Vanishing Landmarks Of Georgia

A guidebook with full-color photos for 56 gristmills and 16 covered bridges in GA

The absorbing vintage photographs brought together in Vanishing Georgia recall life in the state from halfway through the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. Pictured here are both great events and commonplace occurrences: Atlanta in the wake of Sherman's march and a small town bedecked in flags on the Fourth of July; paddlewheelers loaded with barrels of turpentine and proud owners of new automobiles; a get-together with neighbors for a corn shucking and a crowd straining to hear the last words of a convicted man. Vanishing Georgia is an engaging entree into the state's vast and varied history, a treasure for both casual browsers and serious scholars.

More than eighty historic buildings and roadside landmarks across Georgia have found sanctuary in this stark but powerful collection of sketch work. From obscure treasures like a Cobb County covered bridge to the instantly recognizable Forsyth Park in Savannah, landscape architect Ronald Huffman puts pencil to pad to safeguard moments of state history. Each piece is accompanied by anecdotes and related backstories that preserve the context of these icons before progress irrevocably alters the landscape. Explore the back roads of Georgia with a guide attuned to the unexpected splendors that mark the way.

The Sunday drive. Mom, dad and the kids would head out to see the countryside. An ice cream treat usually waited at day's end. Back in the Burma-Shave days, mom-and-pop drive-ins and gas station biscuits fed folks. Cheap gas filled cars, and people made Sunday drives through a land where See Rock City barns, sawdust piles and trains and junkyards gave them plenty to see. Men in seersucker suits ran old stores with oscillating fans, and if the kids ate too much penny candy, grandma had a home remedy for them. It was a time for dinner on church grounds, yard art and old-fashioned petunias. Join author Tom Poland as he revisits disappearing traditions.