I had made the decision to stop writing in the aforementioned publication for a variety of reasons, but I must confess - I missed it terribly. I had lofty ambitions of continuing at least a column a month on the ole webpage, but it just didn't quite happen. I'm very grateful to Treasa Waters, the new editor and publisher of About Covington to Madison, for wanting to bring me back. I look forward to many future columns!
Below is my newest column for the upcoming Mother's Day edition, due to be released in the next few days.
It's great to be back.
Greetings! It’s so great to be back with the readers of
About Covington to Madison
magazine. It’s been too long. As some of you may know, I decided to quit
writing my column last year. And you know what? I sure missed it. Apparently,
many of you missed it as well. It meant a lot for so many of you to tell me how
much you wished I was still writing The Piedmont Chronicles in About Covington to
Madison magazine.
Well, it’s back. And thanks for the support! For those readers out there who
aren’t familiar with my work, feel free to visit my blog (the URL is at the top
of this page) and read some of my previous columns covering cities like Covington, Madison, Social Circle, Oxford,
Porterdale, Monticello and others. I’ve also written
about interesting people and events as well.
I’d like to take a moment to thank Treasa Waters, the new
publisher and editor of About Covington to Madison. Treasa recently asked me if I’d be
interested in writing for “that little book” again, and I told her I would. Like I
said, I was eager to get back to it, so it really worked out. Treasa has some great
ideas for this publication, and I foresee very good things for About Covington
to Madison.
This little book really does serve a useful and needed niche for many
businesses and endeavors looking to advertise in and around the Covington and Madison
areas. I’m glad to be featured in it again and look forward to writing some
future columns.
I believe it’s been about a year since I last wrote a print
column here. That last one was about Presley Jones and his one man war against
the Yankees back in 1864 that culminated in a gun fight on the Covington Square. Speaking
of the Covington Square,
as I mentioned in one of my oldest columns, the Square we know now is quite
different from the one of the 1880’s. By then, Covington had become somewhat of a “wild west
town” and had upwards of a dozen saloons and drinking establishments. Some of
these included hotels and general stores, but several were just straight-up
whiskey joints where cards could be played and other types of entertainment
could be found. Yep, it’s definitely a bit different nowadays.
Our city square, and particularly our courthouse, is well
known to many, many people who remember it from the great TV show, “In the Heat
of the Night.” One of my all-time favorite shows, it was almost exclusively
filmed in Covington
and features lots of great footage of our city. These days, you can still catch
reruns of that great show on the Chicago
station, WGN. Also, another show filmed in Covington has captured the attention of many
of folks out there, especially with the younger crowd. “The Vampire Diaries,” of
the CW network, has been filming in Covington
for a few years now and has brought a good bit of tourism and attention to our
fair city.
As an aside, since we’re on the subject of courthouses and
such, I have to address one thing right quick. A few years ago, I wrote a
column about the fine city of Madison,
GA. In that article, I wrote the following
line: “On the southeast corner of the square is where you will find the Morgan
County Courthouse. As many of you know who’ve read some of my previous
columns—I’m a sucker for Georgia
courthouses. And folks, I must say (and with apologies to my hometown of Covington, GA), I believe
that Madison has the best one in Georgia. Built
in 1905 with a neoclassic architectural style, it is absolutely wonderful.” Just
so you know, especially you good folks in Madison,
I received a lot of heat on that one from some of the Covington crowd. But, at the time, that’s
just how I felt about it. Upon further review, however, I’ve realized that it’s
just really hard to rank these courthouses especially when so many of them have
such different styles. But I will say this – Covington
and Madison
have two of the best. No doubt about it.
Well, alright. I sure enjoyed it, and it’s great to be back.
Look forward to the next one. Until next time…