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.Thursday, April 23, 2015
Couple Builds Old Timey Village
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
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.
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.
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| One room teacher house (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Old stove (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 10 gallon copper whiskey still (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| One room school house (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| One room school house (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| Corn Crib (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Oscar Sims' farm wagon (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| Smoke House (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Preparation station (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| Three hole Outhouse (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Three hole Outhouse (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Queen Ann's Throne (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.”
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| Wash House (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Hand crank washing machine (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| Blacksmith Shop (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Blacksmith Shop (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| Cox & Sims Store (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Cox & Sims Store (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| Community Jail House (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Jail cell (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| First Antioch Chapel (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| First Antioch Chapel sanctuary (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| 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.
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| Chicken Coop (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Goat Pasture (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
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| Baby goats playing on the log pile (Photo by Selena Maddox) |
Friday, April 3, 2015
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.
|
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?”
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