My hometown ellijay, ga was a cherokee indian village and the home of Chief whitepath who died in kentucky on his way to oklahoma in the trail of tears. The county ellijay is in is named for georgia governor George Gilmer the governor who oversaw indian removal in GA. Gilmer county also has the largest mass of national forest land in the state of Ga.
Dick Pope Jr. invented berefoot waterskiing here in Winter Haven
George Washington slept here, drank here and I figger they pooped all through the woods too.
No seriously, G.W. lost a battle and surrendered to the French at a local fort at Jumonville Glen in 1754 during the French and Indian War. G.W. and his surviving troops were released by the French. This was his only surrender during his military career... and 20 yrs before the Revolutionary War.
also in Cape May.. south of here (and the southernmost point in NJ, lays claim that Captain Kidd Buried a good portion of his treasure there before being hanged
Charles Manson grew up in my hometown of Ashland, Ky. His house overlooked the town swimming pool where my siblings and I spent much of our childhoods in the mid-1960s. It's the spooky one on the hill in the background, matter of fact.
That house always did give me the creeps.
Margie
My Great Uncle had a run in with Manson before he went on his killing spree.
He was a California Highway Patrol member and pulled over Manson for speeding in his van. The two had a very cordial discussion and conversation for about 15 minutes before several girls popped out of the back of the van asking "can we start now?" as they looked at my Great Uncle.
Manson shooed them back into the van and drove off, leaving my Great Uncle VERY confused and slight shaken. Later when it all went down, he was quite surprised how close he had come to death that day
Wichita Falls, Texas:
The first Zales Jewelers store opened in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1924.
Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker occasionally visited Wichita Falls, usually staying with Raymond Hamilton's girlfriend Mary O'Dare.
Jesse and Frank James' brother-in-law and fellow Missouri guerrilla Allen Parmer is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Wichita Falls. He became a successful farmer, rancher, and railroad builder.
Wichita Falls is also home to the LIttlest Skyscraper, a 9' X 12' X 40' remnant of a1919 oil-boom swindle.
I've had a few addresses over the years..........
Until I was four, my hometown was Gas City, IN - significant for little else except that it changed its' name from Harrisburg when large natural gas deposits were discovered.
From 4-16, homes were in Windham County, CT; specifically the towns of Brooklyn, E Brooklyn and Killingly. Not much to talk about except for the great amount of history - Brooklyn has the country's longest-running agricultural fair and a Revolutionary War general buried beneath a commemorative statue.
From 16-on, home has primarily been in Georgia; Jonesboro (Civil War battleground, home of Olympian Steve Lundquist, site of Lynyrd Skinnerd's first album cover, etc, etc), the city of Atlanta (lots of history) and Stone Mountain (site of a big exposed rock and a former hotbed of KKK activity).
There were a couple stints in NW Pa and Glassboro/Millville, NJ but they were always considered temporary.
Way too many zip codes in my history.
Appleton, WI:
Senator Joe McCarthy came from the area; you're welcome.
The nations first Hydro-electric power station and the worlds first private residenced powered by hydro-electric power using the Edison system.
The first commerically successful electric street car company.
The first telephone in Wisconsin.
The first incandescent light in a city outside of the East Coast.
Harry Houdini first lived in Appleton, when his family came to this country.
One of the six men to raise the flag over Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima, John Bradley, grew up in Appleton.
Pierce Fire Trucks and Miller Welders are built here.
Albany, NY is the oldest chartered city and the 6th oldest continuously settled city in the USA.
Volkswagen used to import cars to the Port of Albany, and most of the cocoa used by Hershey used to make port there as well.
Nitroracer wrote: Nottingham, Pa is just a blip on the map, but a short ride up the road is Oxford, Pa. Slightly further away, and way more recognizable to people not from the area is Kennet Square, Pa. The mushroom capital of the world. Yes, it smells horrible.
Hey, you're not far from me. I was born outside Kennett, grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and now I live in Newark, Delaware. And yeah, when the wind blows wrong, we can smell the mushroom soil down here.
Newark's greatest claim to fame is being the birthplace of Lonesome George Thorogood and his combo, The Delaware Destroyers.
There's a bar here called the Deer Park Tavern where Edgar Allen Poe once spent some time, probably bumming free drinks. We're also home to Iron Hill Brewery, a regional microbrew.
Just outside town is Cooch's Bridge, where a Revolutionary War battle was fought. It was the first time the Stars and Stripes was flown in battle.
Up the road in Wilmington, Cab Calloway and David Bromberg both chose live out the latter parts of their lives. Ol' Cab died about 15 years ago, but Mr. Bromberg is still with us, performs locally, and runs a music shop.
My county seems like the boonies but is actually extremely interesting. We have DB Cooper's landing spot (Ariel, WA), Mt. St. Helens (erupted 1980), the inventor of the Flying Car (which was built here in Longview/Kelso), the Green Day song "Longview" is about here (Longview, WA), the Twilight High School (Kalama, WA), and the architecture, mills, etc around here are among the oldest in the West. Cool place if you like history.
In reply to phaze1todd:
Good song.
