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Archive By Section - Johnny Vardeman's column


Peach pickin’ time continues an annual rite

It is approaching peak peach time in North Georgia. Trips to Jaemor Farms near Lula and other orchards in that area will become more frequent. Peaches will be showing up more often in the backs of trucks parked at local farmers' markets.

June 10, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


'Deliverance' bash marks movie's 40th anniversary

Rabun County's spectacular beauty has lured tourists to the mountains for decades, and when Hollywood discovered it, it became a mecca for movie settings.

June 03, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Fire didn’t put local newspaper out of business

Fire struck the Gainesville Eagle newspaper right before Christmas 1885. The editors weren't too kind to the fire department at the time, explaining, "Owing to the situation of our office the lateness of the hour when the fire occurred, the rapidity with which the flames spread and the inefficiency of our fire department, we were unable to save anything." Its press, type, furniture, records, papers and other material were destroyed. The weekly newspaper, which had ...

May 27, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Storms led to floods, later Lake Lanier

In July 1916, the Southeast suffered from a tropical 1-2 punch that resulted in historic flooding and caused dozens of deaths and millions in damage.

May 20, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Shoe factory closing left many jobless

Hall County's economy has had its ups and downs through its history, with disasters striking and industries opening or closing.

May 13, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Warnings over Ga. 365 date back to ’70s

Concern over the safety of Ga. 365, the four-laner from Gainesville to the South Carolina line via Toccoa, can be traced well back into the 1970s before it was even built.

May 06, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


1959 critical year for rails in N. Georgia

North Georgia is rich in railroad history, what with efforts in the 1800s to get a main line through Gainesville, trials and tribulations of the Gainesville and Northwestern Railroad into the mountains, the Gainesville Midland, one of the last steam trains in the country, as well as the colorful but troubled Tallulah Falls Railroad from Cornelia to Franklin, N.C.

April 29, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Early travel costly, rough on area roads

Toll roads have been in the news in Georgia lately. State officials reneged on a promise to end the toll on Ga. 400 when it was paid for. They also turned a lane of Interstate 85 that tax money had built into a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane that you have to pay to use now. And there are plans and discussions about other toll roads in the Atlanta area.

April 22, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Hall County library had to struggle from get-go

While in recent years, Hall County Library has expanded its reach with branches in most sections of the county, the road has been bumpy for the public library movement.

April 15, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Pea Ridge put suspense in bond vote

Before increasing sales taxes became the popular method to finance improvements, local governments often used bond issues to finance capital items, especially schools and government buildings.

April 08, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Gainesville's changes in council structure come rarely

With state legislation to add an elected mayor to Gainesville City Council getting final approval, it would be the first substantive change since the city went from a three-person commission to five in 1958.

April 01, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Wire walker over Tallulah excited crowd

Summer of 1970 was hot in more ways than one in Georgia. North Georgia was in one of the worst droughts ever with no rain falling for a month. The state as a whole was enveloped in a heated governor's race as Democrats Jimmy Carter and Carl Sanders, along with Republicans Jimmy Bentley and Hal Suit, were trying to succeed Gov. Lester Maddox. Yet most of the attention temporarily was on Tallulah Gorge on the ...

March 25, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Hall County's early days: Mint juleps, mountain dew and chickens

Back about the turn of the 20th century, Hall County was an up-and-coming corner of the state, but some of its leaders felt snubbed by other areas that didn't see its potential.

March 11, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Main Street Gang relives its old school days

When the old Main Street School in Gainesville was demolished to make way for a Hall County jail, the cornerstone and its contents were salvaged.

March 04, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Rich history, controversy mark jail site

If it weren't such a serious matter, it almost would be funny, this dispute over the former Hall County jail property on South Main Street in Gainesville.

February 26, 2012 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


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Articles by Section - Johnny Vardeman's column


Central Baptist Church prays its miracles will continue

It took several years to build the present Central Baptist Church building on Gainesville's southside because it ran into the Great Recession in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

June 16, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Church stands strong in face of adversity

"Not Made for Defeat" was the title of a book the Rev. Harold Frederic Green wrote about Gainesville's Central Baptist Church in 1974, a history of the church from its beginnings in 1890.

June 09, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Soulful sounds make music at Iron Works

Gainesville Iron Works was a fixture on South Main Street for more than a century.

June 02, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Pioneer home may return to its South Hall roots

Ken Cochran painstakingly helped dismantle log-by-log the historic Roberts-Orr house at Roberts Crossroads in south Hall County.

May 26, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


CD package relates stories of area locations

Johnny Kytle was a native of Clermont in Hall County and a pioneer daredevil pilot who carried the mail between Atlanta and Richmond, Va.

May 19, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Prior Street was named for Hall judge

Prior Street is one of Gainesville's most important streets. It connects the northside of town to the southside. It runs from Hunter Street near St. Paul United Methodist Church on Summit Street, to City Park and the Civic Center.

May 12, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Hero reticent about his heroics during World War II

Bob Dollar said Jason Nix was an ordinary man, the kind who goes about his work and lives humbly and without much fanfare or attention.

May 05, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


Poodle at large: Owner seeks pet lost for months

If you'd lost a dog six months ago, chances are you would have given up finding it by now and moved on.

April 28, 2013 | Johnny Vardeman | Johnny Vardeman's column


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