News And Events
Presentation on Barnsley Gardens by Clent Coker at November Member Meeting
News
After listening to the presentation from Clent Coker (pictured left with Carolyn Mitchell, Program Chairman) on the history of North Georgia's Barnsley Gardens, it became obvious that we knew very little about the history of the property. Four generations of his family lived near the Gardens granting him the opportunity to accumulate many artifacts and stories of the ups and downs of Barnsley. It was out of love that Godfrey Barnsley bought some land and built the house for his beloved wife Julia to take advantage of the fresh air in the Georgia Mountains as she suffered from poor health. Mr. Barnsley was originally from Darbyshire, England and was a respected entrepreneur although he never actually became an American citizen. He did very well in business and was able to acquire 8,000 acres of land that became the house and gardens.
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October Meeting - Private Lives: A Look at the Family and Personal Life of King George V and Queen Mary
News
Our speaker for this month's meeting (pictured left), Michael McDavid, a retired adjunct professor at the former Georgia Perimeter College, brought us an in depth presentation on one of his favorite royal couples, King George V and Queen Mary. His talk started with the early lives of both monarchs who are both of German ancestry. Interestingly, Queen Mary was actually engaged to George's brother Edward who sadly died just weeks after their engagement. Queen Victoria, who was a match maker extraordinaire, went to work arranging for Mary to marry Prince George. Fortunately, it worked and their marriage was a successful one. They both had a strong sense of duty. The couple had five children: David (who would become the Prince of Wales), a daughter Mary, Albert (known as Bertie), George, Henry and John.
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September 14 Member Meeting
Event

Atlanta's preCivil War history came alive for ESU members and guests on September 14th as Larry Upthegrove, a historian and docent at Oakland Cemetery, held the audience spellbound with stories from the earliest beginnings of Terminus, Georgia to the mayoral election in 1842. We were all willing for Mr. Upthegrove to continue, but time had run out. We will undoubtedly look forward to a continuation from Mr. Upthegrove in the near future. In the meantime, you can stay connected to Mr. Upthegrove and Atlanta's history through his daily blog, "150 years ago today" which can be accessed through his Facebook page.
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May 4 Member Meeting
News
The program chairman, Carolyn Mitchell, introduced the speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Dowling (both pictured left), who is an architectural historian and has several books on the subject to her credit. She taught architecture at Georgia Tech for 37 years, Dr. Dowling gave a slide presentation depicting the very beginning of classic Greek and Roman architecture and how it influenced architecture through the centuries, Classical architecture began to decline in England when it became too expensive to design and build structures, especially after the world wars. Fortunately, during the late 80's a resurgence of interest in the preservation of classical design began to immerge in the U.S. and England by architects like Jon Simpson, Quinlan Terry, Craig Hamilton and even a local Atlanta architect, Norman Askins. Universities began to offer classes on classic design. Prince Charles was instrumental in expressing the need to bring back classicism as opposed to the ultra-modern offerings that have been erected in London in recent years. Dr. Dowling showed us some buildings in London that were built recently in the classic style. The same is going in the United States.
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2017 Annual General Meeting
News
The Annual General Meeting that was called to order by Wesley Devoto, OBE, Chairman of the Board. First order of business was the presentation of the slate of officers and board members by the Chairman of the Nominating Committee, Grace Sanders, to be voted on by the membership. The Nominating Committee had worked hard to put together an excellent roster of candidates. A vote was called for to approve the nominees, and they were approved unanimously. A listing of the new Board can be found on the "About Us" page of this website.
Some committee chairpersons gave reports on the activities of the past year, and the President, Don Pattillo, talked about the achievements and changes that had gone on during the last 12 months in addition to his vision for the future of our branch. The Treasurer, Charles Maddrey, gave us his report on the finances of our branch which is in very good condition. Thanks to the generosity of our members, we were able to give a $5,000 scholarship plus airfare to our current TLAB recipient who will attend Oxford over this summer.
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