Went spent one day just shopping and then going to Morganton Ga to see if we could find Jerry and Fedora Campbells home. And find it we did, 2 1/2 miles off the main road, right through "dueling banjo" country.
It is a gorgeous home as you can see. I think that the lake it sits on might be a finger from Lake Blue Ridge. As most lakes up there they dry up or get drained this time of the year. As you can see we did a lot of snooping, well at least they all did. We knew we had found the right place when we peeked into the window and saw a mug with the name Fedora on it. As I walked around this mansion I thought to myself, "what a great place to have a class reunion". No question that this home would be big enough. Oh by the way it was not all that hard to find, there were at least 20 signs with arrows pointing to the Campbell home.
We spent some time in a town in NC called Hayesville. While we were there I found some more James Patterson and Harlan Cobin books. I went absolutely nuts buying used books, but heck what a savings. While we were standing around taking pictures of a home made street rod Pat saw a friend. Lou Weber who used to work for me at the FD and lives up there and delivers mail. He was on his way home from work when we spotted him. I screamed at him and scared the heck out of him. He stopped and visited with us and took us into and old store that had a lot of history. We met the granddaughter of the original owner and her son. By the way, it was her son who built the street rod. Here are some photos of Hayesville and some history.
Clay County Court House Lore and Legend
The Court House is a historic listed building, so exterior work is done to historic preservation's guidelines. Restoration of the Court House has been a focus of Clay County Communities Revitalization Association. Numerous grants were obtained to restore the exterior. By obtaining grants and selling slices of the maple tree and commemorative bricks, the exterior restoration is now complete. Brick work was stabilized, windows replaced with the original style, painting, and improving drainage. The current steeple is a reproduction of the original. The unique coloration of the bricks was discovered during restoration in the fall of 2001. Prior to that time, it was believed to be painted brick to help waterproof it. The building now stands as it looked upon completion.Originally, Clay County was part of Macon and Cherokee Counties. Due to the size of each county and the number of days by horse and buggy to get to the county seats, the Honorable George Hayes sponsored a bill to divide the two counties into three. In February 1861, North Carolina Legislature created a new county named for the Tennessee Statesman Henry Clay. Hayesville, the county seat, was named for Mr. Hayes. Hayesville was built on 20 acres donated by W. M. Hancock. In 1868, the first town officials were elected and s post office opened. The town was incorporated on March 12, 1913.The present Court House is the second one build in the county. The first was of wood and stood near the present location of Tigers Clothing Store on the south side of the Square. The first Court House was burned to the ground on the night of May 20, 1870. As a result, county records were lost.According to local legend, Dave Moss, a Civil War deserter and local outlaw, was jailed in South Georgia for the theft of hogs and cattle. He escaped in the night and headed up Shooting Creek to the home of the local blacksmith. The blacksmith was forced to build a fire in his forge. While the town slept, Moss took heated picks to Hayesville and used them to burn down the county’s wooded Court House. He did this to prevent court records from being used against him by the authorities in Georgia. His outlaw exploits continued as he left on foot toward Monroe County, Tennessee.In 1887, Captain J. S. Anderson was contracted to build the current county Court House that was completed in 1888. With changes to the original plans, the contract of $7,240 rose to $7,799.50. The Court House was accepted and commissioned in 1889. Court is still held in the upstairs court room and houses the Clerk of Court offices.The historic low stone wall is also on the mug. When children learned to ride their bicycles well, nerves were tested when the biker rode a complete circuit of the Court House, up on the wall, without falling off. Undoubtedly, there were spills off the wall.On Church Street, a round depression still exists where the site of the old town well once was. It served the town’s people who didn’t have wells of their own.Our Court House and its Square are the heart of the community. In past days, the grounds served as a playground for the children. Farm families came to town on Saturday for marketing and stayed to visit their extended family and friends. Lights on the Square were restored with grants and dedicated on April 28, 2001. Commemorative bricks pave the base of the lights.Today, the Court House is an icon for the identity of Clay County. Newcomers to our county feel “they’d come home”, when they see the Square and the Court House. The preservation and restoration of the structure served to preserve our heritage for generations to come.
We met Calvin and Amy Smith in Murphy NC for lunch one day and of course did a little shopping. Calvin and Amy are friends who live right outside Dillsboro NC. They retired there from Florida a couple of years ago and just love it. Murphy is a very neat little town and we always make a trip there a couple times each year. I hope you enjoy the pictures, especially of the "Kitty in the Window".
Now here are some pictures of our little visitor that we had while we were at the cabin. We had watched and old movie called Gun Smoke, so Harriett named her Miss Kitty. Miss kitty was well fed while we were there and I am sure she misses us. The last picture I took of her was the one where she is looking back at us as we drive off heading back home.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (
1 John 3:18)
