GwinnettForum | Number 21.69 | Sept. 16, 2022
AS THE ATLANTA BRAVES make another solid run this year, we must remember that the Buford Shoemakers baseball team won the Semi-Pro World Series in 1938. Jim Puckett recalls this in a letter to the editor below. The team was promoted with an oversize Ford convertible, shoe size 300, width EEEEEEEEEEEE (12). (Photo from the Museum of Buford.)
TODAY’S FOCUS: Rotarians plan Day of Peace Ceremony on September 21
EEB PERSPECTIVE: How about surveillance cameras, a new park and “them Braves!”
ANOTHER VIEW: Daughter learns more about her father in last days of his life
SPOTLIGHT: Centurion Advisory Group
FEEDBACK: Cracking open a history book can recall many obvious facts
UPCOMING: PCOM Physical Therapy unit holds Free Limb Loss Event
NOTABLE: GGC Broadcasting internship program paying off
OBITUARIES: Jack Roland Pittman Jr.
RECOMMENDED: The Highly Selected Dictionary by Eugene Ehrlich
GEORGIA TIDBIT: “Federal Roads” helped clear path for western settlement
MYSTERY PHOTO: Obvious clues might lead to your identifying this mystery
CALENDAR: Historical Society meeting on Monday will highlight Gwinnett First Families
Rotarians plan Day of Peace Ceremony on Sept. 21
By Paige Havens
DULUTH, Ga. | On Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, leaders and members of Gwinnett’s eight Rotary clubs will join with 1.4 million Rotarians around the world in celebrating the 2022 International Day of Peace. The public is invited.
The event will be held on the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College at 11:30 a.m. Antonio Molina, chairman of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will serve as the master of ceremonies. The program will kick off with a special musical performance to honor all who face the fear of war and strife around the world.
Rotary District 6910 Governor Gerry Taylor will offer short words of recognition as to the work Rotary does locally to promote peace. Susan Carroll, managing director of Rotary’s Peace Center at Duke University, will broaden awareness of Rotary’s impact on peace globally. Al-Karim Alidina, president of the Ismaili Council for the USA Ismaili, will share a message of prayer, peace, and pluralism. The program will close with a blessing of peace from members of the Indian Community and the Rotary Four-Way Test.
Savitt
Jill Savitt, president and CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, will deliver the keynote speech, “Truth and Transformation.” Her message will emphasize how understanding the past can create an equitable future.
Each year the Rotary Club of Gwinnett County leads the charge to host an event that will inspire our community to be mindful of and intentional about the role we all play in fostering peace and unity.
The event promises to be educational, inspirational, and thought-provoking. The entire Gwinnett community is invited to attend. Registration cost is just $25 to cover expenses. Event chair and Rotary District 6910 Assistant District Governor Jennifer Hibbard says: “This event is designed to inspire our diverse Gwinnett community to be more intentional about equity, inclusion, and acceptance. Gwinnett is a rich melting pot of so many races, ethnicities, cultures, and heritages. We have much to celebrate, yet so much to learn from each other. This is a great opportunity for us to meet, share, and find ways to align for the betterment of our community.”
Advance registration is required at https://bit.ly/Rotary4Peace. The event will be held in the LVIS Conference Room of Building E on the Georgia Gwinnett College campus located at 1000 University Center Lane in Lawrenceville. Free parking will be available in lot 3000 with cart shuttle service available before and after the event. A buffet lunch will be served.
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How about speed cameras, a new park and “them Braves!”
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
SEPT. 16, 2022 | How about those speed cameras around many Gwinnett schools! We all appreciate technology allowing us a new way for these school streets to be safer. But they sure are costly for some motorists.
We’ve been technology-ticketed enough to realize those cameras really keep up with your speed. And we often take different routes to circumvent the cameras. It’s not that we speed through these school areas routinely. But…sometimes … .thinking perhaps of other matters, we travel faster than we realize…..and ipso facto, the mail brings new evidence which is hard to dispute.
For sure, we’re not the only ones sometimes exceeding the school zone speed. In fact, lots and lots of us are doing it. A press release this week said that at only three county schools, the speed zone cameras had brought in $950,000 through the end of July. The cameras were installed at Duncan Creek Elementary on Dec. 10, 2021, and at Graves Elementary and Anderson Livesey Elementary on March 2, 2022 so that total is at most for only nine nine months!