Methuen, MA was the birthplace of Robert Rogers. His Roger's Rangers were an irregular infantry group that fought in the French and Indian War just before the Revolutionary War. Even though he may have massacred Indians and sided with the Redcoats, his tactics were so effective that the U.S. Army Rangers use a variation of his Standing Orders and claim to have been inspired by Roger's Rangers.
Methuen was also home to Edward Searles, a millionaire interior and architectural designer who built two castles, stone walls, and a church-like concert building to house an 1860s pipe organ. Most of the walls still stand. The ruins of one of the castles is open to the public, the other is a Catholic convent and high school that is closed to the public. The organ hall still stands. Here's a picture of the beast:
my home town of 3,000 was once the dairy capital of the world. they have a fiberglass cow in the middle of town. 
I was reminded by your castle... Atlantic City also Boasts the worlds largest and loudest pipeorgan
Even today you can still pick out certain families they talk about. Thank God I'm an outsider.
FDR was a regular at the B&B.
My town used to be called "Mechanicsburg."
Not sure about the history of the town we live in, but on the west side of the valley, about 15 miles or so from here is Genoa, NV, supposedly the oldest recorded permanent settlement in the state of NV.
The town I was born in in Germany was where the Council of Constance was held in 1414-1418.
NineLivesJohnny wrote: my home town of 3,000 was once the dairy capital of the world. they have a fiberglass cow in the middle of town.
IL?
friedgreencorrado wrote: Speculators from Holland were going to drain Lake Mattamuskeet, build a town, and farm on what used to be the lake bottom. The town on this 1916 map never got built. http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ncmaps&CISOPTR=1010 The pumping plant was converted into a hunting lodge by the CCC during the Great Depression..it still stands. http://www.mattamuskeetlodge.com/photo_gallery.htm As kids, we used to find relics from the attempt on the southern side of the canal system. There was old pieces of narrow-gauge railroad cars, and depressions in the ground where the tracks used to be. The canals still existed, I still recall the day my dad's gov't issue (he was manager at the National Wildlife Refuge there) AMC Matador wagon shifted itself into reverse one morning and ended up in the canal. Thank goodness he had come back into the house for another cup of coffee..Was there ever a recall for those things? I still remember that they had big VHF radios with the big antennas. Once the car was in the drink, all you could see was the last 12in of the antenna sticking out of the water.
Are you from NC, originally??
mrwillie wrote:friedgreencorrado wrote: Speculators from Holland were going to drain Lake Mattamuskeet, build a town, and farm on what used to be the lake bottom. The town on this 1916 map never got built. http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ncmaps&CISOPTR=1010 The pumping plant was converted into a hunting lodge by the CCC during the Great Depression..it still stands. http://www.mattamuskeetlodge.com/photo_gallery.htm As kids, we used to find relics from the attempt on the southern side of the canal system. There was old pieces of narrow-gauge railroad cars, and depressions in the ground where the tracks used to be. The canals still existed, I still recall the day my dad's gov't issue (he was manager at the National Wildlife Refuge there) AMC Matador wagon shifted itself into reverse one morning and ended up in the canal. Thank goodness he had come back into the house for another cup of coffee..Are you from NC, originally??
I'm "Pan-Southern". My dad moved around (his gov't job) a lot, but not as bad as a military family. Just every couple of years, instead of every couple of months.
Born in FL. Tallahassee, but don't remember anything about it, moved when 6mos. old. My sister was born in Virginia, don't remember that either, since she was only a year and a half behind me. First place we remember is southern Louisiana, I'm still fond of it. I call eastern NC home because of the first car/first beer/first girl thing. I think I was 10yrs old when we moved up there.
I looked at my sister's Facebook page tonight..she lists that town in Louisiana as "home". Oh, the webs we weave..mom & dad were both from Louisiana, that's my family's ancestral home (and like I said, I have an affection for it. Especially the food, my classmates in NC always made fun of me for being the first to reach for the Tobasco sauce when it was on the table). But still..I may have been an immigrant to NC, but that's "home" to me.
RexSeven wrote: Methuen, MA was the birthplace of Robert Rogers. His Roger's Rangers were an irregular infantry group that fought in the French and Indian War just before the Revolutionary War. Even though he may have massacred Indians and sided with the Redcoats, his tactics were so effective that the U.S. Army Rangers use a variation of his Standing Orders and claim to have been inspired by Roger's Rangers. Methuen was also home to Edward Searles, a millionaire interior and architectural designer who built two castles, stone walls, and a church-like concert building to house an 1860s pipe organ. Most of the walls still stand. The ruins of one of the castles is open to the public, the other is a Catholic convent and high school that is closed to the public. The organ hall still stands. Here's a picture of the beast:
Whoa. Man, I love those things. I wish every place with a pipe organ would let guys like us that want to see how machines actually work would let us go inspect the pipes & bellows & stuff.
remembered more ... Swannanoa, my little home town was home to Beacon Blanket Manufacturing .... the worlds largest blanket manufacturing facility .... disclaimer : under one roof
hard to tell but it covered many many acres
I grew up in Downers Grove, Illinois
Emo Philips
Denise Richards
Randy Savage
Tony Granato
Downers Grove prides itself on the presence of a large collection of Sears-Roebuck Catalog Homes.
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