It is a safe bet to say that there were no Atlantans who fought at the Battle of the Alamo. Safe because the battle was over and done with a year before the terminus stake was ever driven into the ground. And yet…there is a connection between Atlanta and the Alamo. Not surprisingly, the connection […]
Tag: Georgia History
Posted inColumns, Media, Stories of Atlanta
The Tall Wagging Tale
Sounds good…you be the judge. That’s the deal we’re offering this week, as we tell the tale of a well-known Atlantan who decided to try his hand at event promotion. It’s a tale that has all the makings of a “top notch” Story. Sky-high, death-defying action, a high stakes bet, a puppy dog in danger, […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Connecting the Dots
This week we play a game of “connect the dots” as we trace the relationship of two famous Georgians who each played a role in Atlanta’s young but stellar past. We start with the birth of Crawford Long in 1815 and take a brief look at why we all owe him a major debt of […]
Posted inColumns, Media, Stories of Atlanta
Atlanta’s Hoo-Hoos
As the story goes, a journalist in the timber industry named Johnson was describing a most peculiar tuft of hair, greased and twisted to a point atop the otherwise bald head of a man named McCarer. Using a phrase of his own concoction to describe Mr. McCarer’s signature coiffure, Mr. Johnson pronounced it to be […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
The Unknown Origin of Fulton County
We know the last name but apparently no one bothered to write down the first name. It’s a cautionary tale about the value of taking notes on this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Was Atlanta the First?
In the mid-1880s, George Eastman invented a process for coating a photographic emulsion onto a flexible material…put more simply, he invented film. Not only was that a giant leap in the evolution of photography, but the new medium also opened the door for the development of motion pictures. A decade later, Thomas Edison unveiled the […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
It Took A Village
Build a better mousetrap and the world will be a path to your door. Given that the U.S. Patent Office says there have been over 4,400 patents issued for various types of mousetraps, many people must have taken that epigram to heart. And though, it is unlikely that you will find the mousetrap high-up on […]
Posted inColumns
Michael Thurmond: Georgia founder James Oglethorpe should be our ‘North Star’
The story of how James Oglethorpe (1696-1785) went from being a slave trader to abolitionist serves as a beacon for Georgia to celebrate its founding values.
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Southern Hospitality
The City of Atlanta is host to hundreds of conventions each year, and millions of people visit Atlanta for those conventions…every year. Atlanta is most definitely a major player in the world of event planning and, if you think about it, it is a role that the City of Atlanta comes by quite naturally. Hospitality […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Thanks to him…we know
Much of our knowledge of Civil War Atlanta comes from the work of the official photographer of the Army of the Mississippi, George Barnard. Assigned to document military camps, fortifications and rail lines, Barnard followed General William Sherman and his troops on their infamous March to the Sea. In the process of completing his assigned […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Defying Convention
May Irwin was a 19th century actress who starred – with John Rice – in an 1896 short film titled The Kiss. Chances are you are not familiar with The Kiss – or Ms. Irwin or Mr. Rice – but the film’s title holds a special place in movie history as do its actors. Today, […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
The Balloon Ride
For a species born without wings, we sure have spent a great deal of time trying to learn to fly. The desire to fly is probably as much a part of being human as is the fear of falling. Go figure that one out. This week we examine an event that took place in Atlanta […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
From Prussia to Peachtree
When the Civil War ended in 1865, life, as you can imagine, did not just magically return to normal. There was no “normal.” Chaos was the order of the day and the State of Georgia had been particularly hard hit. Its politics was scattered, the economy was in shambles and in June of 1865 the […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
His request has been honored
Even Atlanta, with it comparatively young history, is not without its colorful characters. And one of Atlanta’s more interesting individuals was Jasper Newton Smith. Smith was an Atlanta businessman during the city’s reconstruction days. He owned a business at what is today the intersection of Peachtree and 14th Streets. Jasper Smith, or Jack as he […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Understanding the name
It will come as no surprise to anyone that Peachtree Street was not always the bastion of business that it is today. At the turn of the 20th century, Peachtree Street was a tree-lined avenue with magnificent mansions on either side. It was a neighborhood…a neighborhood filled with well-to-do residents…but a neighborhood none the less. […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
For a while, it was king of the hill
There was a time when movie-goers had a number of choices in downtown Atlanta. From the Loew’s Grand and the Paramount to the 81 and the Roxy, the options on Peachtree Street were plentiful. In the early 20th century, Atlanta boasted the largest movie theater in the Southeast and it’s still in operation today. Only, […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
What’s your favorite color?
They say the human eye can distinguish upwards of 7-million different colors. With so many options, it makes one wonder just how picky must Steve Jobs have been that he had to design his own shade of white because he couldn’t find one he felt worked for his computers. But the truth is, color, in […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
A wartime skill finds new life
One of the challenges of our 21st century lifestyle is trying to process the unprecedented amount of information available at any given moment. We are subjected to so much input on so many different topics that it is hard for us to imagine how people got along before the invention of instantaneous communications. It helps, […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
Atlanta’s presidential candidate
I can think of at least two residents of Metro Atlanta that have tossed their hat into the Presidential candidate’s ring. Maybe there are more, but, has there ever been a Presidential candidate who was actually a resident of the City of Atlanta? Our friend Greg Hodges asked that question and the answer he discovered […]
Posted inStories of Atlanta
It had everything to do with necessity
Necessity is the “Mother of Invention.” Not much to argue with there. If it weren’t for necessity, there would never have been a MacGyver. The crew of Apollo 13 could probably tell you a thing or two about the motivation provided by necessity. And we’re pretty sure that if it weren’t for necessity, Ron Popeil […]
