Hayston, GA

Greetings! Hope all is well out there. I really appreciate all of the comments and feedback on the Oxford & Porterdale columns from the last edition. I've lately become fascinated with some of the older unincorporated towns and communities that have been vital to this area. This month I'd like to write about one of the oldest settlements in Newton Co— Hayston , GA.

The Hayston Community

The Hayston community can be found on Hwy 213 at the convergence of Macedonia Rd , Hayston Rd , and Greer Lane right by the railroad tracks. As I was researching Hayston, I felt like I just wasn't connecting with the subject material. My trusty research companion, “The History of Newton County,” and some online resources just weren't getting me there. I knew I needed some help so I phoned fellow history enthusiast Judge Virgil Costley who put me in touch with Mr. Fred Greer, Jr. Mr. Greer was kind enough to meet with me. He was most generous with his time and imparted a lot of knowledge and information and even drove me around Hayston pointing out the many things of interest there.

Origins

In the first part of the 19^th century, a young man from Virginia named George Newton Hayes (he would later drop the “e”) would migrate to Georgia eventually winding up in our neck of the woods. The Hays Cabin over on Woodlawn Rd , built in the early 1800's, was his homeplace and is one of Newton County 's oldest surviving structures. George Hays would end up marrying three times and producing 25 offspring. One of those children was Robert Luther Hays. While George could be called the original patriarch of Hayston, the true founding father would have been Robert Luther. The Presbyterian Church up on the hill off of Hwy 213 is named in his honor. Several of Robert’s brothers and sisters remained in the immediate area. Also, Robert ended up having 18 children himself. Several of the other siblings had large families as well. So over the next couple of generations, the community grew quite a bit and was almost exclusively made up of immediate family.

By the late 1800's, Hayston was a thriving place with multiple stores and businesses, a brickyard, train depot, tannery, gin, and a sawmill. Whereas Mansfield, as we discussed in a previous column, was a town created by completion of the railroad, Hayston was the complete opposite--when the C of G (Central of Georgia) bought the Middle Georgia & Atlantic Railway, it was brought through Hayston precisely because it was already an established town and was right in between Covington and Machen (an important hub as it served as the intersection of the Athens/Macon and Covington/Eatonton lines) and would serve as an ideal spot for a terminal and post office. Back in the days of mules, wagons, and horses, there was a genuine need to have as many things needed as close as possible. Going back a bit—one of the stores in Hayston was built by one of Robert's sons, Alexander Hamilton Stephens Hays. Alexander would be the first postmaster in Hayston and operated the general merchandise store for years until he turned it over to his son, H.S. “Stoney” Hays. Stoney became the city's 2^nd Postmaster in 1936 and would serve in that capacity for over 20 years until they discontinued mail service there. Another of Robert Luther's children was a daughter named Mary Jane. In 1861 she married a Preacher by the name of Thomas Hezekiah Greer who was originally from South Carolina . This would start the Greer branch of the Hays line. Some of the Hays clan found their way to Texas where a good number of them still reside, but a good bit of them can still be found in and around the Hayston area. As an interesting aside, I found a McCart girl who married one of the Hays men back in the mid 1800's.

Like a lot of the other places we've covered in this column, the one-two punch of the Boll Weevil and The Great Depression was very tough for Hayston. Predominantly an agrarian community, Hayston was particularly vulnerable to the fortunes of “King Cotton.” The economic struggles of the 1930's also did no favors for the area. Over the next several decades, many of the historic buildings were lost to fire or Mother Nature (tornadoes in particular); however, several buildings dating back to the 19^th century still remain. One of those buildings, the aforementioned store built by Alexander Hays, has recently found its way back into the family fold. Mr. Freddie is very excited about getting the building cleaned up and refurbished. There are also plans to start the arduous but rewarding process of getting Hayston added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Thanks for reading. Future columns will cover some more of the older communities and as well as some of the lost towns in this area. Also, keep an eye on my blog for several upcoming online-only articles. Until next time.

Porterdale, GA

Porterdale’s roots go all the way back to the early part of the 19th century. Back then it was a community called Cedar Shoals and may have also been referred to as Boston before that. The area would continue to be known as Cedar Shoals until it was incorporated as Porterdale in 1917.