How about the speed at which surveillance cameras allowed the Atlanta Police Department to catch a woman who killed two people in downtown Atlanta recently! That was something.
The cameras worked so well that police had an identification of the person almost immediately, and caught her at Hartsfield Jackson Airport before she could catch a plane! In the meantime, footage from the cameras in the building where she killed two guys was on television relatively soon. Piecing together information, the cameras allowed the police to do their job with amazing speed.
A system of Flock branded cameras is now deployed in areas of Gwinnett, which is helping our police catch some people before they even get out of a car. The cameras alert police to stolen cars before the criminals are aware of it. It makes our community safer.
There’s been a lot of talk throughout the world about how surveillance cameras are an infringement on liberties. The January 6 hearings are another example of how the use of these cameras is benefiting our society. It produced evidence that has sent a lot of the perpetrators at the insurrection in Washington already to prison, and threatens to send more.
We’ve never thought of these cameras as a detriment to freedom. It’s more like they allow technology to protect us in a new way.
How about these numbers? Elections Manager Zachary Manifold tells us that for the General Election this year in Gwinnett, there are 629,997 people registered to vote!
And finally, how ‘bout them Braves? The Atlanta baseball team is in a neck-and-neck race with the New York Mets for supremacy for the National League East championship. The Braves have really come on strong in the second part of the season, and look good to overtake the Mets and win the division.
Over the last part of the schedule, the Braves face the Phillies in seven games, the Nationals in six games, and close out the home season against the Mets on Sept. 30, October 1 and 2. The Braves 2022 season ends in a three game set on October 5 in Miami. Yep, they could win their third straight division title in 2022, and maybe second straight World Series!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Daughter learns more about her father in his last days
(Editor’s note: This comment below is so touching and heart-felt, that we thought you would enjoy learning more about a member of the Gwinnett community. The obituary follows below.—eeb)
By Kate Pittman
SUWANEE, Ga. | My father, Jack Pittman, age 87, passed away on Sunday morning, Sept. 4, 2022.
Jack Pittman was a resident of Suwanee. When he was 19, he married my mom, who had me when he was 20, and had six children by age 28. He was born in Memphis, lived in the projects, and was a “feral” (or free-range) kid. His daddy skipped town and his mother worked at Woolworth’s lunch counter in Memphis. He didn’t finish the eighth grade. But he was smart, curious, and observant… and amazingly our family didn’t starve.
I took my father for an elective out-patient surgery four weeks ago. As I was signing his release and post-operative forms, I watched him go into cardiac arrest. After 45 minutes of CPR, he had a stroke. He hung on for over two weeks in the hospital before he was transferred to hospice. My family and I were at his side throughout the ordeal.
Through this experience, I learned that my father led an amazing social life in retirement. Not only did he continue to keep in touch with friends and business associates across the country he’s known for decades, but he also made friends with people of all ages and backgrounds within the tight knit community of Suwanee Town Center. This included his neighbors, as well as a diverse assortment of people (age, gender, ethnicity, race and socio-economic background) who owned, worked at, and frequented the gym, businesses, restaurants and bars within Suwanee Town Center.
When the hospital loosened restrictions limiting visitors, Jack had a steady stream of friends who, to my astonishment, “loved” my father and cried openly. Once the word got out, at least six people showed up every day at the hospital and then at all hours at hospice. When daddy saw each enter his room, he lit up and was obviously happy to see them.
Friends brought other friends, and they told stories and laughed even if it wasn’t clear dad could hear them.
Maria has cut my father’s hair every month for the past 30 years. She came to hospice and lovingly gave him a beard trim as she told him, with tears in her eyes, how much she’d enjoyed knowing him. When I went to pick up the eyeglasses he ordered, the shopkeeper refused payment because he “loved” my father. When I went to his local bank to set up an Estate Account, the young man helping me lost all color in his face when he saw the photo of my father.
What was the ‘special sauce” my dad instinctively had? I don’t know, but I sure hope I inherited some of it. I had no idea this was my father’s life! When I grow up, I want to be like my father.
