Trip to Covington and Conyers, GA--November 2010 The weekend before Thanksgiving, Bill and I drove to Covington, Georgia, to visit with old high-school friends, one of whom--Beverly Thompson Swanson--I'd not seen in over 40 years and another--Judy Hammonds Bond--I had not seen in 8 years. On our trip to Covington, we stopped in Forsyth, Georgia, at Grits Cafe, which had been recommended by an artist in the area, Pat D. Burns. It is a charming place on the square with wonderful food and excellent service. The menu is traditional Southern food made with "creativity and flair," which is expanded on here. We arrived in Covington at the Hampton Inn just off I-20 and had time for a short rest before meeting Bev and her husband, Dick, at their loft. We learned the value of not depending entirely on MapQuest or Yahoo Maps and later bought an area map. |
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| It was so nice to meet Dick (above), who met us at the loft entrance and guided us inside. Seeing Bev (above) again was wonderful and the years seemed to melt away. | |
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Judy (above, right in left image), whom I'd seen much more recently, joined us next and it was such a delight to see her again, too. We all had fun chatting and enjoyed wine and snacks before heading to dinner at nearby R.L.'s Off the Square. Jacket (above, right image), Bev and Dick's dog, was not least among the partiers, and when he gets a little tipsy, he refers to himself in third person as "Tech Dawg." The loft porch has a nice view of the square where a portion of the TV series The Vampire Diaries is filmed. |
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(Image Coming Soon!!!) |
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Bill and I took some bottles of our wine to share with everyone and we decided to have these with our meal. R.L.'s (above) was happy to accommodate our request. It is a wonderful restaurant with some of the best Cajun cuisine anywhere. Chef R.L. Holmes trained with renowned Chef Paul Prudhomme in New Orleans, LA. (R.L. also stands for Real Louisiana!) The Turner (a chicken dish named after a very wealthy Covington family) was my choice and Bill had crawfish etouffee. We've never had a better meal! As a side note, the wine was much appreciated and the staff tried it too. |
Walking back to the loft, we stopped at Scoops (above, image from Bev and Dick Swanson) for ice cream. Judy and I had a scoop of caramel and cream and Bev had her favorite, strawberry sorbet. Bill and Dick came along later and Bill had two scoops of his favorite, butter pecan. Scoops, managed by Christy Reid, has a wonderful small-town ambience and is situated on the ground floor of Bev and Dick's loft apartment building. |
After dinner, in the loft, Bill and Judy talked about genealogy and looked at our website. Judy has worked on a Rockdale County cemetary database and, recently, it was published. Judy brought everyone a Cherokee rose she had rooted and we left gifts of our tupelo honey. We then parted and went back to our hotel. The next morning, we drove to Conyers and toured Hi-Roc Road, Zingara Road, Highway 20, Irwin Bridge Road and Milstead, as shown in the following series of photos. |
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| When my brother Dennis and I were little we often slept at our paternal grandparents' (house above) as Mama and Daddy worked the night shift at Callaway Mills in Milstead. | My parents built this house on Hi-Roc Road and moved in around the time I graduated UGA. It appears to have been repurposed now. |
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| Although the house on Highway 20 (above) has undergone much change, this is the spot where I lived most of my childhood. There was a defunct granite quarry behind the house where I often played. | This marker denotes Milstead, an historic mill town, where my parents worked and I attended grades 1-3. As I remember, the school is gone now. |
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| My father bought this building--we called it The Company Store--in Milstead. The store was next door to the old mill, and for a brief time my parents ran a grocery store in it. (This view shows the back of the building, which has been converted to apartments. The front of the building has been renovated and does not resemble its former self.) | I am not sure that this is the correct house, but my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ott Norton (my father's brother) lived here, or very near here, for a period of time when their children were young. (The company-built houses resemble each other.) I remember visiting them. |
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| We drove from Milstead toward Conyers and passed Rockdale Medical Center, where my mother worked for over 20 years. | Pine Street Elementary School, which I attended for grades 4 and 5, does not appear much changed from when I attended. |
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| We arrived at historic Olde Town Conyers and parked behind the old theater building and walked around. Many storefronts have been updated in this charming shopping district (both above: Center Street, and below left: Commercial Street). | |
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| Later in the day, we met Bev and Dick at Fox Winery. | |
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| Bev and Dick (left) and Bill and I (above) pose in the vineyard and in front of the winery, respectively. We enjoyed browsing the store, . . . | |
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| sampling the wine (left and above), and . . . . | |
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listening to the music, which was a nice touch. Bev and Dick made some nice photographs and one is being painted by an artist friend, Claudia Mullins.
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That night, we chose a simple dinner near our hotel and retired to bed early. We had breakfast at the hotel and left shortly thereafter. There is much to see in the area and we intend to visit again soon. We especially want to visit and capture other images in Milstead.
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