The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-03-15

and most entertaining writer's among
the newspaper men of Georgia, will
write a number of letters for the
Morning News on persons and things
in the upper part of the state. These
letters cannot be otherwise than in
teresting to people in this section. The
first of the letters follows:
Smithonia. Ca. March IA win
write a few letters from what is
known as Middle Northeast Georgia,
that your readers, may know how the
people of this section are progressing
and how the country is developing
and improving.
l will first take Oglethorpe, and
which I consider one of the most en-
hghtened and fairest counties in the
state. In old ante-bellum days, Vir-
ginia was designated as the Mother
of States and Statesmen" With equal
justice can Oglethorpe be called the
Mother of Statesmen" for 1 do not
think there is a county in Georgia that
has produced greater number of
brainy and distinguished men than
this. And you can to-day see in the
people of old Oglethorpe the reflex of
this enV;aSle characteristic. Any
public day you may visit Lexington,
and must be impressed with the gem
eral appearance of the people you
meet, and when you converse with
them, you will find even the average
countryman we'll informed on all pub
lie matters.
Pioneer Country.
Oglethorpe was one of the first coun-
ties to be settled in upper Georgia, the
dividing line between the whites and
Indians passing through its upper Dor
ders and old Cherokee Corner was
for many years a trading post and
place for settling disputes and making
treaties.
At the close of the Revolution many
of the soldiers and leaders settled
here, being attracted by the fertile
lands and other natural advantages.
Among this number was Gov.
Mathews, and who located in Goose
Pond district, near the borders of what
is now Ebert county. But GOV.
Mathews in spite of eminent services
to his country came into i'll repute by
signing the Yazoo act, and so enraged
were the people against him, that II
is said a halter had been brought 10
Lexington to hang him should he come
10 his county town. The original house
built by Gov. Mathews, nearly cen
fury and a quarter ago, is still stand
ing and is inhabited. and in an excel
lent state of preservation. 1t was at
that time one of the finest mansions
in this up-country, and is still nice
and commodious country home. But
the popularity about this house is
that it was erected before the days Oh
saw and planning mills and cut mans
Every plank and stick of LUMBER IN
the building were either hewn out
With a broadaxe. or cut by hand and
whipsaws, and every nail was made
in a blacksmith shop. But in those
days, the country was covered with
the finest heart timber, and TINS OLD
building has not only stood the wear Oh
time, but it's timbers will now outiast
many modern structures.
A Noted Section.
For some fifty years after the Revo-
luton. Goose Pond district was hoteo
for the wealth, intelligence ana re-
hnement of it's people. But even De
fore our late Civil War, a blight seem
ed to have fallen upon this once raw
ored section, it's wealthiest planters
moved away, and it was turned over W
slaves, and afterward to free negroes;
1t is a sad sight to see those grand Ola
ante-bellum colonial homes gong 10
wreck and decay, and what was once
the fairest section of our up-country
given back to the wilderness But Oh
late years the spirit of modern pro-
gress is Selling even upon Goose Pond
and l predict that the day IS not Iar
distant when it will return TO Hs
pristine glory.
At the foot of what is known as
Little Mountain, a rocky eminence
some five miles south of Lexington.
you to-day see a sunken spot in the
earth and mounds made by demoHsn-
ed chmneys. But for these signs or
past settlement, for some distance
around, the country is an idle wild.
This is the old home of the founders
OF the Lumpkin family, ana Fanny
100, that has been unusually promo
in great men; and whose descendants
to this day inherit their talent. ON
this sterile spot was born and reared
seven sons, and each and every one
OF whom proved men of brains and
achieved positions of honor and. dis
unction. Their names and records are
written in every history of Georgia.
The Crawford Mansion.
Overlooking the thriving town of
crawford, on the Athens branch OF
the Georgia Railway, stands, upon an
elevation, an imposing colonial man.
sion, the old home of VIM. II. Craw-
ford, and in a grove Of forest oaks
near the house, beneath a plain box
tomb, repose the dust of this great
statesman. Mr. Crawford was the
compeer and political antagonist Of
John G. Calhoun, and but for the RI
Falry between these great Southerners,
one or both perhaps would have been
elevated 10 the Presidency OF the
Onited States. In this old mansion.
many Of the most distinguished men
OF that age and day We're entertained,
and the politics OF this country formu-
lated and shaped. When Mr.. Craw-
lord WAS minister 10 Fwroe. he there
met Napoleon BOnapafte. and who
stated that he Crawford was the only
man whom he had ever met and recog-
MED as superior 70 himself