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Cracking open a history book can recall many obvious facts
Editor, the Forum:
The recent letter from the person in Stone Mountain should cause the writer to crack open a history book, especially since this person lives in Stone Mountain. It was the hub of white supremacy, a gathering spot for the KKK.
The Black Lives Matter movement came about because a young man in Florida was killed by a guy who thought he had the right to shoot him. That’s what is known as a vigilante. That’s when the movement began and when. Later when George Floyd was murdered by people who are suppose to protect us, the police, the movement went into overdrive.
I support those who protest peacefully like our Constitution provides us that right. I do not agree with the burning down of businesses for the sake of burning down something because you can’t control your impulses. I support a well-trained police that implements all manner of tools to not only protect the public, but to safeguard the criminal so he will be brought before the courts for justice.
As for Antifa, again, look at the word. It isn’t a movement, but a symbol against Fascism (anti-fascism) that a small minority of white males who dominate this group, and have decided they feel they have been disenfranchised. They haven’t, but in their minds they think they have been.
As for President Biden’s words, I think the man has the patience of Job. It’s about time he speaks frankly about how divisive one group continues on with the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. If that was the case, then all Republican governors, senators, house members and so on, would all be Democrats.
– Sara Rawlins, Lawrenceville
Mystery reminded of throwback Shoemakers promotion
Editor, the Forum:
The mystery photo recently of the L. L. Bean Bootmobile in the GwinnettForum reminded me of the photos of the shoe on wheels utilized to publicize the Bona Allen Shoemakers in their successful semi-pro baseball seasons during the 1930’s. The team and the ‘shoe car’ helped put Buford on the map during the Depression years.
– Jim Puckett, Buford
Dear Jim: Good remembrance. As I was told, this ‘Shoemobile” would park in whatever city the baseball team would be playing, promoting people to come to the stadium to see the team. And they were always good, even national semi-pro champs in 1938 in Wichita, Kansas.—eeb
Concerned that extended care facility being closed
Editor, the Forum:
The folks at Northside Gwinnett gave their extended care facility residents two months to move out, as they are now closing that unit down for more hospital beds. According to the AJC, the 21 residents include a 99 year old man are being tossed out. This is another example of how much this hospital has changed since Northside took over Gwinnett Medical Center.
– Dan Mackaben, Loganville
Ignoring them is harshest punishment for narcissist
Editor, the Forum:
While I don’t like former President Trump and his narcissistic behavior, I liked many of the policies he set in motion as president. President Biden, having reversed many of them, has made us energy deficient, economically hurting and is running the country into the ground. All this to say, that this administration is foolish in targeting Trump because they are encouraging his base to remain inflamed over the election. Just ignore him and that is the harshest punishment that you can inflict on a narcissist.
– S. Scott Batterton, DDS, Lilburn
Dear Scott: On one thing we agree: when you ignore narcissists, it hurts them awfully much. –eeb
- Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words, and include your hometown. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
PCOM Physical Therapy unit holds free limb loss event
The Department of Physical Therapy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee hosted a free limb loss community event under the leadership of Dr. Carol A. Miller.
The event attracted close to 100 individuals including individuals with limb loss and their supporters, speakers from a wide variety of health professions, and exhibitors who shared information with the attendees and provided funding for lunch and future events. Dr. Miller calls the event “a major success” and thanked the many volunteers who made it possible, including students.
Student Jacob Kostelec (DPT ’23) describes the experience, “Being able to integrate the hand-on skills we have learned under Dr. Miller’s instruction with individuals in the limb loss community was an invaluable learning experience that I will cherish and reflect on well into my future clinical experiences. I hope to see future students of physical therapy receive a similar opportunity, as it bridges the gap between classroom didactics and real-world practice for patients with limb loss.”
Miller notes that the day was designed to empower individuals living with limb loss and their families to move beyond amputation and learn how to return to living their highest level of ability and quality of life. She said that the primary goal of the sessions was to provide an open and supportive environment where individuals could learn, build confidence with physical activity and movement, share experiences, ask questions, and become actively engaged with others in the limb loss community.
