Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Please join the CVHS at our Winter 2016 Meeting ...



Speaker/Program information for January 2016 CVHS Meeting:



Eddie Lanier to Present Program on the History of

West Point Manufacturing Company





            “The cotton textile industry…came to East Alabama, in the valley of the Chattahoochee River, in 1866, soon after Appomattox.  Two separate groups of local planters and merchants took stock of their ruined plantations and businesses and found enough capital to start two mills.”  And so began company president Joseph L. Lanier, Sr., as he addressed the Newcomen Society in 1955, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the West Point Manufacturing Company.

            This year marks the 150th anniversary of the construction of these original two textile mills:  the Chattahoochee mill was organized by a group of West Point businessmen and planters, while the Alabama-Georgia mill was incorporated under the leadership of planter George Huguley.  By 1880, the Lanier brothers had reorganized the Chattahoochee mill, which became the West Point Manufacturing Company.  Shortly before the turn of the century, the Alabama-Georgia mill would become part of the growing enterprise as well.

            In recognition of this milestone in our local history, Eddie Lanier will present our upcoming quarterly program entitled “Five Textile Villages – The Development of the Textile Industry in the Chattahoochee Valley.”  Though no family relation to the manufacturing Lanier’s, Eddie joined WestPoint Pepperell after graduating from Auburn University with a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering.  Currently, he is the Director of the Environmental Department of WestPoint Home, and is largely responsible for the safeguarding the firm’s historic records.  Lanier’s presentation traces the history of the Company, from the original mills built in 1866 to the final closing of the mills by WestPoint Home.  Highlighting the men who founded and built the Company, Lanier will focus upon the five textile mills of Langdale, Riverdale, Lanett, Shawmut, and Fairfax, including an examination of life in a mill village.  In addition, he will address the development of the C.V. Railroad and the electrification of the Valley via the hydroelectric dam at Langdale.

            Our quarterly meeting will be held Sunday, January 17, at 3:00 pm EST at the Bradshaw Library in Valley.  The public is also invited to attend.

           

The CVHS Bus Trip Registration Form has been revised ...



Registration Form

Complete the information on front and back. (If traveling with spouse, please fill out separate forms.)  Enclose deposit of $95, made payable to CVHS either by personal check or money order.    Mail to:  CVHS Bus Trip 2016, C/o M. Powers, 1301 Roper Avenue, West Point, Georgia  31833



Personal Contact Information:

Name
Mailing Address
City, State, Zip
Home phone
Cell phone(s)
email



In Case of Emergency notify:

(1)  Name                                                                 Relationship
       Home phone                                                    Cell phone
(2)  Name                                                                 Relationship
       Home phone                                                    Cell phone
(3)  Primary Care Physician
       Office phone



Medical Insurance:

Primary         Company:
                       Group:                                         Policy or ID #:
Secondary     Company:
                        Group:                                        Policy or ID#:
 Medicare       Claim #                                                             Part B?    Yes  /  No
 Medicare Advantage Plan   ID #
 Medicare Supplement Policy      Company:                       
                                                           Policy or ID#:



Allergies:

Food allergies?   List:
Medication allergies?  List:
Environmental allergies?   List:







Please read carefully and sign the following Participation Agreement:



I understand that after 12/01/15, any payments made by me or on my behalf are subject to forfeiture if I choose not to go on this trip. 
 
I understand that the registration period will remain open until May 1, 2016, unless the trip capacity of 40 paid travelers is reached prior to that date, in which case I will be contacted and given the opportunity to either be placed on a waiting list (in case of cancellations) or have my check returned to me.

I understand that I may choose to make installment payments according to the published payment schedule, but failure to pay by the due date(s) may result in cancellation of my reservation and loss of any monies previously paid.  If registering after Dec. 1, 2015, please pay deposit and any payments that were due prior to the time of your registration.

I understand that, if it becomes necessary for me to return home while this trip is underway, I will be responsible for any additional travel costs I might incur.

I understand that CVHS reserves the right to cancel this trip on or before January 1, 2016, and that I would be reimbursed for any and all payments I had paid prior to cancellation.

I understand that unforeseen circumstances may arise and necessitate substitutions or omissions of certain elements of the published trip itinerary. 

I grant permission for pictures and images of myself to be taken while a participant on this trip, provided these pictures and images will be used only for CVHS’s promotional purposes.

I understand that I assume all of the risks and responsibilities associated with being a participant on CVHS’s motor coach trip of June 18-22, 2016, and thereby hold harmless and indemnify, release and forever discharge the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society, as well as its Board of Directors, from and against any and all claims, demands and actions or causes of actions on account of or resulting from my participation in the previously cited trip during the period of participation as aforesaid.


_____________________________            __________________________       _________
                Print Name                                                      Signature                                        Date 










Thursday, October 15, 2015

CVHS Program for Sunday, October 18, 2015, at 3 p.m.



