2016-11-08 - Visit West Georgia Fall

Tour from page 11

Highway 120 east. Its open Mon- day thru Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. until noon. Admission is free. If you enjoy canoeing or kayaking, you’ll have to come back to Tal- lapoosa to try out the Dub Den- man Canoe Trail , a 27-mile long water course that connects to the Alabama Canoe Trail . There are three official launch sites, and if you don’t have a suitable water- craft, Lazy River Rentals at 131 Doe Valley Drive will assist you. Bowdon to Carrollton Continuing our adventure off the beaten path, let’s leave U.S. 78 and travel south along Georgia State Route 100. As we re-enter Car- roll County , our destination now is the quiet west Georgia town of Bowdon , a leisurely, 20-minute drive across Interstate 20, down through some of the most scenic countryside west Georgia can offer. Bowdon was the site of Bowdon College , chartered in 1856 and one of the premier educational

Tallapoosa began to grow in the 1880s, after the railroad arrived and a land speculator named Ralph Spencer . He began adver- tising the place in northern news- papers as a boom town, and many people from across the northeast relocated here. Unfortunately, the boom went bust – but the houses those settlers built remain as some of the finest examples of archi- tecture that can be found in west Georgia. And not all Spencer’s plans went bust. He correctly foresaw that the land in Haralson County was perfect for winemaking . In the late 1880s, he invited some 200 Hungarian winemaking fami- lies to move here, and they settled north of Tallapoosa in settlements they called Budapest , Nytria and Tokaj , recalling those famous winemaking regions of Hungary. It may seem hard to believe, but for nearly 30 years, west Georgia was one of the largest wine pro- ducing regions of the nation. But all that came to an end in 1908, when the state initiated Prohibi- tion – nine years ahead of Eigh- teenth Amendment and national Prohibition. Eventually the Hun- garian colonies died out, but the Budapest Cemetery , located east of Tallapoosa on Budapest Cemetery Road, remains the final resting place of those who found a lasting home here, far from their native land. While in Tallapoosa, you’ll want to visit the Museum of Tallapoosa , located at 185 Mann St. Here, you’ll find a unique take on local history, dating all the way back to the age of dinosaurs. There are authentic replicas of old stores, including a barber shop and bank, that will take you back to an earli- er time. It’s open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admission for adults is $2 and $1 admits children. And if you’d like to see some examples of exotic animals, don’t forget the Bud Jones Taxidermy Museum , located at 359 Georgia

BUDAPEST, GEORGIA

In the late 1800’s, three wine- making communities were founded in Haralson County. By 1907, the passage of the Prohibition Act in Georgia spelled the doom of our new industry. The pioneer Hun- garians who became part of the Georgia soil lie in the Budapest Cemetery, many of the graves marked with names which sound foreign to these parts.

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