The event was timely. Dr. Miller explains: “Even with telehealth options, the pandemic made it more difficult for people with limb loss to access the care and resources they need to help promote the highest quality of life.”
Sessions included exercise mobility clinics, in which third year doctor of physical therapy students assisted, adaptive sports including hiking, cycling and golf, managing phantom limb pain and neuropathy, and care for the caregivers.
According to Miller, the eight-hour course was designed to enhance knowledge of prosthetic design and to discover a broad scope of exercises to promote optimal gait function for adults living with lower limb amputation. The speakers presented current and clinically useful approaches to rehabilitation management using a holistic philosophy for optimizing health and wellness.
During the session, specific intervention strategies that focused on reducing fall risk, improving balance and prosthetic gait were taught using patient models and through hands-on interactions.
Burrus adds: “With events like this, your institution helps connect individuals—while connecting them with products, services, and healthcare professionals. Facilitating ties within the limb loss/limb difference community gives many resources they might otherwise never acquire while empowering them to make informed decisions about their wellness and improve their mobility.”
GGC broadcasting internship program paying off
Georgia Gwinnett College students are getting real-time broadcast experience through the Grizzly Digital Network, in an internship program. Instructor Matt Mahony (standing) overseas students Deborah Akins, Darion Malone, Cole Dysart (standing) and Ashley Miles.
An innovative internship program at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) is allowing students to gain real-world experience in sports broadcasting. It takes an army platoon-sized team of skilled professionals to produce a sports broadcast, all working in tandem to tell the story of a game in real time. It’s an exciting way to make a living, but it’s a challenging world to break into without experience.
Matt Mahony, the broadcast and video coordinator for GGC Athletics’ sports network, Grizzly Digital Network (GDN), recognized the catch-22 students majoring in GGC’s cinema and media arts production (CMAP) program found themselves in upon graduation. They had a degree in hand, but with no hands-on experience to bulk up their resumes. In 2019, he realized he had the perfect solution for that.
“We have broadcast GGC Athletics for the 10 years we have existed,” says Mahony. “The first couple of years, we were pulling fans and parents out of the stands to help run the scoreboard and stuff, because we weren’t established. We officially began the GDN Internship program, thanks to the CMAP program, in summer session 2019.”
Mahony says the internship is all about creating opportunity in an extremely competitive job field, not just “punching a ticket” to graduate.
“I happened to play college baseball. My scholarship paid for my degree, so when I graduated I had a degree and dirty cleats. That was it. I applied for every job on the NCAA website and never got a phone call because I had zero experience.”
The internship accepts six to 10 students each semester, training them for a short two weeks in operating camera, graphic, audio and other equipment before putting them right into the driver’s seat producing live broadcasts for GGC’s six sports teams: men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s baseball and softball. The games are broadcast live on the GGC Athletics official website. Students must learn the ropes of live broadcasting quickly, but Mahony says the results have been outstanding.
“We run a multicamera shoot, so if there are two, three or four cameras, students are running that equipment,” he says. “Then, we have a student who runs graphics, one who runs the scoreboard in the lower third of the screen, a director who orchestrates the live feed, and this year, we’re going to truly implement instant replay for the first time. All of it is run by student interns. It’s truly remarkable.”
The increased production value of the broadcasts has paid off in viewership too. Mahony says GGC game broadcasts received more than 54,900 views last year, with an influx of viewers from California for softball games, baseball views doubling, and people tuning in from as far away as Israel.
“My favorite part of the internship was learning in real time and the confidence that Matt had in us to be able to do such a thing,” says 2021 GGC graduate Andrew Hawkins, who earned a CMAP degree with a focus in design and production. “I wanted hands-on experience with production equipment and the chance to produce something with professional quality to put on my resume.”
Mahony adds that a bonus is that the internship results have benefited not only the students who participate, but also the audience who watches.
“These students have elevated our production to the award-winning quality it is today — over 150 events annually, multiple camera angles, live graphics, replay capabilities, plus commentary. It’s been great for everyone on both sides of the screen.”
- View online at this link.
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Jack Roland Pittman Jr.
