Couple Builds Old Timey Village

By SELENA MADDOX

CANTON, Ga. – Wayne and Ann Sims built the Old Home Place Village next to their home on Sugar Pike Road in Canton, Georgia.

 Simply Southern Living

Tour of the Old Home Place Village

Simply Southern Living

Tour of the Old Home Place Village

By SELENA MADDOX

Wayne and Ann Sims has recreated an old country village 

beside their Hickory Flat home in Canton, Georgia. 

(Photo by Selena Maddox)

CANTON, Ga. – A Hickory Flat couple has a unique hobby that takes up most of their front and backyard.

Just off of Sugar Pike Road in Canton, Georgia, Wayne and Ann Sims’ farm house sits next to their replica of an old country village.  

Since he was physically born there, Wayne Sims’ property has been a part his family since 1892.  The village is named the Old Home Place Village and people from all over the area come to tour the unusual structure.  The Sims enjoy educating visitors about the history of the village and explaining how people lived in the old days.

“We wanted to retain local history and be able to show people how [life] was starting back in the late 1800s to the end of World War II,” says Wayne Sims.

Buildings Apart of Village

The village is home to the school house, the teacher’s house, corn crib, smoke house, outhouse, wash house, chicken coop, barn, still house, blacksmith shop, general store, chapel and jail house. Some of the buildings were physically torn down, moved to their home and reassembled.  And the others were built from scratch using rough lumber.  A friend, Hal Banks, helped restore and build all their buildings.

“He is a master carpenter,” says Ann Sims.

All the buildings are fully furnished with antique furniture, appliances, tools, knickknacks and artwork.  Some of the items in the buildings belonged to Wayne Sims’ family.  The Sims also love to go to antique shops, yard sales and other shops to find treasures to add in the village.

Events Hosted at the Village

Some of the events that the Sims hosts in the village include cookouts and get-togethers, weddings, school and individual tours. 
When the local elementary school visits, Ann Sims dresses up in an old timey dress and acts like the old school teacher. 

Wayne Sims enjoys talking to the children about the blacksmith shop and the general store.  He shows them how the blacksmith would use the tools inside the building. 

There are also a variety of farm animals located throughout the village.  Ann Sims says that the children love to pet the goats, watch the chickens and see her beloved rabbit. 

Awards the Village Received

The Cherokee County Historical Society awarded the Sims’ village, in 2009, the Historical Site Award. 

In 2012, the Sims’ village also won the Carter and Elizabeth Browning Award.  Carter Browning was a school principal for many years at Hickory Flat Elementary School and the award is in honor of him as well as his wife.

“It is recognition for individuals who contribute to the betterment of the community,” says Wayne Sims.

The Sims just finished adding a community jail house onto the general store.  The jail house sits next to the chapel with a road running between them.  The road’s name is Choice Road.

“Your life can be in the jail or your life can be with God,” says Ann Sims.

The couple spends most of their time planting flowers around the village, collecting antiques, looking after animals and making sure the buildings are in great condition.  Wayne Sims says has no plans for adding onto the village in the near future.

Tour of the Old Home Place Village

By SELENA MADDOX

CANTON, Ga. – The Old Home Place Village consists of 12 antique buildings.

Old Home Place Village
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Wayne and Ann Sims 
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

The Teacher’s House

The house was brought to the village in 1981.  Wayne and Ann Sims started their village with this building where the school teacher would live.  The home is very small inside with a loft at the top.  A 10 gallon copper whiskey still sits behind the house.  A well sits outside the house for the teacher to fetch clean water.

One room teacher house
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Old stove
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

10 gallon copper whiskey still
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Well Curb
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

The One Room School House

This is a replica of the one room school building where all ages attended.  Jewel Presley taught at the school and she was Wayne Sims’ first, second and third grade teacher.  She used flashcards, posters and other common teaching methods, that some teachers still use today.  The building is made out of chestnut logs and has the original floors still inside.  The old bell atop the school house still is able to ring out. 

One room school house
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

One room school house
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Role call booklet
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

The Corn Crib

This building was used to store corn, that was used for food and animal feed.  A wagon was used to haul the corn to the corn crib.  This wagon belonged to Wayne Sims’ father, Oscar Sims.  The family would also use the wagon as transportation around the village.

Corn Crib
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Oscar Sims' farm wagon
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Antiques inside the Corn Crib
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

The Smoke House

A hog would be taken to the smoke house and the hair would be shaved off.  Then, the hog would be hung up by its feet to be prepared.  Salt, from the salt box, would be used to cover the hog to cure.  Once the hog was cured, the meat would hang from the rafters in a bag.

