So this has not been an easy trip, hence the slow start to this blog. Part of the challenge has been struggling through these 90-degree evenings, which is the only time we have to create (I'm writing this from the air-conditioned KOA laundry room); the other has been wrestling with our own biases about the South.
Southerners are indeed hospitable and warm, so today's entry will focus on the Southern home. Our trip into Georgia began with a visit to Camp Weequahic friends Janna & Steve ("Nuge"), with their incredible kiddos Connor, Brady, and Trevor ("therapy dog" Gus is busy licking someone until they smile).
Their home in Athens had to be sleeping at least 20 counselors that night, and many would be staying for weeks, enjoying room, board, the pool down the street, movie screen in the basement, a giant yard, and laughter from every corner of the house. Club Nuge was in full swing, even while the Nuge's were back to school and work by day. This is southern hospitality at its most genuine, including this charcuterie, created by a friend who swung by.
The next night we slept in Warm Springs, Georgia. We drove by the Warm Springs Hotel and saw a sign on the front that said the hotel was closed, but we could call anyway...Whaaa??
JUDY: [rrrrring] Hi, is this the Warm Springs Hotel?
GERRIE: Yes it is, but we're closed today. Did you want somethin', darlin'?
JUDY: Well, yes, we were hoping for a room.
GERRIE: Well hold on honey, see I'm on a 12-foot ladder paintin' a 15-foot ceilin' right now, and I wasn't plannin' on havin' any guests tonight, are you serious about stayin'?
JUDY: Well we were hoping we might, if that would be okay....?
GERRIE: Are you sayin' you want me to get off this here ladder and let you in?
JUDY: Wellll...
GERRIE: Well then see you got to gimme 5 minutes to put down this paintbrush and get off this ladder...
Across the street someone yells to us that the hotel is closed Sunday through Wednesday (we later learned the whole sleepy town closes for the first few days of the week), and just as Mark and I look at each other the front door swings open and Gerrie lets us into the dark lobby. After the tour of hotel room options (including a deluxe room "with all amenities, including a red heart-shaped bath tub") we select a room and are given the keys.
It's a 30-room hotel and we are the only registered guests.
Sure, we felt the haunted vibe, but it made us feel less...ummm...alone? Here's more detail if you need more convincing https://www.wackyexplorer.com/the-haunted-hotel-warm-springs/
A White House in Warm Springs...
So what brought us to Warm Springs? History nerds will know this was the summer home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who settled here BEFORE becoming POTUS. Roosevelt fell victim to polio in 1921, as a 39-year-old budding politician. It could have ended his career, but with the support of wife Eleanor AND the therapeutic waters of Warm Springs, he was able to gain the physical strength and emotional confidence to win the next 4 presidential elections ('32, '36, '40, '44).
This was his house, known affectionately as "The Little White House."
FDR's connection to the local community was real, and is evidenced throughout the house, which is now a museum. Here is a collection of canes (many whittled by local residents) sent to him while he lived there.
While FDR was hyper-sensitive about controlling his public image, he had no issue being seen bathing. Click photo below to learn more about how FDR came to make peace with his polio.“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along' ...You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
What struck me most about the museum were his genuine ties to the community and how this impacted his political priorities. I could never understand why an aristocratic New Yorker like Roosevelt made it a priority to create programs in the New Deal that so deliberately addressed southern poverty, illiteracy, and most importantly brought ELECTRICITY (TVA, REA, etc.) to a region that didn't stand a chance of progressing without it. Warm Springs taught him that.
Hotel proprietor Gerrie Thompson told us there are still people in town whose families enjoy talking about their genuine connections with all the Roosevelts and especially his dog, Fala.
A White House...in Alabama??
Double Take. Across the street from the Alabama State House in Montgomery is the FIRST White House occupied by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and First Lady Varina Davis.
The house was a rental, used by the Davis's for just 3 months until their Richmond, VA home was ready for them to move in.
No doubt, in Richmond they were welcomed with that same Southern hospitality, for a time.
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