Roadside Photographer: Beautiful Old Homes of the South

We recently took a road trip to Georgia, and I had a great time snapping photos of beautiful old Georgia and Alabama homes. The South is a beautiful place. Believe it or not, we are not as backward down here as you may think.

Having lived in places all over the country, from the west coast to the east coast, and several places in between, it amazes me the misconceptions people have of the South. I have loved every place that I’ve lived, and now I want to share a little more about this great place where I’m from: the deep, deep South. It is a beautiful place, full of wonderful people. Yes, we do love our tea cold and sweet, we may over use the phrase “Bless your heart”, and our accents are thick–some thicker than others. What’s great about Southerners is that we truly do practice ‘southern hospitality.’ We do smile and nod at folks that we pass. I love how friendly everyone is down here.

We don’t eat as much fried chicken as people seem to think.  We do love fried okra or fried green tomatoes, though!! Most of us don’t have fried chicken any more often than anyone else. It comes in a bucket from KFC. I’ve never made it myself, to be honest with you.  I DO; however, know how to make a mean pot of collards or turnip greens–delicious and nutritious–fried okra, black-eye peas, butter beans, chicken and dumplin’s, and corn bread!!  We grow delicious vegetables down here, with our long growing season. Oh, and I do love to make homemade biscuits, and regular milk makes almost as good of biscuits as buttermilk. I never have any buttermilk in my fridge, so that’s what I use. I do wish I knew how to make a delicious pecan pie. We have pecans in abundance. Those are the true delicacies of the South.

Most of us do not live in one of these lovely, old homes. Actually, no one in my family lives in a house that’s more than 60 years old. The thing is that I just love this old style and wanted to share it with all of you.

Just to reiterate: we do not all live in big, beautiful southern mansions, nor do we all live in trailer parks. We are also not all named things like “Jim Bob” and “Ella May.” 😉 I don’t know anyone by those names. However, we do have cotton and peanut fields in abundance. Also, I don’t know of anyone at all, other than Franklin D. Roosevelt, that married their cousin. Oh! And Ashley and Melony Wilkes! What do you mean they were a fictional couple!?

Now that we have all that straightened out….

Sit back and enjoy these little snapshots of the dear, beautiful South.

Ok. That’s just an old barn, but I like seeing these old barns.

I love, love, love the wrap around front porch!!

Every place has a story. I’d be so interested to know this one.

I never thought of these tree farms until I married Alan, and his family does this whole tree farm thing. If you think you’re just driving through miles of untended wild forrest, think again. Very often that is very purposefully tended forests. They sell the wood and then grow more trees. It makes good sense, considering that this area is naturally forested.

Many cities have these murals, usually significant to the history of that town.

a beautiful county courthouse in Georgia

 ahhh

I love how this downtown area of Barnesville, Georgia is re-purposing old storefronts. It was once Barnesville Buggies. Now it’s Verizon Wireless. I’m so happy they left the old business name up there.

Lake Eufaula

You never appreciate how green, green, green it is down here until you visit the American Southwest!

…….And I saved my favorites for last. I took all of these in Alabama:

First Baptist Church

Kudzu…it is not a native plant, and it takes over everything.

“Big wheels keep on turnin’. Carry me home to see my kin. Singing songs about the southland. I miss Alabamy once again…”

I will miss you, sweet home, as we move to this next chapter in our lives. It’s been fun!!

For more photos from our travels, check out these posts:

Tour Jerusalem in Pictures: The Via Dolorosa

California: The Beautiful Part. No more desert photos, I promise.