Sam Burnham, Curator @C_SamBurnham We've gotten word from our friend at Vanishing South Georgia that the Irwinville Hotel in Irwin County has been demolished to make way for a new Dollar General store. The wood framed structure was constructed in the mid-1880's and is another in a series of losses in the small South Georgia town. The building had reportedly been used for many years as a residential rental property and had seen numerous interior renovations and changes. In a small town with few historic structures remaining, any such loss is a big one. Brian at VSG and I agree that saving these historic structures is not the job of the government with regulation or actions that supersede the rights of property owners. The former owner of this structure has the legal and moral right to sell the property to anyone he chooses. In turn, the new owner has the same right to demolish the structure and replace it with something of their choosing. including a chain discount store with a saturated market. The job of saving our history is ours. It's our job to explain why these places matter. It's our job to offer new and helpful methods for property owners to maintain such structures. It's our job to foster a society that loves and appreciates the past and wants to preserve it. We need to form a culture that cherishes these treasures. We should save our past because it is important to us - more important to us than profit. We have to love our places and encourage others to do so as well. This one is gone. It's lost forever. But there are still more that are in danger but can be saved and are worth saving. They may be in your town. They may be in earshot of your voice. How you speak or act in their favor could make a difference in their survival, Let's foster a love of our past and try to save the next one.
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By Leigha Burnham, Managing Editor I shared earlier this month one of my favorite things for Christmas, Hubbard's Mulled Cider. As the holiday draws closer (less than 10 days to go), things can get a little harried and hurried. You should certainly take a moment to yourself and enjoy the season....and there is no better way to slow down than to sip a cup of this delicious holiday drink! I first had this cider at a faculty Christmas party and it was prepared by our agricultural science teacher, Melissa Hubbard of Gordon County, Georgia. She willingly gave me the recipe and shared how it had been passed down in her family for years. The fact that the recipe has a strong history makes it even better. So, here is the recipe and preparation techniques for the drink...and you could always add a splash of something to warm your insides even more, if desired. Hubbard's Mulled Cider2 gallon pot 1 small simmer pot 4 tea bags 4-5 cinnamon sticks (NOT powdered cinnamon) 1 container of pineapple juice, 2 quart 1 large frozen orange juice concentrate 1 regular frozen lemonade concentrate Whole orange, to slice Water Fill the small simmer pot with water and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature, add the cinnamon sticks and tea bags, and steep them until you have a nice tea brew. Set aside. In the large pot, add pineapple juice, orange juice concentrate, and the lemon juice concentrate and dissolve the concentrates over a low-medium temperature, stirring consistently. Once concentrates are nicely dissolved, add the "cinnamon tea" that you steeped earlier. You can leave the sticks in the pot for a bit, but certainly you need to remove the tea bags at this point. Add water until the pot is full and simmer about 30-45 minutes. I do suggest removing the cinnamon sticks...if you leave them in the mixture for too long, they will give off too much of a "wood" taste and this will ruin your cider. Add some sliced orange for garnish. Serve immediately. You can freeze any leftovers to thaw and warm for another chilly day! One of my favorite ways to serve this cider is in my prettiest tea cups or Christmas china. Serving in a beautiful mug or cup will only add to the experience. Merry Christmas!
