The Fabulous Fox

If you ever want to venture outside the Roswell city limits, why not take a guided tour of the Fabulous Fox in downtown Atlanta?  Yesterday, my BFF and I went on a guided tour of the theater and had a wonderful time.  The tour was led by an Atlanta Preservation Center volunteer and he gave us all the details of the rough beginnings of the now famous theater.

Experience Roswell’s Soda Salon

I don’t know how many times I have driven by Soda Salon and didn’t realize it!  It’s nestled in next to J. Christopher’s Public House, appropriately blending in with Roswell’s historic architecture.  Upon entering the shop, you’ll see that it’s not your typical salon.  Sure to be greeted with a friendly smile, you’ll be immediately impressed by the salon owners’ ability to successfully maintain the integrity of Historic Roswell.

Services for the salon have five separate pricing levels ranging from $35 to $90 for a cut.  Other services offered by the salon include coloring and highlights, hair extensions, perms, straighteners, waxing, lash extensions and make-up applications.  

Roswell Launches Tour of Historic Mill Village

Roswell’s Convention and Visitors Bureau Heritage Center has launched a walking tour focusing solely on the famous Roswell Mill and the Mill Village, where the Mill workers lived. 

The tour begins on Atlanta Street (Hwy. 9) and continues down Sloan Street to the Mill and Mill Workers Monument.  The tour is free and also utilizes digital MP3 players to guide visitors through the historic area.  Those interested in downloading the tour to their own digital devices can visit www.roswellhs.org or borrow an MP3 player from the Visitor’s Center.  A CD is also available, for those wanting to drive the tour.  Hikers can visit the old machine shop and Mill ruins along the Vickery Creek trails.

Experience Roswell’s Naylor Hall

Naylor Hall was built in the 1840’s by Barrington King for H.W. Proudfoot, manager of the Roswell mills.  Barrington King came to North Georgia with his father, Roswell King in the late 1830’s, to clear land and build the first mill.

In anticipation of Sherman’s march, a great many supplies of Confederate uniforms were taken from the mill and secretly stored at the Proudfoots home.  In the summer of 1864, the home was heavily damaged by Federal troops but Proudfoot began reconstruction of his home after the war was over.  He remained in his home until his death in 1871.

Experience Roswell’s Allenbrook

Ever wonder what the historic sign was just south of Roswell Square on Roswell Road is?  It’s Allenbrook.  This home was constructed between 1845-1857 as the residence and office for the Ivy Woolen Mill, Theophile Roche.

In 1864, James Roswell King was convinced that the war was coming to Roswell.  In an effort to hopefully save the mills, King temporarily deeded interest in the mill to Roche, hoping for some type of neutral status, as Theophile Roche was a French citizen.  Roche flew a French flag in order to disguise the mills purpose.  Unfortunately, the letters “CSA” (Confederate States of America) were found on the cloth.  This action angered General Sherman and he ordered the mills burned but left Allenbrook intact. 

Roswell Presbyterian Church

Roswell Presbyterian Church plays a large part in the city of Roswell’s history.  Roswell’s founding father, Roswell King, initially organized the town’s layout to include Roswell Presbyterian Church as the focal point.  The town’s limits were to be one mile in each direction from the Church.  Fifteen Presbyterian men and women organized the Church in 1839.  These charter members included James Stephens Bulloch, John Dunwody, Eliza King Hand, Roswell King, Smith Pratt families, and Elizabeth and Helen Magill, Susan Elliott and Sarah Gould.  John Dunwody, Sr., Barrington King, and Archibald Smith were elected elders.  In 1840, they invited Reverend Nathaniel A. Pratt to become their first minister.  Reverend Pratt was married to Catherine King Pratt, another of Roswell King’s daughters.  He remained on as the minister of the Church until 1879.

The Lost Mill Worker’s Monument in Historic Roswell

In 1838, Roswell’s founding father, Roswell King began work on the first cotton mill.  In 1839 it was incorporated as The Roswell Manufacturing Company, just one year after the native Cherokee people were forced onto the Trail of Tears.  The company was hugely successful and during the Civil War, they were one of the leading suppliers of goods to the Confederacy.  When Union soldiers arrived in Roswell to take the river bridge, they discovered two things:  the bridge has been destroyed by Confederate troops and the mills were still in operation.  In an attempt to save the mills, Theophile Roche, a French citizen, flew a French flag over the mills to disguise their purpose.  The letters “CSA” (Confederate States of America) were found on the cloth being produced.  This action angered General W.T. Sherman and he ordered the mills burned.  Some 400 mill workers, mostly women and children, since the men were fighting the war, were arrested and charged with treason and shipped North to uncertain fates.  

Experience Coleman Farm in Roswell

Ora Kermit Coleman is the owner of Coleman Farm.  Mr. Coleman’s farm is on Coleman Road, nestled among high priced homes and located less than a mile from Historic Roswell.  Born in 1923 in a farmhouse that stands only a few hundred yards down the road, he was the 5th of 6 brothers and at age 23, built his own home where he currently resides.  His farmhouse sits on a part of the original 40-acre farm that Ora’s father bought for $10 an acre. Today, Ora has 6.6 acres to raise his chickens, goats and rabbits. 

Historical Markers at Chattahoochee River Park

Ever wonder what the two State of Georgia historical markers are on the running trail by the Chattahoochee River Park in Roswell?

Brigadier General Kenner Garrard commanded the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Division that invaded Roswell on July 5, 1864 and burned the mills.  They marched about 400 factory workers, mostly woman and children, to Marietta where they were loaded on cattle cars and shipped to northern states.  Garrard’s historical marker signifies the spot where Garrard’s Union Cavalry waded the Chattahoochee River in face of opposition from the south side.  The Roswell bridge had been previously destroyed by the retreating Confederates.  Some of Garrard’s soldiers, as many as 36,000 at times, stayed in the Roswell area.  They took to camping on the grounds of beautiful Roswell homes until September of that year.

Happy Halloween Roswell!

Happy Halloween!  It seems only fitting to submit an entry related to something along the lines of a ghost story or a haunting.  What better topic than Historic Roswell’s Founders Cemetery?  Founder’s Cemetery was the first burying ground for Roswell from 1840 to 1860. Among the distinguished dead who rest there are Roswell’s founder, Roswell King; Major James Stephens Bulloch, grandfather of president Theodore Roosevelt and grandson of Archibald Bulloch, first president of Georgia; and John Dunwoody, builder of Mimosa Hall and his wife, Jane Bulloch Dunwoody.  In 1841, an outbreak of scarlet fever resulted in the death of many children including Charles Irving Bulloch, infant son of Major and Mrs. James Stephens Bulloch and three-year-old Ralph King Hand, son of the widowed daughter of Roswell King, Eliza Hand, for whom the first permanent home in Roswell was build, Primrose Cottage.