The town was named in honor of Oliver S. Porter who was in many ways the father of this town; however, to backtrack a bit, the grandfather of the town would have been Noah Phillips, a transplanted Connecticut man, who purchased several acres near Cedar Shoals in 1831 in order to start a wool and cotton factory. Over the years different owners and operations would come and go until the aforementioned Mr. Porter took over the Cedar Shoals operation in 1869. Expansions and growth with the company and the city would continue over the next several years.


Just as Oxford had a shared history with Oxford College, so did Porterdale with the factory. In 1898, a Macon outfit, Bibb Manufacturing Co., took over ownership of the Cedar Shoals Mill after having built their own mill about a decade earlier on the other side of the Yellow River.

Back in the earlier days, Oliver Porter married Julia Camp, who had been married to a Charles Camp before he passed away in the mid 1860's. Mr. Camp owned half the shares of the mill at the time that Porter would take over after he wed Julia in 1869. Julia already had a daughter with Camp, and the Porters would go on to have four children of their own. All of the Porter kids (excepting Mary, who died young) would go on to college at Emory and return to their native town in order to help the family business. In particular, their oldest son John was very instrumental in helping to build a school for the town and also to start bringing in medical care for the burgeoning mill village. One of the other sons, O.W., became the manager of the village general store. Both John and O.W. remained very much involved and active with the town through the years.

As mentioned earlier, Bibb MFG Co. out of Macon took over the Cedar Shoals Mills after having built their own on the north side of the river about a decade earlier. At the time, Bibb had mills in
several other cities including Macon and Columbus. In 1920, a newspaper was started up called The Bibb Recorder which served all of the cities that Bibb had mills in. The paper had a 50 year run that ended in 1970. Ask anybody around who lived or was raised in Porterdale back in the day and they'll no doubt tell you how important the Recorder was.


As the operations for Bibb grew through the 1920's and 30's more and more improvements were made to the city. Multiple schools were built in order to better serve the educational needs of the area. The first graduating class of Porterdale High School commenced in 1939. In addition to multiple stores, businesses, social clubs, and other things of the like, Porterdale even had its own hospital during this time. In fact, my wife's mother was born at that hospital as were countless other folks throughout the years. Throughout the 50's & 60's, the Bibb Mills employed upwards of 2500 people. During the early part of the 20th century, the company actually owned most of the quaint houses one will see in Porterdale, but by the 1960's, those houses were starting to be sold to the workers.


Eventually, Bibb closed down their operations and the town fell off a bit; however, over the last decade, Porterdale has had quite a resurgence. At the center of this is the lofts that have been developed at the mill on the north side of the river and the remodeling of the downtown business district. The future looks very bright for Porterdale, GA!

Oxford, GA

The city of Oxford, just north of Covington, is a lovely city that has a rich and unique story. The city has a shared and intertwined history with Oxford College of Emory University (originally called Emory College). First envisioned in the early 1830's by the Georgia Methodist Conference, the school was chartered in 1836 and was named for Bishop John Emory. Of the original 1400 acres deeded for the school, it was decided that 330 acres would become the town of Oxford and would be laid out next to the college. The name Oxford was chosen as it was where John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, had attended college in England.

The town would be incorporated in 1837, and the town lots were originally sold with a 999 year land lease that stipulated that “no intoxicating liquors shall be sold, nor any game of hazard allowed.” Although the lease rights were later converted to fee simple ownership, the restrictions on land use remained and throughout much of Oxford's history, no drinking; games of chance; or even profanity were allowed. In fact, an Emory student had to go to court in the 1920's for swearing in public. Through the years, both the city and college have grown.

When Emory moved to its Atlanta campus, the college went though some transformations but is now a 2 year liberal arts college of the Emory University system. The city of Oxford was declared the sixteenth shrine of the United Methodist Church in 1971.

