Marietta City Cemetery Founded in 1831

Marietta City Cemetery is less than a mile from the famous Marietta Square in Georgia. I've driven by it countless times and finally decided to stop by.

Photo Credit: CK Worley

Some of the most influential families from the area are buried there. The Chastains, Samfords, Whitlocks and Dobbins among many others.

Photo Credit: CK Worley

In 1913 Mary Phagan who at the age of 13 was murdered in the Atlanta Pencil Factory is buried there. Leo Frank was convicted and then lynched for that murder but was found not guilty and posthumously pardoned in 1986. A very sad time in the history of Marietta.

Photo of Mary Phagan from the AJC

This cemetery has a slave section which was unusual for the times. Although there are several slaves buried there only four are named. They were servants of Mrs. Eliza G. Robarts; Clarissa, Hannah, Nancy and Peggy.

Here is a convenient  web site that shows you who is buried where in the cemetery. You can also find a map for trees, plots as well as grave markers.

http://cityofmarietta.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=545f1b0ff22242519a7a0a00b05fa539

Red Cedar photo credit: CK Worley

The cemetery is full of Water Oaks, Pecan, Cedar, Cherry Laurel, Sugar Maple, Magnolia, Black Locust and Mulberry trees. Many are old and very impressive.

You can also participate in the many Marietta Ghost Tours including a Ghost Pub Crawl. You can find information by following this link.

http://ghostsofmarietta.com/

In 1863 the land began to be used to to bury Confederate war dead. And since Marietta was a major hospital town for the Confederacy the occupancy of this cemetery began to rise quickly. Marietta National Cemetery includes the bodies of men who died on both sides during The Atlanta Campaign and The March to the Sea.

Photo Credit: CK Worley

They even have a cannon that was captured by Shermans men on their March to the Sea displayed on the property. It was returned to the city in 1910.

Photo Credit: CK Worley

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

By Mary Elizabeth Frye

Martha Berry and Oak Hill

Did you know that the Carmichael House in the movie Sweet Home Alabama was actually the Martha Berry house Oak Hill? The house is located in Rome Georgia.

Photo Credit: Southernweddings.com

I visited there today with Gay, Stephanie and Barb. We had a great time with our tour guide Crystal Linsenbigler who did a fantastic job!

Photo Credit: Crystal Linsenbigler

Oak Hill Gardens seem straight out of the old movies. Robert Cridland designed the gardens. He is also credited with other projects like the Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt rose garden at Hyde Park and the Cator Woolford gardens in Atlanta as well as Avondale Estates.

The Martha Berry estate consists of a sunken garden, goldfish garden, sundial garden, and formal garden. It also has a Bridal Walk where after a couple gets engaged they walk amongst the rose arbors to make their first wish as a couple.

Photo Credit: CK Worley

In the 1930’s the Emperor of Japan gave Martha Berry Kwanzan cherry trees which now grace the sunken garden. Just look how large the trunks are!

Photo Credit: CK Worley

After Martha died in 1942 and time wore on the gardens fell into disrepair.

In 2012 a box filled with the original landscape designs from Robert Cridland were found and work began to renovate and landscape the property to its original glory. The goal is to restore the gardens to their 1935 appearance.

Today the gardens are maintained by staff with assistance from Berry College students.

Martha McChesney Berry was born in 1865 and grew up with five sisters, two brothers, and three Berry cousins, whose parents were deceased. Being a devout Episcopalian, she started teaching Sunday school lessons to poor children in the area from her cabin office.

Photo Credit: Berry College

Inspired by the desire to help the poor “mountain” children of landowners and tenants, she then  started a school for boys called “Boys’ Industrial School” in 1902. Inspired by a challenge from Theodore Roosevelt, she also started a school for girls in 1909.

In 1926, she established Berry Junior College, which in 1930 expanded into a four-year school. The Martha Berry School for Girls closed in 1956.  The boys’ high school was renamed Mount Berry School for Boys, and in 1962 it became Berry Academy, which was closed in 1983 when Berry College incorporated.

Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison were among Berry’s largest donors toward the growth of her school.

Martha asked Henry Ford to donate to her school. He was so tired of people asking him for donations that he handed her 10 cents. So she wrote him a thank you note for the money. Then she took the 10 cents and she and her students planted then re-planted peanuts. Martha sold the crops for $600.  She then wrote to Mr. Ford telling him what she had done with the dime and thanked him for his generous donation of $600. He was so impressed with what she had done that he ended up being one of the schools most generous benefactors. Funding a complex of buildings that became the girls school, donating tractors for the farm and cars for the academy.

The house and gardens are something to see. I would recommend the trip.You can get the location and hours of operation from the link below. And while your there tool around Berry campus. It's a beautiful facility where the deer outnumber the students 4-1!

http://www.berry.edu/oakhill/gardens/

If you ever wonder what one person can do, Martha Berry's life is a wonderful example to learn from. Years after her death she is still changing many lives for the better.