By Leigha Burnham, Managing Editor Many of you may know that once upon a time, I had a little antique-booth business. I had to give it up for awhile due to being in graduate school, but I still love to think about decorating...especially at the holidays. When our boys were little, I was always sure to have a tree in every room. Each tree was decked out in ornaments and ribbon and lights. There was always a display of our nutcracker collection, our stockings were hung, and nativities (yes, plural, I own about four sets) were all scattered throughout our house. I even had themes every year! I will never forget the work I did and the money I spent the year I decided to go with The Nutcracker theme...it was over-the-top! Now that our guys are teens and my time is consumed with my career and a full family calendar, I am finding that I like things a little simpler. As I contemplated decorating our home this season, I wanted to keep things clean and natural. Simple and beautiful. I'm wondering if many of you are wishing to do the same? I do not proclaim to be a professional decorator. On the contrary, I tend to take shortcuts to speed things along. But this may be the very reason why I feel so compelled to share our holiday home with you this year. In the hustle and bustle, you may find that you do not have a lot of time, money, or creativity to get your home decorated the way you would like...and there sure is a lot of pressure out there (Pinterest, anyone?) to have your home looking like those in the magazines. So...today I wanted to share three things that I do to make my home feel a little more "merry and bright" to start the season. If I didn't do a single other thing, these three things would make my Christmas home just right. I always start with my mantle. We have a gas fireplace in our living room, my husband would certainly prefer it were a wood-burning one, and this fireplace is simple and rather small. I placed a tall mirror above it to reflect the light and to make the fireplace seem taller. I usually keep a simple wreath hanger and faux boxwood wreath hanging here throughout the year, but at Christmas I switch out the hanger for a more elaborate one. This hanger was purchased second-hand and then I painted it in Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint. It has been very durable. I change the boxwood wreath out for a grapevine wreath and then I just add a few picks of greenery. In keeping things extra simple this year, I chose to add only pine stems and pine cone picks. Then, I added one simple, fabric bow in a cream colored burlap. I love ribbon that has wire edges because you can shape the bow and it will stay exactly as you put it the entire season. After adding the wreath above the fireplace, I like to add one or two strands of greenery across the mantle. I found this interesting garland in my Christmas stash and it was perfect! This garland is basically pine, pinecones, and then strings of a velvet-like fabric that gives it a wispy look. I just put it across the mantle and then threaded one strand of white lights through it. You might be tempted to purchase long-lasting LED lights, but I don't like the cold "blue" light of those, so I still use the inexpensive incandescent bulbs. Finally, the stockings. I have had these very heavy iron stocking hooks for several years and I just love them! I think I purchased them at a Hobby Lobby or maybe T.J. Maxx. I know that I didn't pay that much for them and the reason I love them so much is that the weight of them holds my garland on the mantle without any additional hooks, nails, or adhesive. Like I said, I love a good shortcut. The stockings I've used the last three years or so are very inexpensive burlap stockings I purchased at a local florist shop. I only hang three stockings, one for each of our boys. One thing I do to make the stockings look better, is that I stuff them with brown paper...which, of course, I forgot to do prior to taking these pictures. It will give the stockings a little more fullness and they should hang better. I know that this sounds like the mantel took lots of planning and time, but actually, it took me longer to dig the items I used out of my storage bins than it did to put it up! I was able to pull this mantle together in about 30-40 minutes. You just can beat that! And the impact is huge. I got the simple, clean, and natural look I was going for...and the lights at night make our home feel so warm and cozy. The mantel is the first thing I do to achieve our holiday home. The second is that I mix up a wonderful batch of Hubbard's Mulled Cider. I usually have this wonderful concotion simmering on the stove while decorating the mantel. The smells wafting through the house are to die for! And it doesn't take long for my spirits to lift and for my heart to swell with memories of Christmases past. Let us know if you'd like the recipe. This is the cup I enjoyed after decorating our mantle. What makes it a little more special is that I serve it in my Johnson Brothers Friendly Village Christmas china. And last, but certainly not least, the third thing I do to create my holiday home is to put on some Christmas music! There is nothing quite like a soft carol playing while you decorate, or clean, or enjoy a cup of cider to get you into a cheery disposition. I have a lot of Christmas CDs from years gone by and even though there are countless playlists on my phone and available online, I still go back to the CDs every year. My absolute favorite is a Currier & Ives Holiday Collection CD titled "Home for the Holidays" and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. With classics like "Here We Come A Wassailing" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem," you can't help but feel more like a Bob Cratchit than a Scrooge. I'm not sure that you can still order this same CD, but I found a few similar ones online (click HERE to see what I found). I hope you are inspired to make the simple things shine in your home this holiday season. And in case you were wondering how much money I spent creating this look, it was almost none. I already owned most of what you see. I bought new cream-colored ribbon for $5.00 a roll at Michael's and I bought 10 new pine cone floral picks to add to the wreath (and some other areas in our home) that were $7.99 each with a 50% off coupon at a local floral/decor store. So, it was less than $50.00.
Happy Holidays! I look forward to sharing more of our holiday home and family traditions with you in the coming weeks. |
Sam B.Historian, self-proclaimed gentleman, agrarian-at-heart, & curator extraordinaire Social MediaCategories
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