The History of our Farm
Last week I received an email from the grandson of some of the original owners of our property. Sam and I talked to him for about an hour and my fingers could not keep up with his incredible stories but these were some of my favorite takeaways. Sam and I often feel so unsure and overwhelmed but this felt like the biggest encouragement and answer to prayer.
Jim, the grandchild of the owners, stumbled upon one of our videos on tik tok and said it was like seeing a ghost. We’re so thrilled he reached out and shared his stories with us!
He spent many days of the first 11 years of his life with his grandparents who bought the land which had the cottage on it which they called the tenant house. It was a single dirt road his grandparents named. Now there are many houses but it was just them in the 40s.
They built what they called the rock house which was made of granite that they got from Stone Mountain. This is the house we currently live in. If you’ve been around you know that we had to remove the rock due to termites but we will recycle them to make our garden beds this spring.
In addition to the rock house hey dug out the lake we have now. He said they often told the story of the dam breaking and flooding the pasture with the cows. Ha! We still have a cow pasture next to us today.
Men would walk down the road and pay .25 to fish in it. They also had a little boat house but that is no longer here.
At one point they had two horses here and were absolute animal lovers. They also liked to make pottery, knit and work on crafts.
They would walk along the dirt road and pick blackberries and blueberries which still exist today. Jim talked about putting pennies on the train track as a child.
His grandfather created an underground supper club that was famous for their steak, onion rings, and cocktails, which were particularly appealing because it was a dry county.
This was likely to make ends meet but also how fun and fabulous to have a secret dinner club. They put loads of tables in the living room which we have always thought was unusually roomy. They took down walls to do it and his grandfather would often sleep in the one bedroom while everyone else was in the cottage.
Famous politicians would travel down the dirt road for steak and champagne, as well as Oscar winner, Susan Hayward.
