From the “the Little White House” to the historic site of someone else who lived there: Jimmy Carter. We stopped in Plains, Georgia and got to the historic site just before it closed. The National Park Service employee was very kind to let us see the old school and the many exhibits inside. Click here to learn more.

Here is a drawing of a school desk in one of the classrooms. Also drawn is an official Jimmy Carter hammer that was used to build homes for Habitat for Humanity.

After the visit to “the Little White House” we went looking for food and found it at a great restaurant housed in an old house in Warm Springs. Click here to learn more about the Victorian Tea Room.

Here is a chair from the restaurant.

Our next stop just south of Calloway Gardens is the “Little White House”. This spot is where President Franklin Roosevelt came to get relief and hope for better times for his legs in the natural springs nearby. He died at Warm Springs, Georgia.

The place he would live during his stays in Warm Springs is now a museum. Click here to learn more. Here are some sketches of items in the house. The lamp was in the bedroom where he slept and passed away. The cane and wallet were his. The toilet paper roll….well, you know.

We stayed in Lagrange, Georgia and then made our way to Calloway Gardens. Click on the name to learn more!  Lots of flowers plants and even parrots.

Also on the property is an 1830 log cabin moved to the property in 1959. Below are sketches of a number of items in the cabin.

Our next stop as we slowly made our way out North Carolina and into north Georgia was Rome where we stopped to see Sandra’s cousin, Ruth. We all had dinner in downtown Rome. The Harvest Moon Cafe, is a restaurant and bakery. The drawing to the left is one of the decorations in the restaurant.

When visitng shops around the downtown I, specifically spent a ton of time in a bookstore there. That store had a wonderful selection of juvenile books. Everything from the Bobbsey Twins to Nancy Drew. It also had a heck of a selection of books of the South and the Civil War.

The drawing to the right is the corner of one of the buildings.

We stayed overnight in Murphy, North Carolina and then drove over to the newly opened Trail of Tears component of the Cherokee County Historical Museum in Murphy. Though a bit wordy, the display is excellent. Learn more at their website. The drawings are of a tomahawk, a ceremonial baton and an 1840’s bed.

 

We made it to Murphy, North Carolina, where we had cartoonist encounter #2 for the day. This one was planned. I’d contacted Jack and Brenda Cassady before we left about stopping by and saying ‘Hello’!

Jack is a long time cartoonist drawing everything from magazine gag cartoons to advertising cartooning. Jack also was the birth-uh-father of the Suncoast Inkslingers group of cartoonists in the Tampa Bay area of Florida that I now head up.

That’s Jack in his nifty stand alone studio down a path from his home armed with a brush. Thank goodness it wasn’t loaded!

As we headed off the mountain of the lodge we stayed for two days, we made our way to Murphy, N.C. We made a few stops along the way for Sandra to take more notes.

One stop was in Highlands, North Carolina. As we strolled the streets we ran into former Mad magazine cartoonist Jack Davis and his wife Dena. Ya never know where you’ll find a cartoonist these days!

The cover shown is from my favorite of Jack Davis collections of art. It’s an entire spoof of movies. I first saw it when it came out  30 years ago and was a definite influence on me and my artwork.

It was literally an uphill battle to get up to where we stayed on the 3rd and 4th. Waaaaay up a mountain, Sandra’s Jeep had it’s first heavy duty test of travelling nearly straight up. The lodge is owned by a husband and wife who also own a country club waaaaay down the mountain and a few miles away. It was at the country club that we celebrated the 4th. I went so far as to breaking out the caricature equipment and drawing awhile.

On the 3rd we accomplshed a rigorous hike that knocked us out.  I had hoped to add some outdoor drawings during our trip, but the 3rd and 4th were the only days we really experienced the natural outdoors. The cingular drawing of a tree is all that I sketched and it was done as we were hurrying out the door of the place on the 5th.

We toured around downtown Franklin, North Carolina, and visited many of the shops. One of the stops was for a bit of food at the Motor Co. Grill where we had a fine hamburger and grilled cheese sandwhich. The drawing is of the real soda fountain spicket.

We took a ride on the ‘Great Smoky Mountains Railroad’ near Bryson City, North Carolina. It was a two hour ride that provided dinner and quite an experience! This was the first time I’d been on a train for many, many years. I’d forgotten how great it is to ride the tracks.

The train and rails were also part of the movie sets of the Harrison Ford film, ‘The Fugitive’ and the James Garner and Jack Lemmon film, ‘My Fellow Americans’ (One of my favorites!).

The first drawing is of the doorway from one car to the other. Sorry for its lack of clarity. The other drawing is of a train car door handle.