A totally self-indulgent web page
LaGrange, GA, 1951, just before our move to Columbus.
(I'm the one without the shades)
How we came to live in ColumbusRecently, a friend was looking through my old family photographs, and asked, "Did you and your sisters ever wear clothes?" I answered, "Well, no. We lived below the gnat line." That's not really the truth, but the family had lived in Americus and LaGrange, Georgia prior to moving to Columbus in 1951. Coming from the mountains of East Tennessee, Georgia sure was hot and humid!
My dad worked for Georgia Power Company for over forty years, and our transfer to Atlanta in December 1960 was a big adventure for us girls. We had snow right after Christmas, and it was the first time we'd ever seen snow on the ground!
But I can't say that we never looked back. My sisters and I frequently talk about our years in Columbus. It was a time when parents didn't worry about their children. On Saturdays we roamed the woods (the "Big Woods" and the "Little Woods"), climbed trees, played cowboys, walked to the neighborhood store, and came home only for lunch and dinner.
For years I have longed to go back and see it all again for myself, but with my work schedule, and vacations too precious to "waste," I never could seem to manage a trip to Columbus. On the morning of June 16, 2000 my sister and I set out to rediscover our childhood.
What we foundWe had been warnedthat the widening of Cody Road (now University Avenue) had taken almost the entire front yard of our house, but we still were not prepared for the altered appearance and drove right past it at first! The old house now seems small and shabby, but we remember it when it had cheerful yellow paint with white shutters and dogwood trees in the front yard. That was where we would stand every Easter Sunday for our Daddy to take our pictures in our new Easter dresses, always lovingly sewed by our Mama.
The house seems destined to be destroyed to make way for commercial property, but we found the rest of the neighborhood looking pretty good. The little store where we walked (sometimes barefoot if we could stand the hot pavement) to buy special treats or "grab bags" for ten cents, is still there but no longer in operation. Most of our church lawn has been taken by the widening of the road, and it has a "new" building in front of the old familiar one.
The Bradley Library, where Mama took us every week, is still thriving. What used to be an expanse of lush green lawn behind the building is now a driveway, and the pond is much smaller than we remembered and had been drained at the time of our visit. The bridge now has railings.
My sister and I chuckled as we remembered the rumor that haunted every library visit: that a little boy had drowned in that pond (in quicksand, of course) while riding his bicycle across that bridge! I wonder how many other children heard that same story and steered clear of that bridge? Our biggest surprise was discovering that the library was built in 1950 and was new when we lived there! There are many wonderful old buildings and homes still standing in downtown Columbus, designated landmarks. Chapman's Hardware Store is still Chapmans! We found our schools still open and under renovation this summer, and after a bit of wandering, we located the homes of many of our childhood friends. Flat Rock Park, where we spent many family outings and church picnics, is exactly the way we remembered it.
Indeed, prepared for the worst, we came away feeling comforted that so much of Columbus is unchanged.
Now that I've revisited my childhood, I'm ready to go back and discover Columbus as an adult, visiting and photographing the historic sites and the river front district. Stay tuned!
Pat Sabin
