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Historic Oostanaula School to Begin Phase One Construction

The Historic Oostanaula School will soon begin the first phase of its highly anticipated restoration and upgrade project. Originally scheduled to start in 2024, the timeline was extended due to mandatory environmental reviews, updated federal regulatory guidelines, and administrative processing delays.

Because the school property sits within a 100-year floodplain, the project also required extensive land surveys and floodplain mapping. While these logistical hurdles slowed initial reconstruction efforts, the community organization remained focused on its goals. "Our members have worked hard to continue fundraising while maintaining a building in desperate need of repairs," said Brandon Banks, president of the Oostanaula Community Club. "We are very excited to begin this part of our project. This first phase is an important step toward our future plans for an expanded and active community center."

Phase one will focus on extensive roof and foundation repairs to the main building, installing new windows, updating electrical wiring, and installing new HVAC systems. To ensure safety during construction, all schoolhouse activities will be suspended.

This first phase is expected to wrap up by spring 2027, aligning with the school's 100-year anniversary rededication.

The club organization is actively pursuing additional grant opportunities to cover the costs of phases two and three. Future project phases plan to repair the original volunteer fire department garage and renovate the Cafeteria building into classroom and event rental spaces.

Construction updates will be posted on the Historic Oostanaula School page and website as they become available.

Joey Eugene Murphy

Mr. Joey Eugene Murphy, age 61 of Calhoun, Georgia, passed away on Wednesday, September 30th, 2026 at Advent Health Gordon. Joey was born in Rome, Georgia on March 4th, 1965, a son of the late Joseph Eugene Murphy and Joann Hale Leonard. In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his father and mother-in-law, Richard C. Stiehl and Sandra D. Stiehl. Joey was of the Baptist fatih. He enjoyed wokring on his bicycle and small motors. Prior...

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Long before Fairmount, Ga became the community we know today, part of the area was known by another name: “Little Virginia” colony.

Around 1849, families from Virginia began settling near the Cherokee and Cass County line. Many came with experience growing and processing to***co, a crop that would soon become part of the area's early industry.

For many of these Virginia settlers, to***co was already a way of life. Years of heavy to***co cultivation had depleted the soil in parts of Virginia, leading some growers to search for new land. After arriving in this area, they found that the land along Salacoa Creek was well suited for the crop they knew so well.

As production grew, four to***co factories and packing houses were established in and around the area. Some of these small factories processed the harvested leaves into plug to***co, allowing the settlers to not only grow the crop, but also cultivate/manufacture and prepare it for sale.

In 1862, the federal government introduced new taxes on manufactured to***co to help raise money for the Civil War. Because they were processing the leaves into products like plug to***co, it placed Little Virginia's small factories under the same federal revenue laws that applied to other to***co manufacturers.

By 1868, those laws had expanded to include additional taxes and requirements for how manufactured to***co was packaged, marked, and sold, including the use of federal revenue stamps. As federal taxes and revenue requirements increased the cost of manufacturing to***co, Little Virginia to***co operations eventually became unprofitable and ceased production.

Although the original Little Virginia operations eventually closed, to***co did not disappear from the area altogether. Many generations later, Georgia developed a much larger to***co industry of its own and competed in markets historically associated with states like Virginia and North Carolina.

The people we love are at the heart of everything we do -♡
This World Heart Day, take a moment to care for your heart and encourage those you love to do the same.

Today is ❤️

Cardiovascular disease is the world's most urgent health crisis. It can hide in plain sight, with warning signs often going unnoticed.

Now is the time to learn the signs, make small, consistent changes to protect your heart and demand national action plans to stop CVD deaths from rising.

See the signs. Protect your heart. Demand action.

This World Heart Day, : worldheartday.org

Linda Lane Thomason

Mrs. Linda Lane Thomason, age 81 of Calhoun, Georgia, passed away peacefully in her home on Saturday, September 19, 2026, surrounded by her family. She was the sister of the late Eugene Byers Lane, whom she loved and admired dearly, the daughter of the late Julius LaVerne and Mildred Lane and the wife of the late B.W. “Bill” Thomason. Linda was born in Reno, Nevada, on August 4, 1945, and attended Wasatch Academy, where she had the opportunity to sing...

Linda Lane Thomason Obituary Sep 19, 2026 - Thomas Funeral Home View Linda Lane Thomason's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

Dating back to the late 1700s and early 1800s, candlewicking was a form of hand-tufting used to create raised decorative patterns on bedspreads.

By the late 1800s, Catherine Evans Whitener of Whitfield County became fascinated by an old hand-tufted bedspread and began working to recreate it, and crafting one as a wedding gift for her brother.
Interest in her work quickly grew, and before long, women throughout Northwest Georgia were learning the technique and making tufted spreads from their own homes.

