Vinings Done…

I’ve been delving into the history and provenance of Vinings for a couple of years +.  Three generations of my family, and their friends, left traces of place in my memory and provided  clues to unraveling a true sense of a Vinings myth.  Most of which, has been shared with the community in talks, blogs, pictures, and the book “Vinings Revisted”, published in 2008.

There are still some remnant mysteries about, and some oversighted preservations which should be attentioned, remaining. The designations and perpetuity of  the Pace and Black community cemeteries for one. They represent the origin, soul, and art of Vinings, and should be appropriately recognized and preserved.

There is also a tendency to voice incorrect historical context, which ”sounds” better than factual evidences, but if required to garner financial contribution – so be it.  Sometimes the fish has to be at least so long to make it a story.  The history of Vinings, Ga is deep enough for both the pureist and the echoist to co-exist.   

The crown jewels of historic research were determining the individual for who Vinings is named (William H. Vining), and spending real-time story exchanges with the likes of Margaret George, Norman Robinson, and Roy Brawell - elder original residents of the area from the early 1900′s.  The Robinson family going as far back as the 1840′s, and the building of the railroad.

I was happy to make my contribution to documenting Vinings, as a richer, deeper characterized myth – non-gratis. However, as must be, this is not and infinite and lineal process, and is being concluded.

My thanks to many others who have contributed, and to Gillian Greer at the Vinings Historical Preservation Society, for promoting the forum of  public historical disclosure.

Anthony Doyle (March 10)

Vinings Arborglyphs

In the midst of a suburban Atlanta neighborhood, a huge beech tree shades more than a manicured lawn and landscaped flower garden. Closer inspection revealed 3 peculiar marking on it’s smooth but scarred trunk; shadowy etchings clearly carved way in the past by human hands.

The landscape amenity of this front yard just went historic in value – it’s an arborglyph.

An increasingly rare fine outside old growth forests, and a very slim probability in developed areas, this prominent tree likely escaped destruction by aesthetic choice, not necessarily preservation of a visual artifact. However, the story and relevance in the above case likely added to the value of place.

I’ll spare the 101 lecture on the identity of arborglyphs here, but suffice to say “some” beech trees have survived for over 300 years, and were favored as message boards, boundary marks, memories, depictions, and locational maps as far back as the Creek and Cherokee Indians, settlement period, and through the Civil War. In the above case, the tree was very likely to the period of Cherokee Removal in 1838.

There is an increasing interest in finding and documenting old beech trees, which have writing and depictions (glyphs), on standing trees (arbors), thus the term “Arborglyphs.” They are in the same category as petroglyphs (depictions on stone), and their ancient predecessors in the Mayan and Egyptian hieroglyphics genre. Pre-historics (before written history), symbols were used by Native Americans at or near strategic points of reference, and Civil War soldiers would carve initials, dates, and messages as they passed.

Question is, how many more can be late found?

The recognition of beech trees as being source and study of these efforts has come late, many of which have been destroyed in constructional venues. Georgia has a private non-profit program for registering historical trees (usually species representative with age and profile), but none that recognizes, what elsewhere in the country are called “CMT’s” (culturally modified trees). We have (shall we say had) many in North Georgia.

There will be more on the subject coming, the premise here is to alert and advise that if the reader has, or knows of, a beech tree of approx. 2 feet in diameter, with “unusual” marking – to email me with the option to document and digitally photograph same.

No addressments or locations will be divulged, and no, there’s not going to be any effort to turn your front (or back yard) into a historical park! If anything, it makes a good story…

You can see arborglyphs being recorded in Cobb Co.  in gallery 06 at http://bleufalcon.org

Vining Coyotes

This morning I happen to run into John Underwood, the coyote trapper, and we managed a few minutes of conversation on the side of the road where I got my “cliff notes” education on his efforts.

Some consider his profession cruel to species, but I beg to argue. To a neighborhood, coyotes may seem a remote unseen rare risk. That is until John indicates that “between West Paces Ferry south to the water treatment plants,  we’ve trapped over 160 coyotes since September 15th this year…” – thats three months worth.