To have been a college that may have had a few hundred students at any given time, Emory at Oxford has produced some very notable alumni. First and foremost would have to be Alben W. Barkley, the 35th Vice President of the united States of America. Barkley was Truman's running mate in the 1948 election that everyone thought the Democrats would lose but ended up winning. Barkley is widely credited with coming up with the line, "Give 'em Hell, Harry" and was also the first VP to be called "The Veep." Prior to that, he was a Congressman from Kentucky who served in both chambers from 1913 up to his VP role. He was Majority Leader of the Senate from 1937-1947. He would serve in the Senate again afterwords until his death in 1956. Barkley graduated from Oxford in 1900.

Again, to be such a small school, it is amazing to me that they can lay claim to a Vice President and a Supreme Court Justice! Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (September 17, 1825 – January 23, 1893), attended Oxford in the early 1840's graduating in 1845. He was born down the road in Putnam Co. and after attending Oxford, moved to Mississippi and practiced law there. He would move to Covington, Ga in the 1850's and started his political career as a state Representative. Later, he would move back to Mississippi and was elected to the U.S. House. After the Civil War, he eventually became Secretary of the Interior in Grover Cleveland's administration until he was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice in 1888. A historical marker on Floyd St. in downtown Covington is dedicated to Lamar.

Another fascinating and interesting bit of Oxford College history has to do with Dooley, the "Spirit of Emory." Dooley is kind of the unofficial mascot of Oxford (Emory has their own as well). First documented in the late 1800's when he wrote a letter to the campus newspaper, Dooley's story is quite interesting, indeed. Originally a skeleton in the Science Dept., Dooley's legend would grow through the years. To this day, he is still a vital part of both Oxford and Emory. I actually had the rare privilege to see Dooley in person at Oxford sometime in 1994 or 95. Learn more here and here.

The city of Oxford has a lot going on right now. They just completed a new City Hall that seems like it would be more suitable for a town twice as big, but a very nice building nonetheless. Oxford is also known for their 4th of July parade and festivities that bring in a lot of visitors every year as well as their extensive trails and bike system. By the way, remember the bit at the beginning of the article about "no intoxicating liquors?" Well...technically--that is still the law of the land according to Oxford City Hall. Learn more about the city their webpage.



Thanks for reading!
-Marshall

Georgia Historical Markers

Anyone driving through Georgia has no doubt seen the brown markers dotted throughout our state that have been erected by the Georgia Historical Commission. A lot of these markers date back to the 1950's although newer ones are being erected all the time. If you've ever wanted to find a centralized database for all of these--this is the website to go to:

The Georgia Historical Society -- Historical Marker Index
or
Georgia Historical Markers

In addition to markers by the Georgia Historical Commission, you can also search for markers erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Georgia Historical Society. Furthermore, you can search based on subject, date, location, and several other criteria. A very interesting and fun website, but be prepared to spend some time...it is very addictive!

Here are a few featured markers:

Gov. William Rabun

The March to the Sea

Capture of Covington

Also equally worthy of attention is the main website for the Georgia Historical Society

St. Patrick's Day

By Marshall McCart

Greetings everybody! Hope all is well out there. As I write this column, we find ourselves in the third week of some wonderfully warm and spring-like weather. It’s been great. It’s hard to believe that we’re already having to put a “3” in the date section of our checks, isn’t it? And as March comes, so does St. Patrick’s Day—one of my favorite celebrations.

The old saying is that everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. I’m actually part Irish so I have somewhat of a vested interest in this celebration. As far as I’ve been able to gather, my great, great, great, great-grandfather, James McCart, was the one who traveled from the Mother Country to the States. It was his son and my 3^rd great-grandfather, William Marion McCart Sr., who brought his clan to the Covington area in the mid 1800’s by way of Abbeville , SC and Lavonia , GA. But that is another tale for another time; one that I plan to write about in a future column.

So, what is St. Patrick’s Day exactly? It’s the celebration of St. Patrick, a 5^th century A.D. Christian missionary who spread the good word and “cast out the serpents” from Ireland. The serpent bit is not literal or factual as it is believed that post-ice age Ireland never had any snakes. The serpents are more likely a symbol of the pre-Christian paganism and heathenism that gripped Ireland prior to Patrick’s arrival. More specifically, the Druids were the primary religious force in Celtic Ireland during this time. The Druids also acted as judges, teachers, and historians. They were also, unfortunately, the ones who carried out the sacrifices.

