A Historical Glimpse into...
The Bednego F. Wright Home
Place,
aka The Wright Inn at Antioch;
The Historic Antioch
Community,
Polk County, Georgia
Within the quietness of this ancient little cottage lie many
secrets of the past – some dark secrets and many joyful tales that comprise its
sesquicentennial agelessness. Among its
secrets are Civil War battles, blood loss, and tears, as well as histories of life, liberty and love stories truer than that of Romeo and Juliet. This is a
home with a classic fairy-tale history great enough to fill 150 years. Its dreams, hopes, and disappointments lay
waiting to be discovered, for only few have revealed themselves.
Excerpt from Rockmart Journal: Bobbie
Wright Grogan holding a picture of her ancestors, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Wright,
and his first wife, Mary Ella Peek. The
photograph was taken circa 1880, near the time of their wedding. Dr. B. F. & Mary Ella were Bobbie’s
great-great grandparents. Bobbie is
seated on the front porch of the Bednego F. Wright home place which was built
circa 1863 in the Antioch Community, Polk County, Georgia. Bednego was the 3rd great
grandfather of Bobbie. Photo Also Courtesy of Agnes Hagin, Rockmart Journal,
August 2010
The story of this historic home begins during the heat of the
onset of the Civil War, during the early 1860s, when Bednego F. Wright, along
with his plantation of family, animals, and slaves came to the up and coming
Antioch Community, also known as Yellow Stone Township in that day and time. It is believed this name was given to the
community because it was a locale where gold had been found several years prior
to 1834. This fact is confirmed through
the 1834 Official Georgia Map, which shows only one name labeled inside
Paulding County, as simply, Gold. There is a symbol used to link the name of
Gold to three, possibly four, distinct locations of gold discoveries on that
year’s map. However, the one locale labeled
with the actual written name, Gold, is the same as the present Historic Antioch
Community.
1834 Official Map of Paulding (Including present-day Polk) County,
Georgia
The references to gold and the gold mines in this area are still found in parts of Paulding
County today, as there remains Gold Mine Road and rough maps that identify an
1800s mine on Gold Mine Road that was functional during that time. It is evident from all accounts that the name
of The Yellow Stone Township/District evolved from the former name of Gold that was recorded on the 1834 map
of Paulding County. When Paulding was
separated in 1851 to form Polk County from the westernmost part of the county,
Yellow Stone then became a part of Polk County, and, over time, the name almost
became completely dissociated with Polk County.
Reference to this district under the name of Yellow Stone is now found
almost exclusively in historical writings or genealogy records of long ago that
associate with Paulding, instead of Polk.
It took me several years of research and digging to locate the 1834 Georgia
map of Paulding County that would offer the proof I sought. I feel this proves that the name was indeed
derived from the previous name of the area known as Gold.
This area of Polk County was once inhabited by the Cherokee Indians
after they defeated the Creek Indians for control of their land. The Creeks were known to be the first
inhabitants of this area. The Wright
Home Place claims a close proximity to the current county seat of Cedartown,
which is only a 10-minute drive to the west.
Cedartown has the historical significance of being the southernmost
concentration camp of the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears. There are many tales and historical truths of
the Cherokee village of Cedar Town, with the center of its activity gravitating
around Big Spring. A monument and
historical marker currently stand on the banks of the spring to commemorate its
historical roots as a hub of Cherokee festivals, gatherings, and commerce. Sadly, it also marks the point of initial
devastation of the way of life of the local Cherokee population of this and
surrounding counties.
There are some amazing stories of Cherokee festivals that took place here in this area on
the creek banks of Big Spring. Perhaps
the most well-known Cherokee event held here was the Green Corn Festival. This ceremony was held in July or August, depending on when the "green" corn was not quite ripe, but was "fitting" to taste. I can't help but to think of our own present-day Antioch Corn Boiling, as a small reminder that we weren't the first inhabitants in our community's history to host a corn-related festival, although ours is not so much a ritual, but for the sake of fun, fellowship and food. (This inspires me even more to reclaim and maintain our Local Antioch Corn Boiling Tradition.)