Our family is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our father, Jack Roland Pittman Jr. of Suwanee, Ga., 87, on Sunday, September 4, 2022. Born on June 16, 1935, in Memphis, Tenn. to Mary Ruth Milner Pittman and Jack Roland Pittman Sr. Jack was preceded in death by his parents and sisters, Jacqueline and Ruth Ann Jolly.
Pittman
He is survived by his family Yvonne Watkins Pittman of Suwanee; Kate Pittman (Burke) of Lilburn; Jennie Johnson of Braselton; Mark Pittman (Michelle) of Duluth; Dan Pittman (Susie) Suwanee; Tom Pittman New Bern, N.C.; Gretchen Attanasio of Roswell; and grandchildren: Bryan Johnson (Brittany), Emily Mitchell, Katherine Johnson, Natalie Freels (Zach), Lillie, Sam, Nick, Amanda, and Luciana Attanasio; and great grandchildren: Matthew, Alexa, River, Kora, Luna and Ellie.
Jack was a self-made man and hard worker. As a kid in Memphis, he earned $1 a day selling vegetables. As a boy he hung-out at the local gas station helping out; when he was old enough, they gave him a job. Working for Red Ace gas stations in Nashville, Jack was promoted from station manager, to district manager, and to property development.
These promotions required him to relocate, so he packed up and moved his growing family when asked. Between his moves from Tennessee to Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and finally landed in Atlanta in 1966.
When he joined Whiteway Lighting in Atlanta, Jack left the management side of running gas stations and began a new career in equipment sales. Since Jack enjoyed meeting people and developing friendships, the experience of sales suited him well. Those were the days of big oil and unlimited expense accounts…until the1973 oil embargo changed the industry and forced manufacturers to lay off their in-house salesmen.
In very lean times, Jack had to start from scratch and redefine his career. He started his own petroleum-equipment sales company; the only problem was that few gas stations were being built. To make ends meet, and to support his family during the recession, Jack became a door-to-door salesman, selling Paymaster check-writing machines to businesses of every type. Jack said selling Paymaster check-writers was where he really learned the business of sales.
His large family and new house motivated him to sell the heck out of Paymaster, but that is when he stopped being home most nights and began his life as a traveling salesman. He racked up 100,000 road miles a year traveling the southeast in a tiny mustard-yellow Ford Pinto packed to the gills with check-writing machines. When the petroleum industry recovered, his petroleum equipment sales company began to flourish. Over the years, and at various times, five of his six children worked with him at Jack Pittman & Associates. Two of his sons continued with the company long-term and eventually took over the business.
Jack enjoyed driving, even very long distances, and he loved to explore the country by automobile and motorcycle, making friends along the way. He spent a lot of time in Florida, Tennessee, Maine, and Nevada/California. One of his adventures took him to Death Valley, Calif., where he discovered Amargosa Junction and the Amargosa Opera House. Amargosa is an abandoned mining town in California, just across the Nevada state line where the eccentric New York artist and dancer, Marta Becket, laid claim to the remains of the adobe hotel, opera house, and supervisors’ houses.
Marta gave stage performances nightly, but mostly to an empty opera house. She painted the walls with an audience of Elizabethan king, queen and royal court. Marta Becket was discovered by the world in 1970 when National Geographic stumbled in after doing a story on Death Valley. Jack discovered Amargosa and Marta Becket about 11 years later, became a “patron of the arts” and an ambassador for the Amargosa Opera House.
He returned several times a year, remodeling one of the tiny houses, and finally moving to the area where he remained for several years. Jack collected Marta’s paintings, and attended her opening and closing shows every year. He also treated family and friends to personalized tours of the geologic wonders of Death Valley, old mining towns, Hoover Dam, and casinos of both Las Vegas and every little dusty spot that once was a mining town in between.
In addition to collecting art by Marta and other friends, Jack collected dragons. His company logo is St. George the Dragon Slayer, so dragons just became a thing. While in the desert he bought a telescope and took an interest in astronomy. He also discovered a love for wild birds, filling feeders, learning how to identify and photograph them. He played around at prospecting for gold, and took pleasure in visiting historic mining districts of the West. He enjoyed the ballet, plays, a good cigar, and a Rum & Coke with friends, many of whom he introduced to his favorite corner of America between Death Valley and Las Vegas.
