Coastal Thanksgiving Surise

Courtesy of Johnny Henderson, taken this morning.

     Phil Odom's blog about the so called drag strip between McLarry's curve and Mt McIntosh is certainly food for thought to me. I was born in a modest frame house located just about halfway between the curve and the railroad which was a distance of about three miles. Back in my early years the Atlantic Coastline Railroad at McIntosh had three sets of rails, a northbound rail and a southbound rail as well as a side track which extended from the trestle at the Peacock canal a little over two miles south of U.S. HWY 84 (then HWY 82) also known as Ga. HWY 38 and Oglethorpe highway as well as my favorite moniker Old Sunbury Road.
     Up until the demise of Fraser Lumber Company in the late fifties McIntosh was a bustling little community. Fraser Lumber Company consisted actually of three separate sawmills and one large and modern (by the standards of the time)dry kiln and planner mill.
    The "crossing at McIntosh" consisted of  three sets of rails and although it was frequently "worked" by railroad workers, due to very heavy rail traffic on all three sets of tracks. In spite of  frequent maintenance the crossing for automobiles was always rough. From nearly a mile and a half away we could on quiet days hear cars which were traveling fast as they crossed the rails at McIntosh and moments later passed our place. Then with some (such as Dr. Middleton)  we could hear them slow down for McLarry's curve. I'm not sure of the distance but I think from curve to crossing it is about three miles as I said above.
     As I sit today on a not so quiet afternoon and hear cars and trucks virtually uninterrupted I am lost in thoughts of learning to ride a bicycle in front of my birthplace.
     At any rate the imaginary race described by Phil Odom is in fact almost non-stop most of the time now. The Eastern end is now between Mt. McIntosh and the new intersection of Ga. 196 AKA THE FLEMING SHORT CUT. The western end of the race track is at a deadly virtual ninety degree curve at the intersection of OLD SUNBURY ROAD and US 84 in Flemington the location of the modern Parker's on the site of the original MCLARRY'S which had formerly been PAUL'S PLACE.
     In reading Phil's story I found it very amusing when he told of the frustrated motorists who madly dashed down the old Cassell's road as well as the now non functioning by pass in their attempt to go around and beyond the snarl of delayed traffic stalled atop Mt. McIntosh as it slowly backed traffic to the curve at the eastern end of the legendary race track.
     Reading that spoof I was slowly reminded of a Budweiser beer poster in McLarrys. I remember it very well. It was a copy of a well know painting of a scene out west where the Indians were stampeding the buffalo over a cliff in order to harvest meat, bone and hide for use in sustaining themselves. The picture graced the eastern wall of the dining room at McLarrys.
    I found an illustration of that painting on the internet a couple of days ago and we have it here for all to see.

Alfred Jacob Miller - "Hunting Buffalo" (watercolor on paper, 8.3" x 14.2"), between 1858 and 1860)

A reproduction of this painting or some other painting of the same activity was produced by the beer makers of Budweiser and it was displayed on the eastern wall of the dining room at McLarry's during the fifties.

Mr and Mrs R.R. McLarry moved to Flemington sometime in the late forties or perhaps the early fifties and took over the operation of the business known as Paul's place which had been located on the curve of US HWY 82 known as Oglethorpe HWY.

Levelland / Holiday

I just had to come back to this post and add Holiday, it's perfect for the weather TX has been through the last few days, but we might actually have their bad weather during our Holiday travel. "Damned near as deadly as Texans on ice." Or Low Country drives in rain. Y'all please be safe on your upcoming travel. --Jamey

Dad's new computer is ready.

Y'all stand by, this is about to get good.

UPDATE: Dad's home computer was delivered, installed, and he received training on it this afternoon. I'll let him take it from here, I'm going on vacation!

Nuclear Detonations, 1945-1998

The Watermelon 500 at Mount McIntosh

Dear Editor,
On Thursday November 14, 2013 at approximately 3:45 PM, two race cars participating in the Watermelon 500 that occurs twice daily at US 84 between McClary’s Curve in Flemington and the red light at the intersection of GA 196 and US 84 in the McIntosh Community had a bump but no run occur on top of Mount McIntosh.

Both vehicles where disabled with injuries to drivers and passengers requiring race officials to dispatch four units of Hinesville Fire Department Fire Responders, two units of the Liberty County EMS, four units of the Liberty County Sheriff Department and ONE Georgia State Patrol unit.

With all of the above race track response team on site, race officials RED FLAGGED the eastbound lanes of US 84 even though both disabled race cars where in the right lane of the race track wedged up against the wall of the bridge. This fine action gave cause to the other 400 plus race cars to come to a complete stop. Many of the stationary drivers became a Kevin Harvick, inpatient and hot under the collar.