Blueberry Ice Cream

Making ice cream is so easy and simple. It’s a great way to use some of those summer berries. Plus, you can pronounce every ingredient in it. That’s a big plus these days.

I made some blueberry ice cream today. I used an electric ice cream maker.


Here is the ingredient list.

2 pints blueberries (one frozen one fresh)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1-2 drops cinnamon essential oil
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix 1 pint blueberries, sugars, cinnamon, whipping cream, half and half and vanilla extract in a bowl.
Pour mixture into an ice cream maker.
Add ice and rock salt as instructed.



After 10 minutes add the frozen berries.

Hint - freeze berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Once they are frozen you can place them in a bowl to store. Otherwise they will stick together and not make for the perfect combination of berries and cream.

After another 10 minutes your ice cream is ready to soft serve. Place in an air tight container in the freezer and take out 15 minutes before serving to soften.



So good and fresh. You can make ice cream out of anything you have lots of. Mint ice cream is amazing. Just use peppermint or spearmint essential oil. You can even try exotic blends such as rosemary and orange!

Let your imagination fly. And have a cool summer!

Look for essential oils at my web site: Please e-mail me for information and web site address. settersrun360@gmail.com

Tower Gardens

I met Nancy Couch the other day while taking a brewery tour in Marietta.
She mentioned that she has a business called Tower Garden.

Photo Credit: Tower Gardens

What is a Tower Garden? I went to Nancy’s site to find out and here is what it said. “Tower Garden® is a state-of-the-art vertical aeroponic growing system. It’s perfect for rooftops, patios, balconies, terraces—just about any relatively sunny place outside.” The web site also says the Tower Garden will yield up to 30% more produce on average compared to traditional gardening methods.

Reminds me of the “Living with the Land” exhibit at Epcot where trees and vines grow in soil-less environments.

You can buy one for a one time payment of $525 plus shipping and tax - compared to buying organic
at the market - it pays for itself many times over!!  And you can make 12 payments
of $45!!!   It comes with everything you need to start and maintain a garden including specially formulated plant food and gourmet seeds. You can have up to 20 plants per tower. An extension kit can be purchased which will allow you to grow up to 28 plants in one tower.

Photo Credit: Nancy Couch

Soil free means there isn’t any weeding. You can place it on patios, decks, porches, balconies, terraces or rooftop garden areas. This is great news for city folk who really would like to step outside and pick salad fixings or tomatoes for sandwiches.

You don’t have to grow vegetables or fruit. You can also grow herbs or flowers. You will need to germinate the seeds and then transfer them into the Garden Tower. It will grow anything except root vegetables, grapevines, bushes, and trees.

Having a Garden Tower is not all maintenance free so you will still need to do some work. You may still have to combat garden pests and algae buildup. And of course you'll need to feed the plants.

If you are interested, here is Nancy’s web page.

http://couch.towergarden.com/content/towergarden/en-us.html#.VZ2OBSjjJUQ

Just another innovative way to Grow It First!

Patak Butcher

Robert and I went to Patak Butcher the other day. Our friends Joanna and Herman have been telling us about this place forever so we finally decided to make the trip and we are glad we did.

Patak Butcher has been open since 1981 and they have a wide variety of meats from all around the world. Patak sausages are hand-made, twisted and smoked in their factory with no substitutes or fillers.

Photo Credit: Patak

Fresh products include Ground Chuck, Beef Roladen, Ox Tail, Pork Chops and many others. Remember that if you come on Monday this selection will be very limited.

Thanks to the twin Fessman smokehouses they can produce up to 20,000 pounds of product per day. You can purchase Canadian Bacon, Smoked Salmon or Trout and Smoked Pork Chops to name a few.

Photo Credit: Patak

Their cured products are dried in a specialized Travaglini Italian drying room so they have plenty of space for a variety of meats. Dried cured products include but aren’t limited to Westphalian Ham, Hungarian Segelli, Moldavia Salami and German Landjager. You can ask for a taste of anything you’d like.

They also carry a wide variety of imported items from around the world. These include cheeses, chocolates, cookies, jams and condiments.

The bread is amazing. Get a round of European bread while you're there. Or maybe some good rye.

Photo Credit: Stephanie M. on Yelp

Be ready to stand in line. It’s become quite a popular place. Especially right before a holiday. Make friends with the people around you. We met Erica who had been going to Patak for 20 years and she helped us so much. She’s the one who suggested the European bread, the pork tenderloin stuffed with sausage and explained what many of the products were and the best way to cook them.

The hours of operation and directions can be found on this link:

http://www.patakmeats.com/Operations.html

It’s worth the trip!