Jack let each person in his life know they were special to him. “Grandpa Jack” was known for his frequent two-minute phone calls to keep up with his children and grandkids. He will be sorely missed.
A Celebration-of-Life service and reception to honor Jack was held on September 15, 2022 at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Johns Creek, Ga. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in memory of Jack Pittman may be made to Amargosa Opera House, 608 Highway 127 Death Valley, Calif. 92328; or Doctors Without Borders, P.O. Box 5023 Hagerstown, Md. 21741-5023; or Catholic Relief Services, 228 W. Lexington Street Baltimore, Md. 21201-3443.
Arrangements entrusted to Crowell Brothers Funeral Homes and Crematory, 5051 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Peachtree Corners.
The Highly Selected Dictionary by Eugene Ehrlich
From Raleigh Perry, Buford: I have bookshelves, one on each side of my mantel, and if I were to stack all of the books, including dictionaries, word origins, or anything else to emphasize words, it would fill all four shelves on one side of the fireplace. This is just one of those books. I have several others on difficult words, uncommon words, etc. I can be classified as a reader, writer, wordsmith, and a logophile. Since they deal with several languages and where words come from, I can be classified as a linguist. Ehrlich has written several books on vocabulary and they are all full of words and phrases that you should know and have fun with. The average American adult knows between 20,00-30,000 words; this book will increase your personal word count. This will make the ‘It Pays To Increase Your Word Power’ merely child’s play. The full title is The Highly Selected Dictionary for the Extraordinary Literate.
- An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
“Federal Roads” helped clear path for western settlement
The term Federal Road refers to either of two early-19th-century thoroughfares. Both connected the borders of Georgia with western settlements. These roads facilitated a surge of westward migration, expanded regional trade and communication, and contributed to the removal of the Creeks and Cherokees to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.
The roads were one instance of the federal government’s agenda of “internal improvements,” government-subsidized projects that would tie together the trade and people of the young nation. With the goal of joining settlements in Tennessee and Alabama more closely with those in Georgia, the government negotiated a series of fraudulent treaties with the Creek and Cherokee Indians. In 1805, through the Treaty of Tellico with the Cherokees and the Treaty of Washington with the Creeks, the government gained the right to open and operate roads through Indian lands.
The surveying and constructing of the road through Cherokee lands began around 1810. The name notwithstanding, the federal government took little role in building this road, leaving it instead to the governments of Georgia and Tennessee, and to Cherokee entrepreneurs. Much of the route followed an old Cherokee trading path.
The road connected Georgia with Nashville and Knoxville, both frontier settlements in Tennessee. From Athens the route led northwestward along a generally straight course, entering the lands of the Cherokees at the present Hall County–Jackson County line and heading toward what is now Ramhurst in Murray County. There it forked, one branch leading north to Knoxville and the other west to Ross Landing, now Chattanooga. Portions of modern roads traverse the route of the Federal Road, and in some places road signs indicate “Old Federal Road.” State historical markers in Catoosa, Hall, Forsyth, Murray, Pickens, Walker, and Whitfield counties also indicate the route.
The federal government played a more direct role in the building of the road through Creek lands. In 1806 the Postal Department oversaw the clearing of a horse path running from Athens to Fort Stoddert, north of Mobile, Alabama, and then on to New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1811 the U.S. Army rerouted and widened this path, adhering closely to the route of the old Lower Creek trading path.
It began at Fort Wilkinson near Milledgeville, then the state capital, and headed southwest. At present-day Macon it entered the lands of the Lower Creeks, heading on toward the Chattahoochee River about nine miles south of Columbus. As with the road through the Cherokee lands, some modern roads follow portions of the old road. State historical markers in Chattahoochee, Marion, and Taylor counties show the route.