Yellow Stone
was once a quaint village which included a general store, post office, and
Antioch Baptist Church, which was humbly constructed as a pole cabin in
1843. The church was made up of 5
charter members. Those members were Mr.
and Mrs. Baldwin (Uncle Baldy) Peek, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, and Elizabeth
Pollard. The first pastor of the church
was Rev. Minor Wynn.
The Yellow
Stone post office is believed to have been located at the corner of Antioch and Runyon Loop Road right
near where the Antioch Store now sits.
The Yellow Stone name of the community is confirmed on the official Map
of Georgia in 1865, and there are references to the Post Office in Yellow Stone
in the Polk County census of 1860. Other dates I have found referencing this name are 1856,
1860, and 1863. The only
postmaster of Yellow Stone that is known to me was Thomas Peek, who was the father-in-law of
Dr. Benjamin F. Wright.
1865 Map references Yellow Stone as the name of the present-day Antioch Community
Later in the
1880s and 90s, the name for the community had shifted from Yellow Stone to
Shades, and this name is confirmed on an 1899 Official Map of Georgia. Shades also maintained a Post Office, and
the only known postmaster under this name was Uncle Willie Wright. He brought the mail from Young’s Station to
Shades and distributed it in the community.
It is unclear when the official name shifted from Shades to Antioch, but
there is no record that a post office ever existed under the name of the
Antioch. Interestingly enough,
however, the Yellow Stone and Shades Post Office Building may live on today, as it has been rumored to have been added to the back of the Bednego Wright Home. A couple of long-term Antioch residents have relayed the intriguing message to us that the Old Post Office, which was then unused, was purchased and brought to the Wright Home for use as an indoor attached kitchen. There is definitely a difference in architectural details of the home's current kitchen in relation to the main house, which makes up the living room and two bedrooms. I would love to find hard evidence that either positively confirms or disproves this "rumor."
The kitchen
of the home was added some years after the home was built, sometime during the
early 1900s. The original Wright Home did not have an attached kitchen; however, there was an exterior 'cooking room,' which we believe was attached to the well-house, which is still standing. The alleged kitchen is still intact, complete with an authentic dirt floor. Back in the 1800s, it was customary for homes to be built with the living quarters separate from the cooking room for two primary reasons. First, fires were most likely to occur in a kitchen, and before the time of local Fire Departments, there was often no way of saving a burning structure. Having the cooking area separate from the main house was a type of "insurance" that would save the homeowners from complete loss and devastation caused by fire. Secondly, for many wealthy families, a servant or plantation worker often cooked for the family, and this was a way to keep the main house private for use by the family members exclusively.
My Aunt
Laura Merritt was a student at the Historic Antioch School that is situated on the property adjacent to the Wright Home. Her teacher was Mae Wright Wray, who lived in the Wright Home then, and had been there since her marriage into the Wright family many decades before. Aunt Laura recalls her youthful visits to the home with a wonderful and
colorful memory of how beautiful and interesting it was to see a bright yellow
paint on the ceiling of the kitchen. It
is unclear whether this paint may have been original to the Post Office or if it was done
by the homeowners. In any case, the
yellow remains, although it is more of a subdued buttery color now with the
passage of time.
Just as the ceiling has faded, so do our memories about places and people we were told about in our childhood. Many historical facts about our local communities, families, and cultures have faded into extinction or near-extinction at this point, and it is up to those of us who remain to rediscover and share what vital knowledge we can with those of future generations. For it is when history is discovered that our true history comes alive!
More to come...
Just as the ceiling has faded, so do our memories about places and people we were told about in our childhood. Many historical facts about our local communities, families, and cultures have faded into extinction or near-extinction at this point, and it is up to those of us who remain to rediscover and share what vital knowledge we can with those of future generations. For it is when history is discovered that our true history comes alive!
More to come...
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