Ockfuskenena, a Creek Indian Town, and the Events that Lead to its Attack and Destruction
The quarterly meeting of the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society will be held at 3:00 pm ET on October 18, 2015 at the Bradshaw Library in Valley, AL.  The Bradshaw Library is located on Highway 29 in Valley, Alabama, approximately one mile south of I-85 Exit 79.  The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

           Joseph H. Thompson, retired Historic Site Manager II, with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, will present “Okfuskenena, a Creek Indian Town, and the Events that Lead to its Attack and Destruction.” Joe is a graduated from West Point High School.  He received his A.A. degree from Middle Georgia College, and his B.S. degree in History from LaGrange College.  He served as Historic Site Manager at Sunbury Historic Site and as Historic Site Manager II at Wormsloe Historic Site, both Georgia Department of Natural Resources sites located on the Georgia coast.  Joe serves as a board member of The Friends of Horseshoe Bend, Fort Tyler, The Troup County Archives, and the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society.

        The presentation, “Okfuskenena, a Creek Indian Town, and the Events that Lead to its Attack and Destruction,” will establish the Creek town’s origin and the events that brought about its demise.  A chronological order will be established putting into perspective the events that came about with the end of the American Revolution and the establishment of a new U.S. government and their effects on the Creek Nation and the town of Okfuskenena.

        The conclusion of the American Revolution brought about the end of British Trade and support for the Indians.  The State of Georgia made treaties with the Indians but not all were in agreement.  The eventual push back of the Native People against expansion and white settlements became known as the Oconee War.  With the ratification of the Constitution of February 6, 1788, it became illegal for states to make treaties and maintain a standing army. The United States efforts to establish a treaty at Rock Landing in 1789 on the Oconee River ended prematurely with Alexander McGillivray leaving with the Creek delegation.  In a second attempt the Creeks were invited to New York to sign a treaty on August 7, 1790.  McGillivray after returning home found that neither the Creeks nor the Georgians were satisfied.  With the Georgians continued desire for more land the Indian raids continued.  The Indian raids increased with the death of Alexander McGillivray in February, 1793.  The south was on the eve of an all-out war.   In retaliation the Green County Militia burned a Creek town on the Chattahoochee, Ofuskeenena.  During the Creek war 1813-14 General David Adams returned to the river crossing twenty years after burning Okfuskenena with orders to burn the Okfuskee town of Neuyauka on the Tallapoosa River.  

        In the mid-1960s the site of Burnt Village became an important archaeological site during the construction of the West Point Dam and reservoir.

 

Monday, April 13, 2015

CVHS Program for Sunday, April 19, 2015, at 3 p.m.



The LaFayette Ceremonial Stone Complex: 
An Unexpected Discovery of A  Prehistoric Stone Row and Stones Piles in Chambers County

Presenter: Teresa Paglione, Cultural Resources Specialist, National Resources Conservation Services, US Department of Agriculture

About a decade ago a member of The Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society Board of Directors followed a clue found in printed material in the Cobb Memorial Archives to rediscover a mysterious site of stones long ignored and almost forgotten by the inhabitants of Chambers County.  The Board member with family made lengthy treks through cottonmouth infested swamps to reach and walk over the undisturbed site.  In the nineteenth century this odd array of stones covering acres of land next to a creek was approachable by field roads and was visited by picnic parties of school children and families.
 Since the rediscovery of the site, the CVHS Board has identified the landowner and secured permission for access to the sight for purposes of study and documentation.   Teresa Paglione, as a professional archeologist, was asked by the Board to provide leadership in documentation of the site. The landowner is committed to protecting the site because of its unique value in understanding the history of Chambers County and this region.  The location of the site and name of the owner will not be publicized and access to the site is made by permission of owner through CVHS officers. A rattlesnake has been observed in the stones.
 The LaFayette Ceremonial Stone Complex consists of a single massive linear stone row in somewhat of a crescent shape-with both ends leading downhill to a creek.  Across from this linear stone work and the creek are at least 49 stone piles.  Archaeologists are certain that Native Americans erected these stone works but when they were constructed is not easily documented.  Dozens of these works have been identified in North Alabama. The LaFayette Ceremonial Complex is the largest known work of this type so far south in the topography of our state.  This stone work and site date from perhaps a thousand or more years ago. The historic Native Americans would have recognized these ancient sacred sites, given them names and may have contributed to the works.  Teresa will describe the LaFayette Ceremonial Site and the work to date in the effort to document the large site and its stone works.
Teresa was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, lived in Orlando, Florida (pre-Disney) and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama.  Graduating with a degree in Art and a double-minor in Sociology-Anthropology from Auburn University Montgomery, she started working with a local archeologist, Dave Chase, in her junior year at AUM.  After working for a year in archaeology in Alabama, she attended graduate school at Florida State University.  She has worked as an archeologist for private contractors, the State of Florida, Georgia Dept. of Transportation, the National Park Service (Florida), the US Forest Service (Chattahoochee National Forest, GA), and for the past eighteen years , the Natural Resources Conservation Service here in Alabama. She is former Vice President and President of the Alabama Archaeological Society, President of the local East Alabama Chapter of the Alabama Archaeological Society, and a Board Member of the Lee County Historical Society.