Common-place Book: n. a book in which common-places, or notable or striking passages are noted; a book in which things especially to be remembered or referred to are recorded.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Reflections from a Road Trip: the Deep South
A new generation meets the storyteller
[This brings my summer travel posts to a close. I plan to stay home for a while.]
In 1776, the British army recruited an 18-year old German boy from northern Bavaria to fight the American colonists. After 2 years of doing that very thing, the young man followed his conscience, defected and joined the Revolutionary Army. War's end found him in North Carolina where he in turn found a wife. Johannes died in 1816 in Georgia, a modestly prosperous yeoman farmer and Primitive Baptist preacher. For the last 30 years, this man's descendants have gathered for a reunion in different parts of the South. These are my mother's people, though she gave little thought to these get-togethers. In the 30 years, I have missed perhaps three. My wife and I attended this year's event in LaGrange, Georgia, and then drove on to Savannah, where we spent a couple of days before returning home.
Without going into any great detail, I will simply post some observations from the trip, in a Best and Worst format, as follows:
Best mid-sized Southern city:
Jackson, hands down
Most picturesque small-town Episcopal church:
Church of the Holy Cross, Uniontown, AL
Most photogenic decaying Southern mansion:
behind the Church of the Holy Cross, Uniontown, AL
Most surprising:
Selma, Al, much more than the Edmund Pettus bridge, with an interesting downtown, not yet in total decline, with impressive churches and the stand-out Mishkan Temple Synagogue
Best eastbound travel tip:
Alabama police are apparently serious about the 45 mph posted along Highway 80's eternal construction
Best location for a remake of Gone with the Wind or any other moonlight-and-magnolias Southern potboiler:
Greenville, GA, with a row of authentic antebellum mansions lining the western entrace to town, culminating in a Norman Rockwall courthouse square
Most eye-catching Orthodox temple:
St. Innocent Orthodox Church, Macon, GA
Favorite Savannah squares:
Monterrey and Lafayette
Favorite Savannah view:
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist as seen across Lafayette Square from the second-story windows of Flannery O'Connor's childhood home
Silliest church sign:
seen in front of Reidsville Baptist Church, Reidsville, GA: "Youths: Confused about Jesus' Second Coming? Watch the Left Behind movies here." ho-boy
Most idyllic Southern hamlet:
Ailey, GA
Bridesmaids in Forsythe Square
Friendliest Fruit Stand:
McGuinty's McApple Orchard, Rochelle, GA
Most beautiful Baptist Church:
First Baptist Church, Plains, GA
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Ugliest Baptist Church:
Ladonia Baptist Church, Phenix City, AL
In Bonadventure Cemetery
Competition between old-time downtown Jackson eateries--The Mayflower vs. The Elite Cafe:
The Elite Cafe has a slight edge until The Mayflower's bread pudding is factored in, leaving it a dead-heat
Best westbound travel tip:
If you fill up with gasoline and visit the restroom in Jackson or Vicksburg, you can make it to Texas without ever having to even stop in Louisiana
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5 comments:
Next time you come to Memphis, you and I need to do a tour of Memphis' best abandoned churches. Some have a gravitas that cannot be put to words.
We'll do it.
Drove thru Selma for the very first time this summer. Very pleasantly surprised as well.
BTW, never saw Theophan a couple of weeks ago. Did they stop thru Memphis?
Thank you so much: I was able to travel, and learn a great deal, from my PC here in the SW suburbs of Sydney.
And enjoy home! :)
Anon, traveling with children as they were, prevented them from reaching Memphis on Saturday. Too bad, but just one of those things. Anyway, they know where to go next time!
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