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Once again the Branch Members gathered at the beautifully decorated home of Elizabeth and Jim Munson for our annual Christmas Party. The last weekend before Christmas guaranteed heavy traffic, but our Members braved the delays and showed up ready to have a good time. The buffet was nicely catered by the Jerry Dilts group augmented by Elizabeth's rich and tasty desserts.
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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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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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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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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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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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Thomas McElhinny was featured as the ESU speaker at the February 23, 2017 Member meeting. His presentation was on the history of the French and Indian War in America which was ignited by the actions of a very young George Washington. The confrontation subsequently became a worldwide conflict known in history as the Seven Years War, which Winston Churchill described as "the first world war". England's defeat of the French brought an end to the French Empire in North America. This defeat gave England a clear path to controlling the new world and destroyed the ability of native peoples to resist the expansion of Anglo-American settlements in North America.
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On February 19th the Branch held its annual National Shakespeare Competition at the New Shakespeare Playhouse. Branch Competition Chair Pam Sellman orchestred the 18 local high school contestants through their paces as each presented a sonnet and a 20 line monologue from a play of their choice. Each of the contestants was the winner of their school competition.
Marilyn Moore was selected the winner by the there (3) professional actors/drama educators who served as the competition panel. She won an expense-paid trip to New York City where she will compete in the National Competition that includes the winners from 50 other Branches.
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The turnout for our January meeting was excellent with many guests in attendances. "How Brexit Baffled Britain" was the provocative subject that our speaker, Patrick Allitt, spoke about at our first meeting of the year. He definitely kept our attention as he gave the historical background that had led to the creation of the Common Market/European Union. With two horrific World Wars devastating most of Europe financially and otherwise, something needed to change in the way European countries interacted with each other to prevent future conflicts. Trade was thought to be a way to ease tensions, and a mutually beneficial trade effort was initiated in 1951 with 6 countries called European Coal & Steel Commission. As with so many ideas that start out with good intentions, over the years the EU became a huge bureaucracy that decided it would be a good idea to have their own military, its own currency and overwhelming rules and regulations so that everyone would be on the same page. One important aspect of the EU is the free flow of people between the countries. The individual nations who elected to join the EU had the option of using the Euro for buying and selling to the majority of the countries have. However, the overreaching rules and regulations that standardized everything from cheese to dog leaches ended up destroying much of the uniqueness and sovereignty of each country.
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This year's party was another special treat at the home of James and Elizabeth Munson. Their beautifully decorated home was so welcoming and definitely set the tone for the Christmas party celebration. The centerpiece was a huge tree with abundant decorations.
Everyone seemed very pleased with the buffet items expertly prepared by Party Express and calorie-busting desserts that were just delicious!! Lots of glass clinking with Christmas wishes all around.
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