Boneville
McDuffie Turns 150
Join us in celebrating the 150th birthday of McDuffie County! We will be sharing historic highlights from the county (like the one below) over the next year.
Back in Horse and Buggy Days it was a Favorite Place to go.
The Old Dixie Inn - Boneville, GA
Photo from: Images of America McDuffie County by Chase Beggs
Following are some recollections from Mrs. Rubie Norris from when she used to visit relatives at the Inn in Boneville when it was the Old Smith home back in the late 1890s.
“I guess what we used to do in Boneville wouldn’t appeal to young folk today. We didn’t get in an automobile and run all over creation. You just got a thrill out of simple things. I remember just walking around the mill out in the pasture – it’s all grown up now, but it was beautiful then – and picking up blue flowers. That was fun: everything was fun at Boneville.”
“My aunt Julia had a little store right next to the house. I remember her taking my hand and saying, ‘Come on Rubie, let’s go get some candy.’ I thought going to Aunt Julia’s store was the greatest thing. If there’s any part of my life I’d like to live over, it’s my childhood days in Boneville. Those were beautiful days and that was a fine old house built from the pick of the timber. Life was so much simpler and I think we enjoyed ourselves more then. Picking blue flowers, running down to the dairy – all of that was grand. I never wanted to leave when we visited. Every visit ended with Aunt Julia asking me if I wanted a little something from the store before I left. So I’d always leave with a piece of candy in my hand. Things will never be like that again.”
Excerpt from: McDuffie County, Celebrating 150 Years: Over 200 sketches and stories of the people and places of McDuffie County in celebration of its founding on October 18, 1870. Compiled by Lewis & Joann Smith
People gathered under the pavilion at Hunt’s Lake in Boneville, GA in 1910
Photo from: Images of America McDuffie County by Chase Beggs
Boneville School, 1920, McDuffie County
More stories about McDuffie County can be found in the book: McDuffie County, Celebrating 150 Years: Over 200 sketches and stories of the people and places of McDuffie County in celebration of its founding on October 18, 1870. Compiled by Lewis & Joann Smith.
More historic images of McDuffie County can be found in the book: Images of America, McDuffie County by Chase Beggs.