Around this time, the construction of the Dixie Highway created a major route for travelers through Northwest Georgia through Gordon County.

By the mid-1930s, as there became more travelers along Dixie Highway, colorful chenille bedspread became a familiar sight along the roadside. To catch attention from passing motorists, sellers hung their spreads from clotheslines, creating displays that would stretch more miles along the highway. The peacock pattern became especially popular with travelers and soon became a familiar sight along the highway, helping earn the route nicknames like “Peacock Alley” and “Bedspread Boulevard.”

By the 1940s, mechanized tufting was replacing much of the work previously done by hand, and production moved from homes into “spread houses” and factories.

During the 1950s, manufacturers turned to producing tufted carpet rather than chenille bedspreads, resulting in fewer handmade spreads being displayed and sold along Highway 41.

As the bedspread trade declined, manufacturers began using tufting technology to make carpet instead. This helped shape the carpet industry that Northwest Georgia would later become known for.

The construction of Interstate 75 through Gordon County shifted much of the traffic away from U.S. Highway 41. By then, the roadside chenille trade had largely disappeared, bringing the era of Peacock Alley to a close.

Today, the Dixie Highway 90-Mile Yard Sale continues along the historic route every June. Established by community organizers and historians in 2006, the annual event carries on a tradition of roadside selling along the same highway once known for Peacock Alley.

Peggy Jane Pate

Ms. Peggy Jane Pate, of Calhoun, GA, went to be with the Lord on Saturday, September 26, 2026 at her residence. Ms. Pate was the daughter of the late Ezra Calvin Pate and Hattie Harper Pate. In addition to her parents, she was also preceded in death by her infant son, Charles Gregory Lynch, and her sisters, Alice Pate French, Betty Ann Pate, and Evelyn Ann Pate. Survivors include two daughters, Regina Sue Sowell and her husband, Joe Tom Sowell...

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Joseph William Eaker

Joseph William Eaker, age 37, of Rydal, GA, passed away after a courageous battle with cancer on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at his residence. Joseph was born on October 17, 1988, in Chattanooga, TN, the son of Joey Lawrence Eaker and the late Kathy Geraldine Carpenter. In addition to his mother, he was also preceded in death by his grandmother, Bessie Arlen Hall, and grandfather, Sidney Lee Eaker. Joseph was a graduate of Calhoun High School, Class of 2007, where...

Joseph William Eaker Obituary Sep 24, 2026 - Thomas Funeral Home View Joseph William Eaker's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

The Fairmount Telephone Company was founded in 1908 and would become the first independent dial telephone system in the State of Georgia. But before rotary phones became a familiar sight in Fairmount homes, telephone service looked very different.

By the late 1800s and early 1900s, Alexander Graham Bell’s original telephone patents had expired, opening the door for others to develop their own telephone systems. Across rural America, communities began creating local phone networks. Neighbors worked together to string wires across trees, poles, and fence posts to connect their homes. These independent networks became known as “farmer lines” or “mutual companies.”

The Fairmount Telephone Company began much the same way. The company started as a homegrown project by local citizens in the Fairmount community who pooled their resources to bring communication to their small town.

Eventually, E.D. Lacey took over the Fairmount Telephone Company, purchasing a brick building on North Avenue and installing miles of copper telephone lines. At the time, calls still went through the familiar hand-crank phones and a local operator, who connected callers through the switchboard.

Many families also shared party lines through this system, each with its own ring pattern. And if you picked up when it wasn’t your ring… well, you might just hear your neighbor’s conversation. But if curiosity got the better of you, it wasn’t too hard to find out what the neighbors were talking about.

Fun fact: In an emergency, the operator could send out a special ring that everyone knew to answer, turning the party line into a way to quickly spread the word throughout the community.

As Fairmount grew, the old manual switchboard could no longer keep up with the community’s growing telephone needs. Fairmount Telephone Company turned to a newer technology, an automatic dial system. With rotary phones, customers could now dial their calls themselves instead of relying on an operator to make the connection.

By the late 1930s, Fairmount Telephone Company had successfully made the transition to dial service, becoming the first independent telephone company in the State of Georgia to operate a dial system.

For generations, the rotary phone would become something you simply expected to find in a home. But before it became familiar, it represented an important step forward in how people communicated. Fairmount’s early move to dial service put this small community at the forefront of that change, earning it a unique place in Georgia’s telephone history.

🍂 Fall is officially here! 🍂

From cooler weather and beautiful scenery to football, fall festivals, and family traditions, there’s a lot to enjoy about this time of year.

What’s something you look forward to most about fall? 🍁