I sat in my race car on Cassells Road awaiting an opportunity to join slow flow of race cars as the lone Georgia State Patrol directed all race cars into the center lane. As I set waiting to get in line, my neighbor exited off US 84 on to Cassells Road to go home. Lo and behold if many of the race cars in the right hand lane didn’t follow her. This gave me an opening on to Eastbound US 84, as I slow made my way up Mount McIntosh; I could see race cars speeding down the North Bypass that dead ends at the CSX railroad as many other race cars speed off down Cassells Road as their drivers paid no attention to the sign that states the road is a “DEAD END”

Needless to say, all those race car drivers who where in a hurry to get pass the accident by taking an alternate route lost their position on the race track. A Liberty County Deputy had to leave the top of Mount McIntosh and go to the intersection of Cassells Road and US 84 to assist the some 30 plus race cars back on to the track.

Bottom line; when the Watermelon 500 is RED FLAGGED, stay in your position or get put at the back of the line on the race track.

Driver of car # 3.69

Phil Odom

The Lion's Den Reunion

I'd like to give a great big ol' shout out to the organizers of Saturday's Lions Den reunion, and also a sincere thank you to the Liberty County Sheriff's Deputies who did a splendid job of traffic control, keeping us safe crossing a busy highway. I've got to admit, I had second thoughts about attending after seeing the attendance estimates, thinking parking would be a nightmare. The golf carts and volunteer drivers were also a blessing, considering that some of us have refused to get new knees...yet. And of course, thanks to anyone else who helped make it happen.

Most of all, however, I'd like to thank my Dad for coming up with the original idea. He may not have been the only one, but I'm pretty confident he was the first. He's been wearing out anyone within earshot about the idea for years. He originally wanted to have this at The Green House, but the size of the crowd (and traffic control) made this problematic. He is anxious to comment on the event, but I am currently holding his computer hostage, so I've got him treed at the moment. (Hint: y'all send me money, I can keep him bayed as long as you'd like.) Actually, I'm trying to get him set up with a new operating system that will make Blogger and email much easier for him, and tech support easier for me. He'll be back on line no later than this Friday. In the meantime, I'm at the helm until the Captian's had his nap. Or I hit a mudbar, whichever comes first.

All I know is that I had a great time, and it was good to see Elvis is still alive and well. The gnats weren't too bad, and I got to see some folks I haven't seen in ages. The highlight of the evening was getting to give a kiss on the cheek to, and talk a bit with, Mrs. Kozma. She looked great, and I'll bet could still draw a blister on my butt with that cut out Bolo paddle! Mrs. Kozma was much more than my kindergarten teacher though (in her house and at the old white HS building), she was my next door neighbor for the first 20 years of my life. Our families are life long friends to this day, and I'm very grateful for that.

To wrap up the evening, Debbie and I left the Dorchester Center at dark, and proceeded East with a group of the rest of us juvenile delinquents (you know, still 50 something) and landed at one of their homes. We proceeded to party like it was 1975 all over again. Or should I say, at least until midnight, when our collective "party barge" hit the mud bar and we all headed to quarters for the night. The only way I see a sunrise these days is if I go to bed at 9PM. Bloody Mary's were in order the following morning, and I had the best one I've ever had. Y'all all know the mixmaster too, but I'll never divulge who it was. To say it was a fellow Bradwell grad is close enough.

I will always love the Liberty County coast. I hope some things never change.

I keep my distance as best I can
living out my time here in 
Never Never land
And I can't grow up
'cause I'm too old now
I guess I really did it this time Mom

Coastal Majesty

Johnny Henderson has been kind enough to share some scenes of our beautiful views on the coast. The pictures will appear two or three times weekly.

Welcome to this site.  By the time anyone new reads this or any other commentary posted on this site we will all have a fresh memory of the mega Bradwell Lions reunion which was held Saturday November 16 at the old Dorchester school in Dorchester.

I want to start this by saying thank you to all who helped to cause this reunion. As I was growing up family reunions were a large part of my childhood. It is with these thoughts in mind that I have undertaken this little project. While I can use a computer and email, facebook  and so forth my skill is very limited and I will be depending very heavily on my younger friends to keep this functioning.

I want any and all who are interested to contribute commentary and pictures of the local area but please understand that as you post something it will not necessarily be posted immediately because I don't want anyone to post any abuse or insulting comments. This site will be monitored daily and I hope many of you will join us in memory lane. My son Jamey is my technical partner in this undertaking and without his assistance I would not be able to do this. As most folks know I was still a teenager when Jamey was born. We virtually grew up together and he has always been more like a little brother than a son. Now that we are both toward possibly the latter days I am determined to create a collection of pleasant memories about the low country coastal region and the way things were back in our time living on the edge of the Goshen swamp.
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Hello everyone, Jamey here. I'm the creator of this site, at Original Jimmy's request. I'm helping Dad realize a dream he's had for a while, and that is to launch an electronic news, discussion, and story organ about his local community.

This site will be moderated. Comments to articles and posts are welcome, but will not appear immediately. We're going to take time to read submissions before clicking '"post". This could take as long as 24 hours at first while we work out the most efficient processes.

If you have a dispute or other problem with the site, please feel free to contact me directly. I'd very much like to make your experience here as pleasant as possible.

Jamey
Class of '79
Disco Still Sux