SEVEN SPRINGS SAMPLER
Herb recipes from Historic Homes of
Powder Springs, Georgia

Part II – Stories

Preserving the histories of the houses and the families who lived in them was part of the intent of the Seven Springs Sampler. It also contains some amusing stories about some of the family members – bits and pieces of our local oral history – and a way of life at that time.

Here are more of those stories:

“A Ride Around the Square” by Sarah Frances Miller – C.M. Mctyre, a grocery-dry-goods merchant and cotton buyer in Powder Springs, bought a new car. He watched as the salesman demonstrated the wonderful machine. He purchased the car and decided to drive home for lunch. As he neared his house, he realized he had forgotten how to stop the car. He drove to Marietta and around the square. He drove home. Then he ran the wonderful machine into a tree in his yard. The motor finally stopped running. After that he walked to and from the store every day and walked home for lunch. He kept the car in the garage except when he wanted to make trips to his several farms or to Florid in the winter.

“A Bucket of Quinces” – Ted Leake remembers living at the Kiser-McKinney house (on Old Lost mountain Road). One day he was given an eight pound lard bucket full of quinces from the orchard. “Please take these to Mrs. Popham” requested his mother. It was a long way up the road. By the time he reached Mrs. Popham’s house, the bucket was only half full. Somehow his mother found out. So, the next day she gave him another bucket of quinces. “Be sure that the bucket is full when you give it to Mrs. Popham” she said.

“Advice to Students” – Students who board in the Dormitory, both boys and girls, should leave at home the following: cards, guns, pistols, intoxicating liquids, tobacco of all kinds, idleness, selfishness, laziness, profanity, and bad habits. Leave all of these at home and you will do well. -OR- Students are expected to conduct themselves in a refined manner. No communication is permitted between the boys and girls except in the presence of a member of the faculty. (From the Bulletin of the 7th District Agricultural and Mechanical (current John McEachern Schools) Arts School, Powder Springs, Georgia 1922-23, p.17).

“The Black Bonnet” – Plans were made to widen Marietta Street. It would be necessary to cut the row of oaks on either side of the street. The engineers from the State Department of Roads were going house to house to explain the plans. Mrs. Emma Camp put on her black bonnet and got her shotgun. She sat on the front steps with a shot gun across her knees. She told the engineers , “I do not want my Oaks cut.” Her statement was so forceful that roots of the oaks in front of her Victorian house are still pushing up the sidewalk. (4279 Marietta St.)

“Sugar Rationing” from the Cobb County Times, October 24,1918. “Approximately 200,000,000 pounds of sugar will be saved per year by a new ruling of the Food Administration which will prevent anyone from obtaining more than two pounds per month…The new Regulation effective from October 15th permits the consumer to purchase his allotment of sugar every 15 days or semi-monthly rather than every week”

“A spoonful of Sugar” – One day, Ted Leake came home from school and found a note on the dinning room table. It said “Take a bucket of water to your brother Walter who is plowing the back forty acre field.” So, as was his usual custom, he took a teaspoon out of a spoon holder and put it in the sugar bowl. He wondered where his six brothers and sisters were. When he put the spoon in his mouth, he began to cough and sputter and say all sorts of words. The sugar bowl had been filled with salt! The other children came in laughing. “We thought we would teach you not to eat so much sugar” they said.

“The Hidden Shoes” – Boyd Vaughn, one of Powder Springs’ early residents, was recovering from pneumonia. His father, Dr. J.S. Vaughn, did not think it wise for him to go to the square dance Friday night. So, he said to his wife, ‘Maggie, hide his shoes. That should keep him at home. The next morning the young man was sitting by the fire. His father noticed that there was a big hole in the sole of each bedroom shoe. He had danced in his bedroom shoes! Boyd had gone to the dance after all.

“Mutton for Sale” by Ted Leake – “Mutton for Sale on Broad Street Saturday.” Pony Adair sold mutton from the back of his wagon every Saturday. One man questioned him, “Why do you have mutton to sell when all I see are goats in the pasture when pass your place?” “Oh,” he replied, “Every time a kid is born, I name him Mutton. So, I have mutton to sell every Saturday.”

The Seven Springs Museum houses several copies of the Seven Springs Sampler in our library. Several are also on display elsewhere in the Museum.

Sarah Frances Miller, Powder Springs Historian and Seven Springs Historical Society President, contributed most of the histories and stories. Cookbook Committee: Imogene Abernathy, Patti Briel, Sarah Frances Miller and Susan Houser Smith.