And this brings me to another family tie-in (sort of)—one of the last “High Kings” of pre-Christian Ireland was one Cormac Mac Airt (McCart), whom some McCarts are thought to be descended from. Cormac’s legend is somewhat questionable but it is thought to be at least partially rooted in fact. Cormac was prone to magic and received counsel from the Druids and met his demise by choking on a salmon bone after several years of rule. I’ve thought about trying to go to Ireland to retain the family’s rightful throne, but I don’t think the folks over there would be too impressed. But I digress…

Patrick, by all accounts, was a great man and almost single-handedly turned a pagan society into a Christian one. The celebration enjoys much interest in the cities and areas of our country that traditionally have had a lot of Irish immigrants. Boston , New York , Chicago , and other cities have large parades, green rivers, and lots of other festivities. Good ole Savannah , GA is known as one the best destination locations for those wanting to celebrate St. Patrick in the South. And as a quick aside, it’s not St. Patty’s Day—it’s St. Patrick’s Day!

But perhaps the best part of this holiday, for me personally, is that it is a perfect opportunity to fix one of my all-time favorite meals—Corned Beef, Potatoes, & Cabbage. I’ve been told by a few folks that I make the best they’ve ever had, so I thought I’d share my recipe with y'all.

Buy yourself a corned beef brisket at the store. It will come with some seasonings. Get yourself a bag of new potatoes, 2 medium onions, and a head of cabbage. Some say you have to use carrots to make it a truly Irish dish, but I disagree. I love carrots in a pot roast, but not for this.

I like to do mine in a Crock-Pot. Put it on high and fill it a little under halfway with water and add 6 oz. of Harp Lager and 2 shots of Irish Whiskey and throw in your brisket with the seasonings it came with. Then either quarter, third, or halve your potatoes (depending on how big they are) and throw them in. I’ll usually use 10-12 smaller ones or 6-8 larger ones. Add some of salt and pepper and let it cook for about an hour. Then cut up your onion and put that in with a touch more whiskey and beer (about a shot of the former & approx. 4 oz of the latter. Turn it to low and let it cook during the day while you’re at work. Then about an hour before you’re ready to eat, cut up your cabbage and put it in and add a touch more whiskey, beer, salt, and pepper. An hour later, and you're ready to eat. You can also do it in the oven at 350. Do the brisket and potatoes for an hour; then the onions for an hour; and then the cabbage for an hour.

When you're ready to serve, remember to cut the meat against the grain. If you're industrious, you can Google the recipe for Irish Soda Bread to go with the meal. I just use loaf bread. In terms of drink, I like to accompany my meal with Bushmills, either neat or on the rocks, and a nice “Half & Half.”—never to be confused with its more popular cousin, the “Black & Tan”, a ½ & ½ is created by pouring a half glass of Harp Lager and topping it with an equal amount of Guinness Stout.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody! And remember to wear something green or you just might get pinched by a rogue Leprechaun!

Two Really Good Stories--CF Riders & The Newborn Jubilee

Happy New Year
By Marshall McCart
*My recent column from "About Covington to Madison" Magazine

Hello everyone! It’s so good to be back with you once again. I hope you all are having a great new year so far. Last column, I ventured out of my comfort zone a bit and shared some of my fiction with you guys. Several of you commented as to how much you enjoyed it. That really means a lot to me and I appreciate it! As always, I'm grateful for you reading it and for your feedback. I'll be returning to my usual historical columns in the near future and am also planning on getting some more fiction out there as well; but, in the meantime, I'm going to switch things up one more time. This month I’d like to share a couple of really great things that are happening . They’re both really good stories involving really good people.

CF Riders

I went to high school with a really sweet girl by the name of Christie Byrd. Several of you probably know and remember Christie and her family from the North Oxford area. Christie went on to college and taught for several years at Palmer Stone in her hometown of Oxford . Christie’s last name is now Johnson as she married a fellow by the name of Brian Johnson and they now reside in Alabama. Brian and Christie are also the very proud parents of a beautiful little girl named

Hayden. These days, Christie is a self-described “full time wife and mommy.”

