Georgia on my Mind

Newnan, GA is the hometown of country super star Alan Jackson. This mural is downtown.

Over the weekend I made a very quick trip from Kentucky down to Georgia. The trip had been planned for a bit, but the agenda was open ended. I am here in Kentucky for the winter with no travel plans for obvious reasons. The farmhouse is still being worked on, there are garages to clean, content to create, and several issues to prepare…plus I really do want to take my blogging seriously. I will occasionally plan a few close to home trips. Georgia felt just the right distance for a three day tour.

I am southern at heart and proud to be southern, but I am a Kentuckian. Kentucky is one of those states that the South doesn’t really want to claim and the Midwest doesn’t either. We are forever stuck with multiple identities. I however lean into my southern sass far more than the Midwestern nice. The South though has a magic and a cadence to it that feels like home. The bucolic landscapes, small towns, and slower pace of life have long been enchanting to me. Visions of grand oak trees and large front porches fill my dreams. Whenever I can I love to journey down below the state lines. This weekend felt like a good time to visit Georgia. Georgia has certainly been on many people’s minds as of late.

For many years I have followed Greenhouse Mercantile on social media. It has been one of my favorite shops, even if I had never visited the shop. I especially love that they carry FOLK. For many years I have said I would one day visit. In a very small world the shop was in the same town where I stayed for the weekend. Below are a few photos from the shop. I will be doing a larger more in-depth story in the next week or so.

The farmhouse is outside of my hometown of 300 people. We are somewhere in rural western Kentucky that high speed internet has yet to reach and when I moved in I very loudly proclaimed I didn’t want anything but shelves of books and a VCR. The stack that constantly stays beside the TV are my go to southern classics…. Steel Magnolias, Hope Floats, Where the Heart is, Yaya Sisterhood, and Fried Green Tomatoes. I have probably seen Fried Green Tomatoes a hundred times. There is something about it that feels like it could have taken place in any town. Anyways…I have had the idea that if I ever got to Georgia I’d visit where they filmed the movie and the restaurant that is from the movie. Yes, the movie is set in Alabama but filmed in Georgia. Anyways, the tiny town of Juliette, Georgia was turned into Whistle Stop for the movie and after filming it remained very much like the movie shows it. The restaurant really does feel like you’ve walked into the 1930s.

The fried green tomatoes and the pecan cobbler are a must. The restaurant feels like an authentic slice of southern culture and heritage. I highly recommend taking the ten minute drive off of Interstate 75 and stopping in for lunch.

Serebe a planned farm and community outside Atlanta has the most wonderful collection of architecture styles in its many neighborhoods.

My goal is to start sharing my unique finds each week. This trip had several souvenirs from Greenhouse Mercantile, a couple jars of goods by Rogers Made (a pit stop in TN), and honey from Juliette to honor the Bee Charmer. The Greenhouse Mercantile finds were a book I first saw on their website and thought it’d be a great conversation book for somewhere in my house, a wooden honey dipper, a vintage cream colored bowl that I truly didn’t need but couldn’t pass up its $5 price tag, and Houseplants for All…a book by a friend of mine that I will touch on later. Oh I also got this amazing navy flag that has a very faded design of a train, plane, boat, and wagon.