"Where I come from,it's cornbread and chicken,
where I come from, a lot of front porch sittin' -
workin' hard to make a livin',
where I come from." - Alan Jackson
It was no secret that I wanted out of Georgia as a kid and a teenager. It didn't matter how much debt I would incur, or what school I attended as long as it was far away from Newnan. I didn't know what, exactly, was in the big world out there that wasn't in Newnan, but I knew the answer was, "more." And I wanted more for myself. Like all of these stories of escaping small childhood towns go, I love it now, and I look forward to every visit back home.
Newnan is situated in Coweta County, 30 miles southwest of Atlanta. When my mom, brother, and I moved there, I was 6 years old, and I could count the number of people who lived in our neighborhood on my fingers and toes. I played in the woods, because that's all our eastern corner of Newnan was at the time, and I rode bikes with my friends, and I'll never forget the day my friend Jenny's family got an in-ground pool in her backyard. Driving to the grocery store took 20 minutes because we had to cross town, and the closest thing to us was a single gas station at a big intersection 5 minutes up the road to town.
What I missed out on living on the east side of town was downtown Newnan. Dubbed "the square," it's the hubbub of old Newnan. As my side of town built up to become a commercialized, suburban stronghold in the metro-Atlanta area, downtown Newnan remained (and still remains) much the same as it was many years ago. It's cleaner and shinier now, but it holds the history of our town in its streets and barber shops and small restaurants that'll serve you fried chicken the way it's supposed to be made.
In elementary school I went on a class field trip to learn about the antebellum architecture in Newnan. I wish I remembered more of the history, but it's fun to re-learn it now and appreciate seeing it every time I'm in town.
Newnan bears almost no battle wounds from the Civil War because it was used as a hospital town for Confederate soldiers. Back in those days, it was a wealthy area, and a skilled, renowned architect named Kennon Perry thought it a beautiful spot to build homes. Newnan is known as the "City of Homes" today because beautiful 20th-century homes dot tucked away lanes and roads in the older parts of the city.
On my most recent visit a few weekends ago, I went for a run downtown,
taking advantage of the time to wind my way through streets I felt like
I'd somehow never seen, to admire the old homes.
Newnan, as you might guess, was a slave town. As a teenager, I thought the site of an antebellum home represented oppression and a time for which I'm not proud to be associated even by the flimsiest link of geography. Newnan's history is storied and complicated, but most things worth remembering are.
Alan Jackson, the now famous country singer, is from Newnan. He lived in my neighborhood growing up - right down the street from us. I know most of the words of his old songs. I remember sitting on my uncle's porch, the grill fired up, my brother playing in the woods just off the yard in the distance, and me singing off-key to the country radio station.
Let's share a glass of cold lemonade while you tell me about where you come from.
Top 5 reasons to visit Newnan, Georgia:
1. It's where I come from, duh.
2. Antebellum homes and architecture; Civil War history
3. Sweet tea, lemonade, fried chicken, fried okra, fried green tomatoes
4. It's the set for some popular movies and TV shows, past and present. Past: Fried Green Tomatoes, A Murder in Coweta County Present: Drop Dead Diva, The Walking Dead
5. Easy day trip from Atlanta (30-45 minutes); driving distance from Savannah (4 hours)
other posts on Newnan
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