Smoke House
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Preparation station
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Salt box
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Three Hole Outhouse & Queen Ann’s Outhouse

There was a pit under the outhouse to catch the remains.  When the pit was full, they would let it dry out and fill it up, move the outhouse somewhere else and repeat the process.  If the building did not have a pit dug out, they would shovel up the remains and use them as fertilizer on the pastures.  Ann Sims has a special outhouse that was built just for her, complete with a heart shaped seat. She has never actually used the outhouse as a bathroom.

Three hole Outhouse
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Three hole Outhouse
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Queen Ann's Throne
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Queen Ann's Throne
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

The Wash House

An agitator washed clothes by pulling the handle back and forth to move the wash tub.  One of the first ever washing machines was also manually operated.  A sign that is hung in the wash house reads “No whining when doing your laundry and ironing.  You could have been born 100 years ago before electricity, push buttons and timers.”

Wash House
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Hand crank washing machine
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Hand crank washing machine
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Blacksmith Shop

This blacksmith shop belonged to Wayne Sims’ great-great uncle, Taylor Porter, from 1893-1919.  Farmers depended on the blacksmith’s shop to make tools like plows and other farming essentials.  The blacksmith would heat metal over a fire pit then lay the hot metal on an anvil to form it.  The way they formed the metal was by beating it with hammers.  The anvil weighs 183 pounds and is used to make things like horseshoes.

Blacksmith Shop
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Blacksmith Shop
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Blacksmith Shop
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Cox and Sims Store

Wayne Sims’ father and grandfather established this general store.  Every community had a country store where they bought goods.  Men would come over to the store, after they tended to the farm, and play checkers.  They would go home for lunch and come right back to the store for another round of checkers.  The early credit card system consisted of writing an IOU on a piece of paper and the cashier would keep the papers in a special filing system.

Cox & Sims Store
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Cox & Sims Store
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Old cash register
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Community Jail House

The window behind the sheriff’s desk is the solitary confinement room where one would have to sleep on the floor.  The normal jail cell consists of a bunk bed, small table, chair and the slop jar.  The slop jar was used as a bathroom.  The padlock was actually used out in a California jail to lock death row cell 35. 

The road that runs between the jail house and the church on the property is nicknamed Choice Road.  The Sims say that one can chose to live their life for God or end up in the jail house. 

Community Jail House
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Jail cell
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Sheriff's desk
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Antioch Chapel

This building is a replica of what the first Antioch Christian Church building looked like, when it was built in the late 1800s.  The building was also a school house until 1913.  Church services were held every third Sunday.  The church can hold around 55 people. 

A lady, who attended services at the church and was a student in the school, wrote letters about the church history.  The letters inspired Wayne Sims to build the church building. 

The piano is over 100 years old as well as the light fixture above the pulpit.  One of the other Antioch Christian Church buildings is on display in the building. The church building is now used for weddings year round.

First Antioch Chapel
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

First Antioch Chapel sanctuary
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Antioch Christian Church 1960
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Chicken Coop and Barn

The chickens lay fresh eggs for the Sims.  Charlie is the rooster who watches over all the hens in the chicken coop. 

The baby goats love to play and climb all over the log pile.  There is a guard dog that looks after the goats.  The dog rests during the day and walks the fence line at night patrolling the pasture.

Chicken Coop
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Goat Pasture
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Baby goats playing on the log pile
(Photo by Selena Maddox)

Driving While Intexticated

By Selena Maddox

KENNESAW, Ga. – There are people on the road who still attempt to text while driving their vehicle despite Georgia’s no texting while driving law.

The law against texting while driving went into effect on July 1, 2010.  From then to the end of 2014, there were 1,780 car crashes related to cell phone distractions.  Of those crashes, 169 were worked by the Cobb County Police Department.

Distracted driving was the contributing factor in 15,580 crashes statewide from July 2010, to the end of 2014.  Georgia Department of Transportation, District Seven, District Engineer, Kathy Zahul describes distracted driving as “any activity that takes a driver’s eyes off the road.”  This means anything from talking, texting, picking something up, changing the radio, etc.  What if you get into an argument with someone then get behind the wheel?  “Your eyes may technically be on the road, but does the road have your full attention?” said Zahul.

Officer Pete Jones has been with the Cobb County Police Department for about 18 years working with traffic accident reconstruction.  According to Officer Jones, there are two parts to the no texting while driving law, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241. 

The first part, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241.1, focuses on drivers under the age of 18 with a CP or a class D license.  “Those drivers cannot talk on a cell phone, they can’t listen on a cell phone, they can’t write, send or read any type of electronic message,” said Jones.  That includes texting, emails, and browsing the Internet.

