heritage highway whose appeal includes being more scenic than is the nearby portion of U.S. 27. While McIntosh Reserve is well known in Carroll County, until recently, when the county bought the property, how many Carroll County residents had even heard of the Moore’s Bridge property, where a man bom a slave built the first bridge there prior to the Civil War and where a skirmish took place during that war which resulted in its burning? Also, Native American artifacts have been found there. It is a location of triple historic signifi cance: Native and black American heritage and Civil War history. Mabry believes that, as was once true of Carroll County, that the residents of many of Georgia’s western-most counties are unaware of how many places there are in their counties that might interest out of state tourists and peo ple living in nearby Metropolitan Atlanta counties. A Power Point presentation he has shown at several meetings that largely features such attractions in Carroll County as the Gold Mine Museum in Villa Rica and Banning Mill in Whitesburg has inspired people in other coun ties to seek or create sites in their counties that See DOUG MABRY page 33 Local and Regional Artist Live Entertainment Food and Snacks Gaines and Prizes lids Zone Fi for the whole family! Downtown Adamson Square Saturday May 01,2010 (9:30am - 4:30pm) kT.I MAIN STREET Southwire mmimw kiss 102.7 "SS.fr/ r- tr u, >.r Your Music Station CmitmtfiifmtmU+Sktm Your Music Station Motherly Love. Thank You to all the Mothers of our Community. As time passes, “A Family Serving Families®...Since 1950 ’ we afOW tQ sge relationships as our most valued ' treasures - our source • of joy and strength. Funeral Home, Inc. Cremation Services, Memorial Gardens 60th Anniversary / & 2010 Georgia Small Family Business of the Year Villa Rica Chapel 770-459-3694 Douglas Chapel 770-942-2311 www.jones-wynn.com
