Waking, we were hot and sticky. I lived in North Caroline many years ago, but I've been away too long to be used to it. TaGeez and I decided to stop at some local Virtuals, hoping the shade would help. First stop was another "forgotten cemetery" - this one with Revolutionary War heroes. It was accessed by driving through a residential area, and the graves were quite different than we'd seen to date.
Minutemen in Tucker GC72AA |
Funny story about this one. We were paying close attention to state laws about windshield-mounted GPS units - most of the states didn't allow them. So, our Nuvi was off the windshield and down near the gear shift. Instead of "blocking our view", we spent quite a bit of time driving and looking down (How safe is that?!?). As we pulled up to this GZ, we were looking down, trying to see where it was leading us. BEAUTIFUL residential area with enormous houses - we watched as some maids were being dropped off at the servant's gate. As we pulled up to the coordinates, we looked up and were confused. As we hadn't looked at the cache's pictures, we didn't know what we were looking for. It wasn't until we turned around and decided to leave that this beauty loomed across the street from us. We had driven right past it. How'd we miss it?
1600 Briarcliff Road? GCG2J7 |
A Different Species of Big Silver Bird GCGFDE |
Roadside Atlanta |
Again, we had to cut many Virtuals off our list, but we did stop for the ones with the highest points. This one was more impressive via Google Earth than in actuality. Nope, this is not a ball field. It is the parking lot (of a former ball field near where the current Atlanta Braves play). Wanna guess which "Aaron" they are talking about?
Aaron's Home GC58A1 |
Olympic Park - downtown Atlanta |
Oakland Cemetery |
Oakland Cemetery is the oldest cemetery, as well as one of the largest green spaces, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded as "Atlanta Cemetery" in 1850 on six acres of land southeast of the city, it was renamed in 1872 to reflect the large number of oak and magnolia trees growing in the area. By that time, the city had grown and the cemetery had enlarged correspondingly to the current 48 acres. Since then, Atlanta has continued to expand, so that the cemetery is now located in the center of the city. Oakland is an excellent example of a Victorian-style cemetery, and reflects the "garden cemetery" movement started and exemplified by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts. [Source: Wikipedia)
Jasper Newton Smith Mausoleum |
The first thing many people notice when entering the gates of Oakland is the mausoleum of Jasper Newton Smith, on which sits a striking life-size statue of Smith himself. Jasper Smith was a real estate investor who financed two buildings downtown.... Smith was well known for refusing to wear a necktie due to a bad experience as a child. Therefore, one story describing the creation of his statue notes that when the artist sculpted him wearing a cravat, Smith refused to pay until the offending item had been chiseled off.
Can you see the neckties tied to his gated door? |
In memory of James Nissen Died Sept. 22nd 1850
Legend states that Dr. Nissen, the cemetery's first internment,
was fearful of being buried alive; therefore, he requested
his jugular vein be severed prior to burial.
Again, the pictures do not do this place justice. I've always been fascinated by Detroit's Golden Era "garden cemeteries", but the various sections of Oakland were breathtaking. To date I've visited Cleveland's Lakeview Cemetery, colonial cemeteries in the Boston-area, Civil War-era cemeteries along the Outer Banks, and Wild West cemeteries on the sides of mountains in Colorado. This was another unique experience.
I loved the care that visitors today focused on the family plots. Each row seemed to be bustling with people planting and others strolling. There were Segway tours, walking tours, self-paced audio tours.
The cemetery is broken up into zones. The original 6 acres is prime real estate. We visited the mausoleums near the Visitor Center, the Jewish section, the Confederate section, the Black section and Potter's field. Interesting to see all the granite masterpieces everywhere except in the Black section and Potter's field - these were more like parks than final resting places. It wasn't until afterwards where I read that these sections did have headstones once upon a time, but they were made of wood and have since deteriorated.
Another amazing feature of this garden cemetery were the Magnolia trees. They were all over the Confederate section - big waxy leaves and beautiful blossoms. Stunning and fragrant! The blossoms were as large as my head and many of them just out of reach. It looked like God decided to dab white paint blotches all over these deep-green towering trees.
We finally found one low enough to snap a picture. TaGeez snapped the one below. Pretty amazing for a cell phone camera.
Source: TaGeez |
The Lyin' Cache GC84DF |
The Master GCD42A Golfer Bobby Jones' grave |
Look at these cacti! |
And that was Atlanta. Leaving later than we hoped, we turned our car towards Augusta, South Carolina and our next targeted JASMER cache. But things didn't go quite as planned.
The highway between Atlanta and Augusta was beautiful. Well-maintained roads, lined with very lush, very verdant greenery. Very tall, thin but lush trees. Peaceful. Until we reached the 41 miles of construction. Then the wayward construction barrel that attacked our car causing a flat tire in the middle of... where? Oh, driving back to Conyers we found a very helpful Pep Boys. Southern courtesy.. they felt guilty charging us $10 for a new tire valve and sending us on our way. Just $10 and several hours of our time!
At 7:02pm, we pulled into (after driving right past) the parking for Sumter National Forest. This was the second most important cache on our trip - a JASMER qualifier for December 2000. If we didn't get this one, the next closest to home is near Boston.
Entire journey from 7:02 pm - 8:32 pm. |
After one mile of brisk hiking along paths hugging several small mountains and meandering over 3 river crossings, we had it in hand! Modoc Stash GCF4! I believe the birds were doing their best rendition of the Indiana Jones theme song in our honor!
Modoc Stash GCF4 - December 2000 |
With all the travel delays earlier in the day, we knew we'd have to bypass Columbia on this trip. But we did stop for a large travel bug hotel on the way to Charlotte. It seemed odd finding a "hotel" behind an "adult entertainment shop" next to a trucker's stop off the freeway. But the duck was worth it. Finding it was easy - opening it was another puzzle, especially as exhausted as we were.
We reached Charlotte after midnight. My Hotels.com review of the Hyatt Place Charlotte/Arrowhead hotel is titled "Definitely worth more than we paid for". The best (non-expense account) hotel we've ever stayed in. A deserved end to several exhausting but rewarding red-letter days.
The Duck Inn TB Motel GC4N3FV |
Next: Heading home while enjoying the wonders of Roadside America.
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