This entry is a part of a series of vignettes covering the “Great Flood of 1916,” which caused damage across five states in the southeast. Biltmore Village.July 16, 1916 Tired, trembling, and terrified, seventeen-year-old Katherine Lipe clung to a tree at the Biltmore Lodge Gate just outside of Asheville, North Carolina. She was fifty-feet fromContinue reading “In the Middle of a Wide, Wild River”
Tag Archives: Southern History
A Legacy of Dreams Taking Flight
I noticed the wheels first. The five feet between the operator and asphalt alarmed me. A bastardized bicycle. What Londoners did to the passenger bus, this guy did to a bike. Some Athenians are not content with the distance between their head and pavement. It reminded me of Ben Epps. Epps’ discontent for the transportationContinue reading “A Legacy of Dreams Taking Flight”
Toombs: Athens’ Original Student Scoundrel
At UGA, traditions give purpose to succeeding generations of rebellious young students. One legend established more traditions of irascibility than any other student who ever attended the university. The honoree was Robert Toombs. According to the official watered down campus tour, on graduation day in 1828, Toombs, a fiery, boisterous young man, stood under aContinue reading “Toombs: Athens’ Original Student Scoundrel”
“We Want Fred!:” UGA’s Reaction to Kent State, 1970
May 6, 1970- Shattered glass flew into Park Hall from several windows. Outside, a few thousand students and citizens demanded attention from U.G.A.’s president Fred Davison. When he sent anybody he could convince to face the angry crowd in his stead, they violently broke into the academic building. Four thousand voices rose into the coolContinue reading ““We Want Fred!:” UGA’s Reaction to Kent State, 1970″
In Floating Fragments: The Great Freshet of 1840
Monday, May 25, 1840– The turbid waters of the Oconee swelled. The artery of a nascent Athens community revolted. The rains began that afternoon and created an injurious effect: the Greatest Natural Disaster in Athens’s History. For days it rained relentlessly. Banks gave way in the Oconee and Savannah watersheds. Milledgeville (then the state capital), Augusta,Continue reading “In Floating Fragments: The Great Freshet of 1840”
Them’s Fightin’ Words
When I realized that a handful of bearded duck callers had taken over the shelves of Wal-Mart and the hearts of many, I felt like the South was taking a GIANT leap backward. The phenomenon seemed to blend Honey Boo-Boo, Quran burners, and Paul Broun into a rancid Brunswick stew. There are those that knowContinue reading “Them’s Fightin’ Words”
Southerner
Heat, sweat, rednecks, and slaves. Beer cans floating on molasses rivers. Preachers throwing bibles at demons, deacons visiting widows. Mint Juleps, porch swings, pines, and red clay. Big trucks, battle flags, country tunes, and white lightning. Such is the South, to some. I was born in Tampa, Florida, southern by geography not culture. My grandfatherContinue reading “Southerner”
On the West Virginia Floods
Disasters, large and small, are only as damaging as we allow. Gone should be the days where the publicity surrounding calamities focus on the seemingly uncontrollable winds, rivers, and rains that kill and destroy. I do not speak of dams and other man-made pseudo scientific “cures” for the disasters. No, I criticize the very realContinue reading “On the West Virginia Floods”
Anthony Sadler 