He suggests they will take cats, small dogs, small deer, and could (repeat could) intimidate a small child by opportunity, particularly in a small pack situation.  The pictures he showed me included a couple of brute sized predators in the 40 lb +/- range, as an example of the problem.

John is a retired policeman with an environmental mantra.  While you listen to  his stories of saving hawks, owls, bob-cats, and red fox encountered, there are a couple of border collies in his backseat leading to another story – he rounds up molting Canadian geese for relocation.  The dogs herd them into a trailer, which is likely a show.

His calling is much higher than varmint removal, and its nice to know he’s out there saving and maintaining the distance between people and wildlife.

Parking Grapevine

South of the Paces Ferry RR crossing (behind Coldstone ice cream), there’s a deep gully and wood that has recently been purchased from Paul Robinson for the reported purpose of putting a parking garage back there…  Not saying it’s not needed, not saying it is, and don’t know for sure who.

I would suggest however, that area being one of the last natural setting and possibly retaining some historical significance (Civil War – Settlement remnants),  such ownership be subject to some kind of aesthetic and cultural approval which befits use, and possibly some effort at historic archaeology survey. 

I already see some pink and blue ribbons around certain areas, which “looks like” a plan going forward.

Ouch….

Vinings Bridge Primer 101

Comes with question that the bridge on Paces Ferry Road at Vinings, is somehow, well…blue.   First a little corrective background.

Bids for a bridge across the Chattahoochee to replace the “real” Pace’s Ferry were let October 1903,  and awarded to Cotton States Bridge Company of Atlanta in January 04′.  Cost was to be approximately $10,000,  borne 2/3′s by Fulton County and 1/3 by Cobb County.  In March 04′ work was announced to begin May 1st and completed in about 6 weeks (not built in 1903 as some references mention).

Then the technical stuff started. The bridge was to be a 2-span, 280-ft.-long, pin-connected, Pratt, through-truss bridge, with timber cross planks, bearing single directional traffic (one direction at a time).  This was a favored construction for medium river-crossing bridges in early 1900′s, for which 100′s were built and only a few remain.

So far so good.

Steel blue is more than just an eye color;  literally a tempering process applied to steel to achieve a certain strength-pliability ratio, one level of which is called  “blue annealed “ in the industry, or tempering.

If interested, steel is notably responsive to tempering, and makers of tools, weapons, armor, and other articles of steel have long had great skill in the process. Tempering is not necessary for such products as razors and files, in which hardness is sought but brittleness is not a serious disadvantage. Other products, e.g., swords, weapons, and industrial use requires tempering for toughness. In the handicraft process of tempering, the condition of the steel during heating is judged by its color, caused by an oxide film. A desired hardness can be achieved by plunging the steel into a bath when it has cooled to the right shade of yellow or brown or blue. To secure a bath of the right temperature, various liquids are used, e.g., pure water, saltwater, oil, and molten metal. The process of softening steel that is harder than desired is called annealing. In modern mass production the processes of tempering are guided by scientific tests in place of the artisan’s skill in the past. Comparable to tempering is the process of hastening the cooling of a surface of a casting to increase the hardness of the part so “chilled.”

Annealing is a heat or thermal treatment process by which a previously cold-rolled steel coil is made more suitable for forming and bending, and the term “blue” annealing  is the incidental formation of a bluish oxide observed on the surface as it reaches the desired tempering ratio – and such color is retained. But…

A resulting color is more of a midnight blue, like you see in the “bluing” of gun metal, and that’s the only way the bridge iron would be, albeit a rather weathered blue at that.

Actually, the  Vining Bridge ”blue” color is not a tempered-processing color, nor a decorating event, depression over being replaced, a painting, an Elvis movie, or having a blue Christmas without you, – it’s just an oxidized primer before a more permanent (and better) layer is applied…

Source: Atlanta Constitution 1903-04; various period steel industry references via Google.

Standing Peachtree – The Narrative

In the ongoing study to document the provenance of  “Standing Peachtree” and South Cobb pre-historic evidences, there are many mysteries to piece together.  Within the original historical record, there has been scan-to-none reference one can research as to the extent of Native American life along the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta.

