Georgia Curiosities : Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities and Other Offbeat Stuff

by William Schemmel

• ISBN13: 9780762723300
• ISBN10: 0762723300
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Globe Pequot

Summary

This laugh-out-loud giude will introduce readers to a different side of the Peach State. With this guide in hand, they can tour the cities and swamplands, and then hit the road to pick their own Kiwis, chase a greased pig during Climax Swine Time, or welcome the buzzards back to their winter roost. From the Fat Man's Forest and Cafe to rural Georgia's answer to Stonehenge, this state has plenty to offer anyone with a sense of humor.

Author Biography

Decatur, Georgia, resident William Schemmel is a full-time freelance writer and photographer whose work appears regularly in newspapers, magazines, and guidebooks. This nice guy is also author of Georgia Off the Beaten Path.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. viii
Northeast Georgia	p. 1
Southwest Georgia	p. 55
Metro Atlanta	p. 103
Middle Georgia	p. 139
Northwest Georgia	p. 175
Southeast Georgia	p. 201
Coastal Georgia	p. 227
Index	p. 251
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

9 THE OLD GAOL, Greensboro's Bastille
If Greene Countians ever decided to reenact the French Revolution, they could start by sacking the Greensboro "Gaol." Whether it was really modeled after the notorious Parisian Bastille, as some declare, the fortress is one scary-looking place. Completed in 1807, its grim granite walls two-feet thick, with small barred windows and a crenelated roof line, were intended to warn citizens to stay on the straight and narrow. Those who faltered were imprisoned in medieval dungeons wet, dark and cold. Those paying the ultimate price for their sins were dropped, with a noose around their necks, through a second floor trap door. With no civil libertarians to adjudicate for comfier facilities, poor wretches moldered in the gloomy garrison until 1895. The Old Gaol is on East Greene Street, behind the courthouse. If you'd like to serve a brief sentence, call 706-453-7592 for an appointment.

---

Excerpted from Georgia Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities and Other Offbeat Stuff by William Schemmel
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.