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A Visit Will Take You
Back In Time
by Frank Smith
'Thirty
years ago Betty Herring came to Milstead with a degree in
Physical Education, right from the campus of Georgia State Women's
College, Milledegeville, Georgia. She was employed by Callaway Mills
Foundation in LaGrange to direct the recreation activities of the
twelve hundred people of the town of Milstead.
In a few
short months, she knew almost everyone in town, with whom she came
in contact through her position of Recreation Director. She
conducted a long range of activities including arts and crafts,
dancing, social clubs, archery, golf, softball, tennis, swimming,
tumbling, horsehoes, skating, basketball, bowling, pool, badminton,
table tennis and all water activities.
After two
years at Milstead, the Red Cross organization offered her a greater
challenge to help people. She accepted their offer and wound up in
California where she owns and operates a medical billing service.
Recently,
Betty Herring Rhodes made a brief visit to Milstead for the first
time in thirty years. The boys and girls whose lives were touched by
her and who still remember her have their own homes and families.
After a brief tour of her first assignment she said, "A visit back
to Milstead makes one wonder if they have somehow stepped back in
time." In a sense, that's exactly what happens to anyone who visits
Milstead, the hub of Rockdale County for over a century. Milstead's
progress, which almost controlled the economic welfare of the
county, from the day of the town crier to the village rat catcher
and humble grave digger gives the visitor a glimpse into the past.
Milstead
was once a beehive of activity with the humming of machines turning
out goods that were hauled to Georgia Railroad in Conyers by its
railroad steam engine, dubbed the 'Dinky' that has its own private
place3 along side the mainline railroad tracks at the Conyers Depot.
It was placed there by the Conyers Historical Society. |
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While
construction of homes and high-rise condo's alters Rockdale's
skyline by the hour and day, the tiny community of Milstead remains
almost unchanged. The Milstead people are proud of their heritage.
They make every effort to preserve the tree-lined streets and
sidewalks and shrubbery. A welcome sign greets everyone who visits
and invites them to come see history as it was in the days of merry
town crier singing, 'all is well' and the village rat catcher
saying, 'Ha ha, I got this one alive.'
Two years
ago a group of old timers, along with some second generation folks,
got together to plan and organize a Linthead Reunion. The Reunion
was a huge success, and brought 689 people from four states back to
the place of their roots.
In 1961,
Milstead people who were dependent on the mill for their livelihood,
suddenly found themselves unemployed and seeking other means to
support themselves and their families. No one suffered, they just
stuck together.
In 1979,
the City of Conyers and Rockdale County, at the request of a
Milstead committee, made application to the HUD for a grant for
Milstead that was without a safe and adequate water supply and sewer
system. Under the grant, Milstead was to receive $300,000 for the
water system and $500,000 for the sewer system. The following year a
new system was bought from private owners and the new system was
completed. The new Rockdale County administrators refused to go
ahead with the sewer system, blaming some of the Milstead homeowners
as being uncooperative during the installation of the water system.' |