Her husband Brian seems like a heck of a guy…he’s also a very brave man. You see, Brian has Cystic Fibrosis. He was diagnosed when he was 7 years old and told he might not make it past high school. But now, 30 years later, Brian is a living testament to all things being possible. Some time back, Brian decided that he wanted to do more than just live his everyday life while managing his disease. He decided that he wanted to spread the word, give back, and help others who share his plight. So Brian and Christie founded CF Riders—an organization with the mission of spreading awareness and seeking a cure “one mile at a time.”

And here’s the kicker—Brian likes to ride…a Harley Davidson in particular. And starting on April 14^th, Brian, on his bike, and with Christie and Hayden in tow in a vehicle behind him, will leave out from Birmingham, AL on a ten week journey including 40-plus stops from Texas to California and from New York to Florida including a couple of stops here in Georgia. They should pass through Covington sometime around the middle of June . It’s a great story, a great mission, and a great cause. Please visit their webpage at www.cfriders.org and look them up on facebook by searching CF Riders.

Newborn Jubilee

Many folks were pretty upset to see the Newborn Opry close down after a wonderful, multi-year run. It seemed pretty sad that after the Newborn Area Heritage Trust, with the help of some wonderful local generosity, had made some badly needed repairs to the old Newborn School House--the Opry would no longer be around to enjoy the fruits of those labors. But like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, the spirit of the Opry lives on.

Steve Biggers also hated to see the Opry go and wanted to do something about. Mr. Steve also happens to be my father-in-law and he’s as good as they come. His passions are faith, family, and music (and maybe a little bit of golf). So Mr. Steve has started up the Newborn Jubilee at the old School House and on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturdays of the month you can head on down and get some of that good old-timey, country, bluegrass and gospel music that will make you dance and sing and feel the spirit! This past Saturday, January 15, I was proud to play a set with The Biggers Family Band, a country & gospel group that I play with from time to time with my wife and Mr. Steve and the rest of their wonderful family. I know I’ve mentioned them in a previous column but…what can I say? I just can’t help myself. They’re darn good people! In addition to hearing great music and having a wonderful time, supporting the Jubilee has two main benefits--you’re helping to support local music and you’re helping to maintain the historic Newborn School House. Visit the Newborn Jubilee’s webpage at: www.reverbnation.com/venue/newborndixiejubilee and visit the Newborn Area Heritage Trust at: www.newbornschoolhouse.org

You can email Marshall at marshmanslim@yahoo.com . Previous columns can be found at his blog: www.thepiedmontchronicles.blogspot.com

A Good Christmas Indeed

A Christmas Novella by Marshall McCart

~My column (and my first published work of fiction) from the Christmas issue of About Covington to Madison Magazine including an online-only epilogue~

*****************

Walter was a helluva guy. An old-timer, no doubt, he was pushing eighty and looked and got around about as one would expect. He lived in a little shotgun house just down the way. From about late September until April or so, he would have a fire going in his fireplace just about everyday. And every time you would see him out and about, he'd have a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He'd been smoking a good sixty years and he'd always say with pride - “No breathin' or ticker troubles at all...Ha!!! Shows what them quacks know!”

For years you wouldn't see Walter out in the neighborhood unless you also saw Trigger, his little mutt-of-a-dog that he would walk at least twice a day pretty much year round. Trigger was a darn, good dog--loyal, attentive, and eager to please. He was a fine watchdog as well and was solely responsible for foiling a robbery attempt once a few years back. My God, I tell you, it was a sad day in the neighborhood when good ole Trigger broke his earthly chains and took his reward up in doggie Heaven. Walter was devastated. He told more than once that he “was definitely ready to die now.”

“That's just crazy talk”, I'd tell him. “What about your son...your grand kids? I know you don't mean that Walter.”

“Hell...you know how many times I've seen 'em in the last couple years?”

It started to dawn on me that I hadn't seen their minivan come down the road in quite a while.

“Once! One time dammit! Seems like the prodigal son thinks I ruined his life, that I didn't do a good job raisin' him. Well, I could say the same thing about him and the job he's doin' with his kids, but I don't, you know...I don't do it! It's so easy to judge...”