Mail carriers, western settlers and enslaved African Americans, evangelical itinerants, the military in the War of 1812 (1812-15) and the Seminole War, and European travelers in stagecoaches used the roads. The hordes of pioneers who traveled west on these roads wanted new land and a chance at upward mobility, and their desires hastened the federal government’s scheme of removing the Indian population to lands beyond the Mississippi River. By armed force and manipulation, the government in the 1830s expelled the Creeks and Cherokees from the lands the Federal Road passed through. Soon after, however, the road ceased to be a mechanism for change, as railroads were laid out in the 1830s and 1840s, taking over many of the functions that the roads had once served.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Obvious clues might lead to your identifying this mystery
Some readers may have been in today’s Mystery Photo building. There are a few hints that could lead you to identify the photo. Send your ideas of where this was taken to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
Virginia Klaer of Duluth quickly recognized the last Mystery. “That’s the lighthouse called Esopus Meadows in the Hudson River in Esopus, N.Y., one of the seven remaining lighthouses in the Hudson River. It was first constructed in 1837, and a second one completed in 1875. The Coast Guard took over from 1935 to 1965 when it officially closed. It was recognized as a museum in July, 2007. The 34 x 20 foot residence has a Mansard roof and octagonal tower.” The photo was taken by Donna Carpenter of Dallas, N.C.
Others recognizing it include Steve Ogilvie, Lawrenceville; Brent Hinkle, Lawrenceville; Jessica O’Neal, Dacula; Lou Camerio of Llburn, Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
Graf adds: “The Esopus Meadows Lighthouse is one of the most picturesque and the only surviving wooden lighthouse on the Hudson River. Designed by Vermont architect Albert Dow, the square keeper’s residence contained seven rooms with a kitchen, sitting room, and equipment room on the first floor and three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. On May 29, 1979 the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse achieved recognition by the US National Register of Historic Places.”
Attend the 68th annual Gwinnett County Fair, which continues until Sept. 25 at the Gwinnett Fairgrounds, 2405 Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville.
The 38th annual Suwanee Fest will be September 17-18 at Town Center Park. A parade kicks off activities on Saturday at 9 a.m., with activities continuing until 7 p.m. Sunday hours from noon until 5 p.m. Offsite parking with shuttles will run to the park site. Parade grand marshal is Davie Pierce, who headed the Suwanee volunteer Fire Department from 1953-70.
Gwinnett Historical Society will gather at 6:30 p.m. with finger food, followed by the meeting at 7 p. m Monday, September 19 at Rhodes Jordan Park Community Center, located inside the Rhodes Jordan Park at 100 E. Crogan St., Lawrenceville. Five new members will be inducted in the First Families of Gwinnett. Nathan McGill will tell about the ancestors of these families. Reports from a committee concerning a new web site is expected, while nominations will be held for new officers for the next two years. Note that this is a change from the usual meeting site in downtown Lawrenceville.
The State of Gwinnett Schools will be the subject of a presentation by Gwinnett Supt. Dr. Calvin J. Watts on September 21 at 11:30 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Norcross, at the intersection of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Holcomb Bridge Road. It will be presented by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. To register, visit GwinnettChamber.org/events.
Join professional healthcare providers to assess your fall risk factors and learn ways to improve your strength and balance. This will be Thursday, September 22 from 1:30 until 3 p.m. at the Collins Hill Library. Celebrate the first day of fall and learn how to protect yourself from falls. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries in older Americans. However, falls are not an inevitable part of aging. In partnership with Northside Hospital, professional healthcare providers will offer a one-on-one evaluation of your fall risk. This is free and open to the public.
Authors and Dessert in Duluth on September 22 at 7 p.m. at the Duluth Public Library. Join in conversation with Authors Michael Gagnon and Matt Hild of the book: Gwinnett County, Georgia, and the Transformation of the American South, 1818-2018. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Put on your calendar: The 43rd Annual Elisha Winn Fair will be Saturday and Sunday, October 1-2, at the Elisha Winn House, Gwinnett’s birthplace, at 908 Dacula Road in Dacula. Enjoy a living history exhibit, good food, craft vendors, music, blacksmithing, weaving, spinning and military enactors. The fair is sponsored by the Gwinnett Historical Society.
“We are family” is the title of the 2022 black-tie optional Rainbow Village benefit gala, to be held Saturday, October 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Atlanta Athletic Club. The event will include reception and dinner, silent and live auctions and raffle to win a week for four in Tuscany, Italy. Tickets can be purchased online through the Rainbow Village website at www.RainbowVillage.org.
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