Weekday People

   A couple of weekends ago, it was a trip to Leesburg, Lumpkin, Preston, Cochran, Baxley, McRae and Alma, with a sleepover in Americus. When you travel on a Saturday and Sunday, this is what you get.

   A courthouse building, a town square devoid of people and monuments that you can't ask anyone about.

   But what about just taking off in the middle of the week? There is more traffic on the roads to be sure, but the one thing that makes it more informative and enjoyable is that there are actually real people to talk with and learn from.

   An example of this was brought home to us this past Thursday, as we took a day off and visited the towns of Hinesville, Reidsville, Mt. Vernon, Soperton, Claxton and Pembroke, all county seats with courthouses for us to see and photograph.

   After visiting the first four on that list, and after munching on our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we rolled into Claxton, home of the Claxton fruit cakes and the county seat of Evans County.

   Evans County, named for a Confederate General who surrendered with Lee at Appomattox in 1865, was constituted in 1914 with land taken from Bulloch and Tattnall counties. The current population is around 11,000, with Claxton the largest town.

   As I came back from the front of the courthouse building, I found Mayre talking with a lady at the side door. There was an apology for the side entrance being locked, which we had not tried to enter anyway, but the lady invited us in to see the building.

   This led to a tour of the upstairs with its original courtroom as well as some minutes discussing the county and its people. This was the original, and only, courthouse the county had used for all of its 100 year history. It was built in 1923 and was in great shape after a remodeling in 1980.

   It was an unhurried visit, as we sat in the old courtroom and visited for some little time. Our guide was the Clerk of the courts of the county, Kathy Hendrix, and she was glad to answer all our questions and give us facts about things that we did not even know to ask about.

   The personal touch is what we will remember. All kinds of information can be gleaned from books and monuments, but having a person take her time to show some people around and explain the workings of the country and its government made it special.

   Georgia has 159 counties, and we have seen a lot of them, but the ones that we will remember the best will be those where the contact was personal.

   Thank you, Kathy for your willingness to share and your time to do it.

   God puts people in our path that make our lives richer just by their being there, if we only take the time to listen and look. Those are the best days of our traveling.

   The key to meaningful travel is people…

   Some day I might tell you about the locked rest rooms and the inmate reconditioned pews.