Northeast GA; Laurens & Columbia SC; Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania; and Chickamauga Civil War Adventure 2020

lelliott19

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Last week was vacation time for us! Since some are not able to travel at this time, and since we visited some out of the way places, I thought I'd share some pictures.

Lawrenceville & Royston, GA - Our first and second stops were a bit unconventional. There were some antique pharmacy items listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace. We stopped at Lawrenceville for the old cased Henry Troemner apothecary balance scale, which included a boxed set of weights. A little further on, we stopped at Royston, GA for the apothecary jar, bottle, and another boxed set of smaller weights. Both purchases were accomplished via "porch pickup" which means the seller places the items on their porch and the buyer leaves cash in the designated place. Kind of reminds me of the old days, when people contracted business on the honor system. Turns out the second set of weights was labeled Henry Troemner! And the scale is still perfectly calibrated!
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Royston, GA - While we were in Royston, we stopped to see the Ty Cobb statue and marker in front of the library.
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Madison County Court House - Our next stop was the Madison County Court House which stands on the square in Danielsville, GA. Men from Madison County who enlisted in the Confederate Army, did so at the old courthouse, which stood in the same location. Included among these were members of Companies A and D of the 16th Georgia. The 'new' court house was built in 1901. It is one of Georgia's most ornate courthouses and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. When we were there, it was undergoing restoration including a new metal roof. We were pleased to see it being preserved.
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Crawford Long, the first doctor to use ether as an anesthetic, was born there in Danielsville and is memorialized on the lawn.
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Here are the engravings on the monument.
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Another monument to Crawford Long on the other side of the courthouse.
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Also on the grounds of the Madison County Court House, there is a brick walk way, commemorating every soldier from Madison County who served in every major war - including my husband's two uncles Ferris Fitts and Felton Fitts, who served in WWII. Felton was U. S. Navy Gunners Mate, 2nd Class, and was killed on LST-507 during Operation Tiger.
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Athens, GA - Next, we proceeded on to Athens, GA where we paused briefly to see the double barreled cannon (thread with more pictures from Athens here) We ate dinner at The Varsity where we thoroughly enjoyed the fried sweet potato pies. They were glazed like a doughnut instead of being dusted with powdered sugar and we found them very tasty! Sorry, I didn't think to take any pictures. And that ended Day 1 of our adventure.
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Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for more pictures from our adventure which included Laurens and Columbia, SC; Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, VA and vicinity; and a quick side trip to Chickamauga on the way home.
 
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Last week was vacation time for us! Since some are not able to travel at this time, and since we visited some out of the way places, I thought I'd share some pictures.

Lawrenceville & Royston, GA - Our first and second stops were a bit unconventional. There were some antique pharmacy items listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace. We stopped at Lawrenceville for the old cased Henry Troemner apothecary balance scale, which included a boxed set of weights. A little further on, we stopped at Royston, GA for the apothecary jar, bottle, and another boxed set of smaller weights. Both purchases were accomplished via "porch pickup" which means the seller places the items on their porch and the buyer leaves cash in the designated place. Kind of reminds me of the old days, when people contracted business on the honor system. Turns out the second set of weights was labeled Henry Troemner! And the scale is still perfectly calibrated!
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Royston, GA - While we were in Royston, we stopped to see the Ty Cobb statue and marker in front of the library.
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Madison County Court House - Our next stop was the Madison County Court House which stands on the square in Danielsville, GA. Men from Madison County who enlisted in the Confederate Army, did so at the old courthouse, which stood in the same location. Included among these were members of Companies A and D of the 16th Georgia. The 'new' court house was built in 1901. It is one of Georgia's most ornate courthouses and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. When we were there, it was undergoing restoration including a new metal roof. We were pleased to see it being preserved.
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Crawford Long, the first doctor to use ether as an anesthetic, was born there in Danielsville and is memorialized on the lawn.
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Here are the engravings on the monument.
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Another monument to Crawford Long on the other side of the courthouse.
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Also on the grounds of the Madison County Court House, there is a brick walk way, commemorating every soldier from Madison County who served in every major war - including my husband's two uncles Ferris Fitts and Felton Fitts, who served in WWII. Felton was U. S. Navy Gunners Mate, 2nd Class, and was killed on LST-507 during Operation Tiger.
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Athens, GA - Next, we proceeded on to Athens, GA where we paused briefly to see the double barreled cannon (thread with more pictures from Athens here) We ate dinner at The Varsity where we thoroughly enjoyed the fried sweet potato pies. They were glazed like a doughnut instead of being dusted with powdered sugar and we found them very tasty! Sorry, I didn't think to take any pictures. And that ended Day 1 of our adventure.
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Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for more pictures from our adventure which included Laurens and Columbia, SC; Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, VA and vicinity; and a quick side trip to Chickamauga on the way home.
Thanks so much for sharing part of my “neck of the woods.” Glad you enjoyed the Varsity- many fond memories of time spent there. When Momma was at UGA, ladies weren’t allowed in the restaurant and one had to get a male to go in to get your food for you. There were car hops, young boys who would ride the running boards of the cars once they drove onto the property. The tips were their pocket money. Athens had two Varsity restaurants. There had been another location across the street from the Arch and the now recently removed memorial CSA monument.