I really felt for him during that time. I was fond of the old man, you see. I never got a chance to know either of my grandfathers and I kinda adopted him so to speak. We had some great, great times. A few years back, when things we're still good, me and Walter had a few too many one night out by my tool shed...we were basically just getting silly and out of control! When it was all said and done, the cops had gotten called! As my wife said at the time—it wasn't one of my finer moments...but yeah, we had some good times.

After Trigger died, I really kept a keen eye on the old man...I was worried about him, you know? At that age and with that type of loss...you just don't know. So I usually talked to him almost daily there for awhile. But then, and you know how this is, days turn to into weeks and then into months and then you just don't stay in steady touch like you'd originally planned. Things start to revert back to how they were.

“I'd like to have Walter over for Christmas dinner,” I told my wife one night in early December of last year. “I feel like I haven't spent enough time with him lately.” My wife totally understood and thought it to be a fine idea. In fact, she insisted that we do it even though we were having most of her family over and even though Walter, in her words, was “rough around the edges.” She was really great about it. You might say that my wife is a darn, good woman!

At first, Walter absolutely refused, then he came around, then refused again, and this went on for about a week or so. Finally, I threatened to send some volunteers from one of the local churches to “elderly-sit” for him and he broke.

“Nah...I can't handle that.”, he said. “I'll come to your [expletive deleted] dinner.”

So it was my wife, her folks, a couple of her cousins, my sister, a few friends...and Walter. You know, it's funny how a group of folks can come together and you just know that on that particular day, with those particular people, there just isn't another place on Earth that would be better. Football on the T.V., board games, playing old vinyl records, drinking, great conversation, great food, and more drinking! We all had such a fine time! In particular, everybody would get so entranced every time we could get Walter talking about his many interesting life stories especially his service in the Korean conflict.

Towards the end of the evening, my wife and I gave Walter his present. It was a framed picture of him and Trigger that I had taken a few years back. Walter thanked us profusely and I could see his eyes tearing up a bit as he took a sip of his scotch. You could have called it a “moment.”

Around eleven that night, Walter decided it was time to go home. Despite his objections, I insisted on walking him home. When we got to his front door he turned around and before I knew it, the old fella had given me a big hug. I was honestly taken aback. After the embrace, I realized that he had tears streaming down his his face.

“You know Lev, I sure as hell don't know if I'd made it the last few years without you and that wonderful woman of yours.” He was really starting to bawl now.

“Walter...hey man, it was truly our pleasure, you're like family to us.”

“I know, I know...I feel the same way about y'all.”

We just stood there awhile until Walter, in pure Walter fashion, finally blurted out - “Well Alright! Get the hell outta here! You're startin' to wear on my nerves kid!”

I just laughed and started strolling on back to the house, but then I yelled back at him - “Oh yeah! At least I'm not old!”

Walter just kind of chuckled and said, “Hey, you're getting' older every day, buddy boy!”

“Yeah...I'll give you that. So, hey! It was a pretty good Christmas , huh?”

For the first time in the almost ten years I'd known him, Walter looked completely content.
“Yessir”, he said, “it was a good Christmas indeed.”

Epilogue

Yes...it was a good Christmas indeed. It was a very special time and it's a Christmas that I'll never forget.

It was about 3 months later, in March of this year, that we learned that Walter had advanced colon cancer and was terminal. He had known for almost a year and while the doctors had only given him 6 months back in June of last year, he actually made it to August of this year. I'm happy to report that Walter and his son reconciled. He and his family were with Walter for the last several months. Of course, my wife and I were there as were several of the other neighbors. And while things got pretty bad the last couple of weeks, Walter was well cared for with Hospice and didn't really have to deal with any pain. In the end, it was really a blessing for him to pass on. I'd like to believe in Heaven...I really would. And if that is so the case, I'd like to believe that the first thing Walter experienced when he got there was Trigger running up to him and jumping in his arms. That thought always puts a smile on my face. I tell you—I really loved that old man. I think of him often and miss him terribly, but I'll always have the memories of that Christmas evening.

You can email Marshall at marshmanslim@yahoo.com