| Driving
through the center of Georgia is much like looking through
a kaleidoscope. With every turn of the road, the landscape
shifts, sometimes offering a subtle change in form or
color, other times presenting an entirely new aspect.
Anne Sponholtz takes you on a 470-mile trip north through
peach orchards and pecan groves, with a sobering stop
at a Civil War prison camp and an exhilarating ride
into the Blue Ridge Mountains. |
Fifteen interstates crisscross the state of
Georgia, but when my husband and I traveled from one end
of the state to the other, we wanted to see more than miles
of multilane highways and billboards. So as we made our
way from the Florida border to Tennessee, we often left
Interstate 75 in favor of Georgia's back roads.
Our first stop was Barney, Georgia, just a
speck on the map about 40 miles from the Florida state line
and a few miles west of I-75. Trying local foods is one
of our road-trip passions, so we stopped at the roadside
stand in Burton Brooks Orchard. An invasion of gnats forced
us to grab a bag of peaches and some blueberries and then
hit the road, passing up a stroll to the ice cream stand.
Reed
Bingham State Park made a nice detour for a picnic lunch,
and the gnats weren't as bad there. The 1,613-acre park
has a cypress swamp, a sandhill area and a 375-acre lake
that provides fishing, boating, swimming and pontoon boat
tours. A fishing tournament was in progress, and the catches
we saw would be a treat at any fish fry. Fullers
Catfish House and Gift Shop, located just outside the
park entrance in the town of Adel, hosts catfish dinners
on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, so we made a note to
stop by on our way back home.
Georgia's Civil War history is perhaps no more
vivid than at Andersonville
National Historic Site. The 17-mile drive to the site
was a treat, taking us along country streams and through
lush farmlands, and the visit to the site was far more moving
than I had expected. A driving tour takes you through the
stockade area of the Andersonville prison camp, which held
45,000 Union soldiers from 1864 to 1865. Some 13,000 soldiers
died at the prison and are buried at Andersonville National
Cemetery, a still-active national cemetery. Also on the
grounds is the National Prisoner of War Museum, honoring
all American POWs.
Since this was to be a leisurely trip, it was
time for a little R&R, so pulled our RV into Twin
Oaks RV Park and Campground, which offered a swimming
pool and hot tub -- and no gnats. The city of Perry,
just up the road, provides a full package of hotels, restaurants
and automotive services, and we made it our headquarters
for the next few days.
First on the itinerary was a drive into Fort
Valley to Lane
Southern Orchards, growers and shippers of Georgia peaches
and pecans. The orchard is a popular tourist stop that offers
a roadside stand, a gift shop and tours of the orchards,
strawberry fields and packing house. It also has a wonderful
café serving peach cobbler that any grandmother would
be proud of. Before we left, our shopping basket was filled
with pecan bread, fresh peaches, cantaloupe, peach cider
(delicious), peach barbeque sauce, cinnamon pecans and peach
jelly.
Next stop was Massee
Lane Gardens, the historic home of the American Camellia
Society. A thunderstorm ended our visit to the gardens,
but we did see the country's largest collection of Boehm
porcelains in the museum, an exquisite collection well worth
the visit.
It was time to pack up and continue our journey
on the interstate, and soon the Atlanta skyline came into
view -- a stark contrast from rural Georgia. But not far
outside the northern suburbs, we found more back roads,
this time winding into the rolling Georgia foothills. Here
chicken coops are scattered across the hills and valleys,
and pumpkin patches open to visitors in the fall.
Our destination was Amicalola
Falls State Park and Lodge. At one point, we had the
choice of following the road signs or trusting the GPS directions.
We took a deep breath and put our faith in technology. Sure
enough, we soon found ourselves at the 729-foot falls, the
largest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi. It
is spectacular, but the park offers more than the falls.
It is also the beginning of the approach trail leading to
Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the 2,135-mile
Appalachian Trail. A stunning lodge and restaurant offer
guests a magnificent mountain view.
Cabins and a campground also offer lodging.
Traveling to the campsite, we passed an ominous sign warning
of a 25 percent grade. As we chugged up the mountain in
our small-sized RV, I began to wonder how the heck we would
make it back down. According to our GPS, we were now at
an altitude of 2,643 feet. That might not seem like much
to mountain dwellers, but for a Florida girl who lives at
an elevation of 531 feet, this was nearly touching the sky,
and when the thunderstorms rolled in and echoed off the
mountains it was awesome.
It was rainbow trout-fishing season in Georgia,
and although my son, who joined us at the park, was the
only angler in our group to hook trout at Reflection Pond,
other anglers who'd reached their limit generously shared
some of their catch, providing just enough trout for a delicious
dinner.
After a few days on top of the mountain, we
made the descent safely, heading north to Blue
Ridge, a delightful little town filled with fascinating
shops just south of the Tennessee line. Serenity Garden
Café, a 12-foot-wide restaurant, proved a great stop
for a turkey melt sandwich and French onion soup. Homemade
fudge at the Village Peddler Fudge Café was the perfect
dessert. This is apple country, so we stopped at R &
A Orchards' roadside stand near Ellijay,
Georgia. June apples, some smaller than a 50-cent piece,
were a delicious find.
It was time to head back to Florida, taking
home some great memories and knowing that peach cobbler,
fruit salad and maybe some applesauce and homemade peach
ice cream were in our future.
Anne
Sponholtz
August 29, 2008