( Do hope you were also able to try a frosted orange and the Vidalia onion rings. )

I graduated high school with Lamartine G. Hardman, IV. At that time, his family owned a sock mill in Commerce, Georgia. Very nice guy and very nice family. I believe that mill is now part of the expanding UGA campus as most of the mills in the SE have been lost and closed as a result of the influx of cheaply made and priced goods being imported in from China. Thomas Textile, Warrenfeatherbone, Her Majesty and many others were common locations one went to and could get good deals on left over material and trims and wholesale clothing. The large bolts of fabric were upholstery widths and a yard was determined by the lady cutting the yardage taking the end of the piece and holding it to her nose and then extending her arms out. Momma always looked for the tallest workers as she felt they would have the longest arms and she would get the best value.

So glad the history of your husband’s family members is still there to be honored and appreciated.
And thank you for sharing. From a personal level, it has done my heart so much good to see reminders of my home.
 
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And, as an aside, we were taught that Crawford W. Long’s discovery of anesthesia came from a frat party addition gone wrong.
The story we were told was that along had been asked to up the “goodies” being brought to the party and he brought the gas to let folks get high. One brother took a little much in and fell out. The other guys kicked him a few times trying to wake him and when he didn’t wake up they continued with the party. ( gotta love the sense of urgency over their friend)
The guy on the floor eventually woke up and had no memories of literally being kicked while he was down and Long realized there just might be something to that gas he brought along and that’s how anesthesia was developed.
Now, since Athens is well known for its Greek life and party abilities I could easily see how the story could be true. To think it was in a more scientific regulated series of experimentation, well, that’s not nearly as fun.

I can state from a primary source- Momma- from 1954-1956 remembers the members of the Kappa Alpha Order arriving at their date’s form on horseback and in full Confederate uniform to ask their date’s hand in joining them at their dance. Then, the evening of the dance their dates would arrive again in uniform and on horseback to whisk their hoop skirted date’s to the ball.
She said it was quite a scene to behold.
 