50 +/- years of progressive commercial destruction, (construction if you wish), of the physical record along the Chattahoochee Piedmont has vaporized most of this Native heritage.

From the archaeological record, which speaks on behalf of the pre-historic, there is a smattering of  an incomplete story suggesting that “Standing Peachtree” was a series of villages and improvements that extended over a 10 to 15 mile stretch of river bottom and creeks from (according to one professional source) ”as far north as Roswell to Sandtown below Peachtree Creek…”  - now the operating theory.

The forensics of placing this study in context, given resource, is exhaustive and exhausting. But then you get a little help…

In 1821, Wilson Lumpkin, the future governor of Georgia, was responsible for addressing treaty line disputes with the Creek Indians, and proceeded to tour the disputed line, which included the future Cherokee Territory designations along the Chattahoochee River. What he wrote of  then to Gov. Clark was likely one of the few, if not only, visual accounts of a river trip from Buzzard’s Roost (downstream) to Standing Peachtree.  It adds significantly to the puzzle…

“From the Buzzard Roost village to the Standing Peachtree I estimate the distance at fifteen five miles – this it is computed more by the Indians. I found some difficulty in arriving this village, in determining on the correct course.  For several miles on the river, you are constantly in view of Indian improvement or house; something below the center of these improvements, is the most striking appearance of a town, the buildings being more compact in this, than any other part of the settlement.  But there is no appearance of Capital, Town-house, or public square about the place.

I therefore made an offset so as to embrace the whole settlement – leaving the part which had a village appearance at least one mile within the Nation – while some of the scattering settlements are near the line which I have marked out, but all included within the Nation.” (April 28, 1821, signed Wilson Lumpkin; excerpt from 12 page report)

 

A Vinings Gift ?

A long time ago, Vinings was known for its natural spring water.  During the 1800′s, after the Civil War and Reconstruction, Vinings was home to from 3 to 5 natural mineral water springs, one near the corner of Mountain and Ranch Roads down from the Vinings Inn.

This setting attracted high society from Atlanta to hop on the W &A Railroad and come to Vinings to picnic and hold dances at the pavilion, and drink the spring water.

Thats gone, buried now beneath one of the developed lots in Carter’s Grove.  According to Jody Smith,  resident of Vinings for some 40 years now, “it was some of the best water you ever tasted…”  In fact, in 1998 she even had a small container of frozen Vining’s spring water in her freezer, saved  symbolic of her early battles with developer Turrentine to save the springs.

The spring(s) were offered to the community to purchase and preserve but funds were never raised to do so. Now the spring flow is diverted underground and lost. Maybe…

This information was gleaned from an article in the “Vinings Gazette”  from August 1998, and therein, was a suggestion that the spring could actually be angle-piped or tapped out as a fountain location along Ranch Road.

If at all feasible, wouldn’t that be a great historic Christmas Present back to the community !

Thanksgiving Come From?

 

Prior to the mid-1800s, Thanksgiving had nothing to do with the 1621 harvest celebration, Pilgrims or Native People. Thanksgiving started as a traditional New England holiday that celebrated family and community. It descended from Puritan days of fasting and festive rejoicing. The governor of each colony or state declared a day of thanksgiving each autumn, to give thanks for general blessings. As New Englanders moved west in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, they took their holiday with them. After the harvest, governors across the country proclaimed individual Thanksgivings, and families traveled back to their original homes for family reunions, church services and large meals.

The Pilgrims, Wampanoag and Thanksgiving were first linked together in 1841, when historian Alexander Young rediscovered Edward Winslow’s account of the 1621 harvest celebration. The account was part of the text of a letter to a friend in England, later published in Mourt’s Relation (1622). Young isolated the description of the harvest celebration, and identified it as the precedent for the New England Thanksgiving. At this point, Young’s claim had little impact on the popular concept of Thanksgiving, however.

In the 1800s, battles between pioneers and Native People trying to hold onto their land colored images of Thanksgiving. Images of Natives and colonists sharing a meal did not fit with contemporary scenes of violence between pioneers and Natives in the west. While there were a couple of images showing a “First Thanksgiving” with Pilgrims and Natives together, such scenes were not common until after the end of the “Indian Wars” in the 1890s. The association between Pilgrims, Natives and Thanksgiving became stronger after 1890, when the census revealed the western frontier to be closed, and the “Indian Wars” ended.