Officer Pete Jones has been with the Cobb County Police Department for about 

18 years.  He wants people to just wait to text when it comes to driving.

The second part of the law, O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241.2, focuses on drivers 18 and older with a class C license.  “They can talk and listen on a cell phone, but they also cannot write, send or read electronic communication,” said Jones.

It is not easy for officers to determine if someone is texting while driving.  “Everybody knows that they are not supposed to be doing it,” said Jones.  “As soon as they see a police car [their phone] gets put down in their seat.”  If an officer detects any type of unsafe driving maneuvers, they would have to see the person with a text to determine if they were in fact texting while driving.

It is hard to actually determine how many crashes in Cobb County are due to texting while driving.  According to Jones, the database that holds all of the crash report records is very hard to query.  Jones said that they have asked many times for the database changed, but right now nothing has been done to fix the problem.  When an officer shows up to a crash the causation is underreported because people usually don’t come out and say they were texting while driving.

Zahul said it’s hard to determine how many crashes in Georgia are linked to texting and driving.  This is because of the absence of a specific field on the uniform crash report to indicate the contributing factor of the crash as being texting while driving.

“The solution to texting and driving is not something we can engineer our way out of,” said Zahul.  She works very close with the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety to focus on the behavioral side of drivers.  Together, they use electronic signs with messages stating texting and driving increases your chances of being involved in a crash by 23 times.

Officer Jones wants people to just wait to text when it comes to driving because it not that important.

Zahul said, “Georgia is a Toward Zero Deaths state.”  This means that G.D.O.T. is working to have zero fatalities on roadways.   “How many texts have you ever received that are as important as someone’s life?” said Zahul.  “Which one are you willing to give your life for?”

For more information, please visit these links:

www.gahighwaysafety.org/highway-safety/texting-laws/

www.towardzerodeaths.org/dld/TZD_Strategy_12_1_2014.pdf

http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2012/feb/15/greg-walden/can-you-drive-length-football-field-time-it-takes-/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pKRKUOk3Eo

I Plead the Fifth

By Selena Maddox

KENNESAW, Ga. – One of the biggest fears college students face involves having to deliver speeches, so many avoid taking a public speaking course in college.

Only communication students are required to take COM 2129, which is the public speaking course, although it is an elective for many campus programs. 

As stated in the Kennesaw State University course catalog, “COM 2129 covers methods and practices in effective oral communication with an emphasis on speech preparation and presentation.”

Kerry Welborn has been teaching at Kennesaw State University for 15 years. She wants students to 

know that it’s okay to feel nervous about public speaking. 

Kerry Welborn, an adjunct professor at KSU, has been teaching the public speaking course for about six years.  She feels that public speaking is the staple of the communications department.  Welborn does feel that the public speaking course should be required for all students to take no matter what field of work they enter. 

“I understand there are other important requirements too, but I see usage [of public speaking skills] no matter what you do for the rest of your life,” said Welborn.  

One reason why many students try to avoid taking the public speaking course is because they experience high levels of speech anxiety.  Students don’t want to experience the feeling of being judged, graded and/or videotaped when presenting a speech.

Thankfully, there are ways to reduce speech anxieties.  Welborn said that the best way to reduce speech anxiety is to practice.  Practicing and knowing one’s speech will help students focus more on the material they are presenting instead of focusing on the audience and other distractions around them. 

Aubrey Spivey, a student at KSU who has taken the public speaking course, said she feels that it has helped her become a more confident speaker.  Spivey experienced speech anxiety because she has a speech impediment in which she mixes up the sounds of words. 

“I realized if I slowed down and thought about the words as I was saying them, then they would not all come out at the same time or in the wrong order,” said Spivey. 

Also while delivering a speech, Spivey holds a paper clip in her hand to help her focus more on the paper clip and less on the distractions around her.  The main thing Spivey wants students to know is that they can overcome their speech anxieties and they should not get caught up in the moment when giving a speech.

Students are not the only people who get anxious about giving a speech.  Welborn used to work at Cartoon Network during the day and would teach at KSU in the evenings when she first started teaching.  She would use her lunch break to go over lecture notes, but one day she had too much going on at work to stop for lunch.  She was unable to review her notes before class and felt unprepared.  Welborn said that this was one of the only times she has ever felt that she was anxious about speaking in class.

For students who are questioning or dreading about taking the public speaking course, Welborn wants you to know that you are not being judged and that the professor is there to help coach you.  Also, everyone struggles with some form of speech anxiety which is perfectly normal.