Summer of 19 - #36 - Exploring Fort Gaines, looking for food, more deer & another sunset.....

Friday October 18th, 2019
I watched Andy play Copil in the quarter finals at Antwerp.  He won 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. He's now into his first ATP semi final since 2017. Yippee!!!!!
We decided to have a drive to the lock and dam, that are near here.
The leaves are starting to change color.

We found the Walter F George Lock & Dam further up the lake from the campground.

Unfortunately you couldn't walk along the top of the dam or see the locks. 😞.  We still managed to get some pictures of the dam though.

The lock is to the right of the dam

Lot of birds sitting on top of the walls

Birds lining up at the base of the dam

There was some pretty scenery.

Some people were in a boat, and on the little island fishing.

These guys were waiting for dinner, ha!!ha!!

White Egret

Bryan taking his pictures.

including this one of me, at the top of the hill.  Looks like I'm sitting, but I am standing.

I took these pictures of along the river from the dam.

Looks like another fisherman on the opposite bank.

On the way out we drove past this fishing pond for children.  What a good idea.  Only open in summer though. The water in the pond was quite high.

Next stop was Fort Gaines, a small town in Georgia.

Sign showing we were in Fort Gaines

Driving through it seemed a little like a ghost town, very sad.  Buildings were abandoned and there wasn't much living going on here, it seemed.  

Frontier Village was what we came to see.  We knew it would be a small area from reading about it, and our expectations weren't high.  It is in part of a park that has existed since at least 1908, and possibly longer.  

This blockhouse marks the site of the frontier stockade built in 1816.

There is a sign that explains the site.

It is high up and overlooks the valley, which is why the site was chosen for the fort/stockade.

Frontier Village has been recreated just below the blockhouse.  The buildings are original buildings that have been moved here, in an attempt to preserve them.  The area is open to everyone and I would think it's difficult to keep the buildings free from vandalism and vagrants, but there were no signs of either, which is a credit to the people organizing this.  It looks as though it is done by some very dedicated volunteers who care deeply about this project, but have limited funds with which to work.  There is no fee to walk around, and no donation box that we could see.

Newt Engram Cabin

Fireplace in Newt Ingram Cabin

Ingram House

Ingram House

Fireplace in Ingram House

Ingram House

Grist Mill

Inside Grist Mill

Log Corn Crib

Hammock Log House

Hammock Log House

Privy

Back of the Hammock Log House & Privy

Smoke House

Split Rail Fence & Cane Mill

Don't know what this is, any ideas??

Old plough????

That was more interesting than we expected, so a nice surprise.  We went back to where Tilly was patiently waiting for us.  Our poor old car is beginning to look the worse for wear.  She is showing signs of being towed behind Lily for the last 6 years, and then being abused by us, up and down hills on our many road trips to explore.  I suspect we may have to think about replacing her at some time soon, as she nears 80,000 miles.  Not sure how that will happen, but we'll figure it out hopefully!!!!

We were getting hungry so we decided to find somewhere to eat.  We looked in "Bitchin Betty", our GPS.   The only thing we could find that looked reasonable was a Ruby Tuesday about 18 miles in the wrong direction.  Oh well, why not!!!!!  Off we went, the isolated towns didn't get any better, and it was a very dismal outlook for this area.  

Bank of Henry, although doesn't look as Bank of Henry exists anymore.  I think it's now Abbeville Chamber of Commerce. Lovely building in the middle of a dilapidated area in Abbeville, Ga.

We got to where Ruby Tuesdays should have been and found "Rubys" a restaurant with "Southern Soul" food.  It was a small shack, and we just didn't feel comfortable with it.  I know, some of the best food is usually these shacks but neither of us are that adventurous.  Bryan would probably have loved the food, me not so much, but neither of us liked the look of the place or location.  We were really looking forward to a nice sit down meal, but looked at our options.  McDonalds it was, and to be honest I didn't feel very comfortable there either.  What an adventure, but we survived and made our way home.
Once back at the campground we had a drive around to look at other sites.  There seemed to be deer everywhere.  Love it and love our site.

                            

We love this campground and to top all that, we got a lovely sunset again.  Really made up for the disappointing meal. 😁

Bryan silhouetted in the sunset

That's it, another day in the life of Lily Pad Travels.  Stay tuned for the next installment.....