Fayette County History

November 3, 2017 Walter Frances Cowart Reeves   Walter Frances Cowart Reeves, 98, of Inman GA, Fayette County, passed away on November 3, 2017 after a long and full life. Frances was born Jan. 8, 1919 in Union City, GA. Frances graduated from Campbell County High School and enrolled at the University of Georgia at age 16. There, she majored in Social Sciences,...

Union Grove School Union Grove School was located near the southwest corner of what is currently Tyrone Road and Flat Creek Trail, on land that was donated by Thomas Jefferson Askew. Mrs. Tommie Lee Edmondson Askew and Mrs. Maynard Griggs Brown, were the school’s two teachers in the twenties and thirties. Younger students were taught by “Miss Maynard” in “the little...

November 24, 1907 Theo James Odom   Theo James Odom was born on November 24, 1907 in Needmore, Georgia to Theo Augustus Odom (1881-1962) and Hattie James (1887-1969). He had two living siblings, Horace and Charles. As a child they would go down to the river to play, and use marbles, spinning tops, a yo-yo or play with a billy goat. They would...

1964 The Story of Banks Road Many years ago, Effie Davis moved into the neighborhood where Raymond Banks lived. When they got to 9th grade, they started courting and soon Raymond asked Effie’s father if he could marry his daughter, and they were engaged. They married after graduation on December 24th, 1939. They moved to Newnan, then to Augusta, North Carolina following better...

November 16, 1862 Robert Alexander Holliday November 16, 1862 Fayetteville lost its beloved “Uncle Bob”. Robert Alexander Holliday was viewed in the parlor of his sons’ spacious home on Lanier Avenue. (now the Holliday-Dorsey-Fife House Museum.) John Stiles Holliday was the middle son of Robert and Rebecca Holliday. The home was large enough to hold the Holliday family for the funeral of...

November 5, 1937 Librarian Makes Urgent Plea On November 5, 1937, a letter appeared in the local newspaper from Mrs. Jewell Hines, Librarian for the Fayette County Public Library. Mrs. Hines wrote the letter as an appeal to the citizens of Fayette County to aid in building a library to replace the one lost in the recent fire that destroyed the local...

November 2, 1920 Ida May Harp Casts Her Ballot   Several generations of women suffrage supporters had marched, lobbied, and even practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change to the Constitution. Ratified in August of 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote. In Fayette County, Miss May Harp cast her first ballot...

November 20, 1999 The High Museum of Art Presents Local African American Folk Artist Nellie Mae Rowe Nellie Mae Rowe was born in Fayetteville Georgia on July 4, 1900. She was the 9th of 10 children. She was artistic at an early age; drawing and making dolls. However, life on a farm meant that she would have to do chores instead of...