The Grand Ole Lady

by DB Hayes

Title

The Grand Ole Lady

Artist

DB Hayes

Medium

Digital Art - Photo Art, Photopainting, Paintography,

Description

Fine Art Americas (FAA) watermark does NOT appear on sold art as FAA removes the watermark before each sold copy is "museum quality" printed onto canvass, photo-paper, metal, acrylic or any of FAA's many other available medias regardless of which one is chosen by the buyer.

COPYRIGHT DISCLOSURE NOTICE: THIS IS A COPYRIGHTED, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PROTECTED IMAGE.

I, Bill, decided to revisit our collection of my home town images Deb and I captured one Sunday morning in 2015 while driving through Blakely. One of my favorites is the image of the courthouse, which is located in the middle of the "square" as it is known since the street completely surrounds this courthouse and grounds. Of course, there are businesses on all four sides of the opposite side of the surrounding street. When I was growing up in Blakely, which is located in southwest Georgia this small town was truly alive with activity as it was the hub or "go-to" place for shoppers in that general part of Georgia in those years. Of course, I volunteered for the U.S. Army in March of 1965 and that was basically the end of my life in Blakely sad to write.

I left many dear and life-long friends behind which I grew up with but have over the past few years reconnected with some of them via Facebook. One of those is a very dear female friend named "Gail" who is one of the Blakely residents I am dedicating this work in honor of. Since reconnecting with Gail via Facebook I have learned our friendship meant far more to her than I ever realized and I do not mean that in a "boy-girl friend" type romance. We were simply very, very good friends all through those early years. I would also like to dedicate this work to all the people of Blakely and Early County both past and present. Enough about my personal life regarding Blakely. Lets move on with this courthouse and this image. I got somewhat creative with one of the images as you can see with my digital paint brushes. Maybe more than a few of you will like this design.

Following, if you will be good enough to continue reading you may find this courthouse's history very interesting.

The Early County Courthouse (also known as the Grand Ole Lady) is the historic county courthouse of Early County, Georgia, located on Courthouse Square in Blakely, Georgia, the county seat. It was built in 1904 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1980.

Early County was chartered in 1818 and Blakely was established as the county seat in 1825. Early County's first courthouse was a log building, first used in 1827. That building was sold for $13 and moved, making way for the second courthouse, a two-story wooden building built in 1834.

The county's third courthouse, a western-facing building, was built in 1857-58 by Thomas Williams for $4,650; it was sold for $155 to make way for the fourth and present courthouse, built in 1904-1905. The third courthouse was described by the Early County News as dangerously unsafe and dilapidated, and the proposal to build a new court building "was tinted with a light wash of New South fervor and an outpouring of self-promotion. The grand jury recommended a new courthouse, and a January 1905 piece by the Early County News praised an architectural rendering of the proposed design by the architects Thomas Henry Morgan and John Robert Dillon, as "the handsomest structure of its kind in Southern Georgia" which would "be in keeping with the wealth and prosperity of Early County--the Garden spot of Georgia.

All visits to our FAA-Pixels art sites are welcomed, encouraged and appreciated. Please visit often and, if you will , tell your friends and family about our art sites. They may find something they like and thank you for the tip.

"Art Enhances Life"

Bill and Deb Hayes

Uploaded

June 30th, 2017

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