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Laurens County Courthouse creative commons
Laurens, SC
We spent the second day of our trip at Laurens SC - birthplace of William Preston Hix. In case you have never heard of William Preston Hix, he was a South Carolina photographer and portrait artist who served for 8 or 9 months in Company A, 3rd South Carolina, Kershaw's brigade. Here is one of Hix's photographs from LOC.
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Among William Preston Hix's paintings: an oil-on-canvas entitled "The Women of the South Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (1866); a portrait of Maj Gen Matthew C Butler (1871); a full-length post-war portrait of PGT Beauregard; a portrait of Brigadier General John S Preston in the South Carolina State House; and a full length, life-size portrait of Joseph B Kershaw (1873; wearing Confederate uniform; collection of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.)
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Richard Rowland Kirkland - The Angel of Marye's Heights from Find A Grave
Today, Hix's art is virtually unknown to most Americans, but he made another important contribution to history related to the Angel of Marye's Heights. William Preston Hix's 1874 recollection of Richard Rowland Kirkland's heroic aid to wounded Federals between the lines at the Battle of Fredericksburg was the first published account of that incident. A few months ago, it was the subject of my first published Civil War article.
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The oldest house in Laurens, SC, the house where William Preston Hix was born and lived with his family is today, home to the Mayor of Laurens. He generously offered to show us the house and even allowed us to go underneath to see the construction (hand hewn timbers, pegged with railroad spike sized wooden pegs.) It was probably built between 1830 and 1840.
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Another set of double pine doors that perfectly match the front doors were found in the attic - apparently they used to be on the back end of the center hall.
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Interestingly, the Mayor is also an artist and he gave us a print of his painting of the Laurens County Court House, as well as a piece of flow blue pottery - a relic that he excavated from under the house.
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We also had a chance to see the new Laurens County museum building. It is an old commercial building on the courthouse square that is being transformed into a state of the art museum space. @War Horse this will be of interest to you.

Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for pictures of some great items from the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, which we visited on the third day.
 
View attachment 380693
Laurens County Courthouse creative commons
Laurens, SC
We spent the second day of our trip at Laurens SC - birthplace of William Preston Hix. In case you have never heard of William Preston Hix, he was a South Carolina photographer and portrait artist who served for 8 or 9 months in Company A, 3rd South Carolina, Kershaw's brigade. Here is one of Hix's photographs from LOC.
View attachment 380690
Among William Preston Hix's paintings: an oil-on-canvas entitled "The Women of the South Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (1866); a portrait of Maj Gen Matthew C Butler (1871); a full-length post-war portrait of PGT Beauregard; a portrait of Brigadier General John S Preston in the South Carolina State House; and a full length, life-size portrait of Joseph B Kershaw (1873; wearing Confederate uniform; collection of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.)
View attachment 380696
Richard Rowland Kirkland - The Angel of Marye's Heights from Find A Grave
Today, Hix's art is virtually unknown to most Americans, but he made another important contribution to history related to the Angel of Marye's Heights. William Preston Hix's 1874 recollection of Richard Rowland Kirkland's heroic aid to wounded Federals between the lines at the Battle of Fredericksburg was the first published account of that incident. A few months ago, it was the subject of my first published Civil War article.
View attachment 380698
Today, the house where William Preston Hix was born and lived with his family is home to the Mayor of Laurens. He generously offered to show us the house and even allowed us to go underneath to see the construction (hand hewn timbers, pegged with railroad spike sized wooden pegs.)
View attachment 380699
Another set of double pine doors that perfectly match the front doors were found in the attic - apparently they used to be on the back end of the center hall.
View attachment 380700
Interestingly, the Mayor is also an artist and he gave us a print of his painting of the Laurens County Court House, as well as a piece of flow blue pottery - a small relic that he excavated from under the house.
View attachment 380697
We also had a chance to see the new Laurens County museum building. It is an old commercial building on the courthouse square that is being transformed into a state of the art museum space. @War Horse this will be of interest to you.

Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for pictures of some great items from the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, which we visited on the third day.
(We graduated from Presbyterian College in the next town over from Laurens.)
 
A little Confederate trivia. Crawford Long was roommates at UGA with a young man who later became the VP of the Confederacy. Yep Alexander Stephens.

I grew up in Jefferson Ga where long practiced and where he did the first painless surgery. We all studied about Dr Long and went to the museum on field trips. The museum is still open.

There’s a monument on the city square dedicated to Dr Long.

Jefferson also has TWO Confederate monuments downtown too. One monument was placed in 1911 by the UDC. The other was placed in 2011 by the GA Division SCV.

Laura y’all were just a few blocks from where Long was born when at the historic courthouse in Danielsville . The house is still standing and occupied I think.
 