By the late 1800s, America was changing, and the image of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving became useful history. Starting in the 1880s, immigration increased dramatically. The new immigrants came from Eastern and Southern Europe, with different languages, religions and customs than the old-stock Yankees. Combined with other dramatic changes like growing industry and movement to cities, the large numbers of immigrants began to pose a threat to many Americans’ way of life. How could these newcomers be taught how to become good Americans? As in any time of crisis, people looked to the past for answers. By the early 20th century, the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving became a tool to teach immigrants and schoolchildren about America.

(from Karin Goldstein, Curator of Original Collections)

Digital History 101

In older photographic histories of the 1800′s and early 1900′s, one comes across parallel shots – a shot in one direction, and another to either the left or right of the first.  Sometimes these will be displayed in a book with the first shot on one page, and the second on the opposite page.  Sometimes one shot will be in one book or archive, and another somewhere else.

Where one has access to both adjacent images in digital form, and some familiarity with digital manipulation, the result can be dramatic.

This is a rather familiar picture of Atlanta circa 1864, after Union occupation, and showing the office of the Atlanta Intelligencer  Office.  A train and troops can be seen in the back ground.

However, there is an additional photograph made by George Barnard, which was made slightly to the left of the same scene at the same time.

When these two photographs are merged, and adjusted for perspective, the resulting imagery provides an expanded sense of place (be sure to click on image to enlarge):

Click here

Leo Frank-Vinings Connection

The 1915 lynching of Leo Frank in Marietta, Ga. had a Vinings Connection.  Jim Conley, the janitor many believed was responsible for the rape and murder of 13 year old Mary Phagen, quietly lived out his days in “Logtown” on the side of Vinings Mt.  With a twist….

The PBS documentary “People vs Leo Frank,” which airs Monday night, will bear out again one of the worse miscarriages of Southern  justice in post Civil War Georgia.  Conviction and sentenced to life imprisonment, the Jewish-northern-capitalist-desercrationist attribution attached to Frank was everything the “Lost Cause” South failed to defend against in war 50 years previously. Everything that perceptively advantaged the South since the war economically, and worse of all, rape of  “Southern” virginal innocency and death, cut to the core failure of protective Southern manhood. 

The greater symbolisms rose far above the forensic evidences, even beyond the common and likely conclusion of lynching a Black man for the crime.  An accused ”Southern” black man was always considered guilty of such a crime, and a resulted lynching would pretty much have occurred – legally or not.  However,  the influencing indignation mileage would have been far less, and never a national platform. 

The Leo Frank Trial dis-centigraded into a trial against Northern aggression, the Jewish faith, and rape of Southern innocence, for which a verdict of life was insufficient to quell the perceived justice required. The mob hanging of Leo Frank, became a prismatic  moment, which several months later ignited, along with the release of “Birth of a Nation”, the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan with the symbolic burning of a cross on Stone Mountain.  The case of Leo Frank became “The Perfect Storm” for a national racist cause.

Meanwhile Jim Conley, having retreated well below the public radar, married, and his children played on the grounds of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Vinings on Sunday, where years later, a certain Atlanta Baptist minister would sometimes come out to preach. His young son often with him,  playing with the Conley kids and others after church on the side of the mountain*. A small story, but that young man went on to stand for, and have a dream of Civil Rights, which would be one day be snuffed out by the symbolic intentions of that Leo Frank mob.

His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.

What diametric influences the “lesser accused” Phegan murderer Jim Conley, standing in the summer shadows of Vining’s Mt. Sinai Baptist Church watching his kids play, would have in common with the young Martin Luther running past him after an errand baseball – neither would ever know.

One can still stand silently in the nearby Vining’s cemetery where Conley is buried and wonder.

*documented by Vining’s resident at the time Joe Brown.  Note: The crossing of this inferred circumstance is borne out of historic research, and is only fictionalized in partial timing, while Conley’s involvement in the Phegan murder remains obvious, but deferred. The symbolisms are considered valid.  Anthony Doyle, 09′