We wanted to go to the funeral of a dear friend of many years over in Blakely, which is near the Alabama border, in the extreme southwestern section of Georgia. In looking at the map of possible ways to get there (no interstates here), I noticed that there were several counties on the routes that we had not visited in our quest to photograph older county courthouses in our state.
So we set up travel routes to hit as many of these as possible, considering that you really have to have a reason to be in that area. By going west to the funeral site, we could get several county seats covered, and coming home by another route, there were some more.
Friday, going over, we hit Nashville, Adel, Moultrie, Camilla, Newton, and ended at Blakely.
Coming home on Saturday, our stops were: Donaldsonville, Colquitt, Bainbridge, Cairo, Thomasville, Quitman, Valdosta, Statenville, Lakeland and Homerville.
Sixteen county seats, sixteen courthouses, many photos later, we finally got home. We remarked that we probably should not be having so much fun coming and going from a funeral. It did not seem right, somehow.
Looking back, even though it was only yesterday, it is hard to keep the counties and courthouses in some kind of order, but we found that we could remember the people that we met.
In Moultrie, we stopped at the courthouse, toured around and then decided that, since it was already 2:30 in the afternoon, we should find a spot for lunch. Surely there would be something right on the courthouse square. M. L. saw a man approaching, looking for all the world like a native, and stopped him for some information.
All it took for her to get into a longer conversation was finding out that he was a pilot, and all the restaurants closed up. He was not even a native, but his wife was from there, and he had flown her down for a get together with some old high school classmates. Knowing that the eatery that he had just visited for lunch was closed, he suggested a bakery across the square. As we walked in, the girl informed us that it was 3:05 and they closed at 3. Interestingly enough, she was from Australia, had married a boy from Moultrie, and they settled back in his hometown.
We got lost in the town of Newton, looking for the county courthouse. We could not even find the town, it was that small. We took the right road in, even found the city limit sign, but missed the town entirely. After driving through and seeing the speed limits gradually increasing, we knew we had missed it. In turning back the way we had come, on a different road, we spotted an old building with the name Newton Precinct. Going in we found we had entered the old courthouse, which was now the library. Here was another stranger in our path:
This good Samaritan wanted to show me how to find the new courthouse, so we went outside to better understand his directions. He then wanted to tell me about the flood that had almost wiped out the whole town. The courthouse and one store building was all that once had been a thriving courthouse square. At least that is what he said. Since he never gave me the same date for the flood twice, I haven't been able to ascertain the history of that event. If anyone knows where the courthouse is in Newton, GA, let me know.
On Saturday, we left our motel pretty early to begin the trip home. At Colquitt, county seat of Miller County, I walked around the square, looking at murals and just sightseeing. I saw a man. standing outside a store, and walked across to talk.
This man had come to the United States 20 years ago from Vietnam. I realized later that I had forgotten to ask him how he happened to end up in Colquitt, but I'm sure there is a good reason. Regardless, he had opened a small business on the square and we talked business and the economy for a few minutes. Customers were few on that Saturday morning, but he did let me know that the courthouse that I had been taking pictures of was a newer vintage, that the older one had burned down a few years back, not an uncommon thing to happen to those old buildings from the turn of the century.
When we pulled into Bainbridge and found the courthouse, (by the way you can almost always spot the courthouse from the outskirts of town, because the clock tower can be seen over the top of the other buildings), we parked on the square and spent some time listening to a choir from the Morningside Baptist Church practice for a Christmas program they were to give that evening. They were quite good, and we enjoyed chatting with the narrator of the event.
Sixteen courthouse, almost all with stories, all important in the lives of the people who lived in those places, but the most important statistics have to do with the individual men, women, boys and girls who grew up around them, some of which I met.
I didn't have time or room to show shots of all the people that I had to stop and ask directions of, that would take entirely too much time, but I will show The Lowndes County seat of government.
Merry Christmas from Valdosta, GA
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