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Honor the doctor who discovered the treatment type; what about the patient who he 'practiced' on??? LOL

Great shots
Good point. I now am wondering if who that patient zero happened to be and what the procedure was? Also wondering if the records exist. You’d think there would be documented information but I’m learning that just isn’t always the case. We’re still trying to figure out where James Longstreet attended school because of conflicting information.
 
View attachment 380693
Laurens County Courthouse creative commons
Laurens, SC
We spent the second day of our trip at Laurens SC - birthplace of William Preston Hix. In case you have never heard of William Preston Hix, he was a South Carolina photographer and portrait artist who served for 8 or 9 months in Company A, 3rd South Carolina, Kershaw's brigade. Here is one of Hix's photographs from LOC.
View attachment 380690
Among William Preston Hix's paintings: an oil-on-canvas entitled "The Women of the South Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (1866); a portrait of Maj Gen Matthew C Butler (1871); a full-length post-war portrait of PGT Beauregard; a portrait of Brigadier General John S Preston in the South Carolina State House; and a full length, life-size portrait of Joseph B Kershaw (1873; wearing Confederate uniform; collection of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.)
View attachment 380696
Richard Rowland Kirkland - The Angel of Marye's Heights from Find A Grave
Today, Hix's art is virtually unknown to most Americans, but he made another important contribution to history related to the Angel of Marye's Heights. William Preston Hix's 1874 recollection of Richard Rowland Kirkland's heroic aid to wounded Federals between the lines at the Battle of Fredericksburg was the first published account of that incident. A few months ago, it was the subject of my first published Civil War article.
View attachment 380698
The oldest house in Laurens, SC, the house where William Preston Hix was born and lived with his family is today, home to the Mayor of Laurens. He generously offered to show us the house and even allowed us to go underneath to see the construction (hand hewn timbers, pegged with railroad spike sized wooden pegs.) It was probably built between 1830 and 1840.
View attachment 380699
Another set of double pine doors that perfectly match the front doors were found in the attic - apparently they used to be on the back end of the center hall.
View attachment 380700
Interestingly, the Mayor is also an artist and he gave us a print of his painting of the Laurens County Court House, as well as a piece of flow blue pottery - a relic that he excavated from under the house.
View attachment 380697
We also had a chance to see the new Laurens County museum building. It is an old commercial building on the courthouse square that is being transformed into a state of the art museum space. @War Horse this will be of interest to you.

Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for pictures of some great items from the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, which we visited on the third day.
Thank you so much for the informative virtual tour and taking us along!
 
View attachment 380693
Laurens County Courthouse creative commons
Laurens, SC
We spent the second day of our trip at Laurens SC - birthplace of William Preston Hix. In case you have never heard of William Preston Hix, he was a South Carolina photographer and portrait artist who served for 8 or 9 months in Company A, 3rd South Carolina, Kershaw's brigade. Here is one of Hix's photographs from LOC.
View attachment 380690
Among William Preston Hix's paintings: an oil-on-canvas entitled "The Women of the South Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (1866); a portrait of Maj Gen Matthew C Butler (1871); a full-length post-war portrait of PGT Beauregard; a portrait of Brigadier General John S Preston in the South Carolina State House; and a full length, life-size portrait of Joseph B Kershaw (1873; wearing Confederate uniform; collection of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.)
View attachment 380696
Richard Rowland Kirkland - The Angel of Marye's Heights from Find A Grave
Today, Hix's art is virtually unknown to most Americans, but he made another important contribution to history related to the Angel of Marye's Heights. William Preston Hix's 1874 recollection of Richard Rowland Kirkland's heroic aid to wounded Federals between the lines at the Battle of Fredericksburg was the first published account of that incident. A few months ago, it was the subject of my first published Civil War article.
View attachment 380698
The oldest house in Laurens, SC, the house where William Preston Hix was born and lived with his family is today, home to the Mayor of Laurens. He generously offered to show us the house and even allowed us to go underneath to see the construction (hand hewn timbers, pegged with railroad spike sized wooden pegs.) It was probably built between 1830 and 1840.
View attachment 380699
Another set of double pine doors that perfectly match the front doors were found in the attic - apparently they used to be on the back end of the center hall.
View attachment 380700
Interestingly, the Mayor is also an artist and he gave us a print of his painting of the Laurens County Court House, as well as a piece of flow blue pottery - a relic that he excavated from under the house.
View attachment 380697
We also had a chance to see the new Laurens County museum building. It is an old commercial building on the courthouse square that is being transformed into a state of the art museum space. @War Horse this will be of interest to you.

Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for pictures of some great items from the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, which we visited on the third day.
What a fine example of “hospitality”. Nice to see that “generosity of spirit” is still alive and well.
 
Good point. I now am wondering if who that patient zero happened to be and what the procedure was? Also wondering if the records exist. You’d think there would be documented information but I’m learning that just isn’t always the case. We’re still trying to figure out where James Longstreet attended school because of conflicting information.

The patient was a guy named James Venable.
He had a tumor on the back of his neck that Dr Long removed. The diorama that was in the museum when I was a kid showed Venable sitting backward in a straight chair. He was bent over the chair backrest for the surgery.
 
The patient was a guy named James Venable.
He had a tumor on the back of his neck that Dr Long removed. The diorama that was in the museum when I was a kid showed Venable sitting backward in a straight chair. He was bent over the chair backrest for the surgery.
Well, there you go! Thanks for sharing patient zero with us- of all the stories I grew up with about Crawford W. Long, oddly enough I hadn’t heard or remembered the name of his first patient which used anesthesia.
 
View attachment 380693
Laurens County Courthouse creative commons
Laurens, SC
We spent the second day of our trip at Laurens SC - birthplace of William Preston Hix. In case you have never heard of William Preston Hix, he was a South Carolina photographer and portrait artist who served for 8 or 9 months in Company A, 3rd South Carolina, Kershaw's brigade. Here is one of Hix's photographs from LOC.
View attachment 380690
Among William Preston Hix's paintings: an oil-on-canvas entitled "The Women of the South Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (1866); a portrait of Maj Gen Matthew C Butler (1871); a full-length post-war portrait of PGT Beauregard; a portrait of Brigadier General John S Preston in the South Carolina State House; and a full length, life-size portrait of Joseph B Kershaw (1873; wearing Confederate uniform; collection of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.)
View attachment 380696
Richard Rowland Kirkland - The Angel of Marye's Heights from Find A Grave
Today, Hix's art is virtually unknown to most Americans, but he made another important contribution to history related to the Angel of Marye's Heights. William Preston Hix's 1874 recollection of Richard Rowland Kirkland's heroic aid to wounded Federals between the lines at the Battle of Fredericksburg was the first published account of that incident. A few months ago, it was the subject of my first published Civil War article.
View attachment 380698
The oldest house in Laurens, SC, the house where William Preston Hix was born and lived with his family is today, home to the Mayor of Laurens. He generously offered to show us the house and even allowed us to go underneath to see the construction (hand hewn timbers, pegged with railroad spike sized wooden pegs.) It was probably built between 1830 and 1840.
View attachment 380699
Another set of double pine doors that perfectly match the front doors were found in the attic - apparently they used to be on the back end of the center hall.
View attachment 380700
Interestingly, the Mayor is also an artist and he gave us a print of his painting of the Laurens County Court House, as well as a piece of flow blue pottery - a relic that he excavated from under the house.
View attachment 380697
We also had a chance to see the new Laurens County museum building. It is an old commercial building on the courthouse square that is being transformed into a state of the art museum space. @War Horse this will be of interest to you.

Thanks for looking. Stay tuned for pictures of some great items from the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, which we visited on the third day.
(Been trying to id your flow blue pattern...I’m getting cross eyed so will need to stop for now but I’ll keep looking. I’m trying to id some we dug up in our yard so I’ll keep your pattern in mind too. )
 
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