The Callaway Farm in Fayette County Georgia

                  On December 20, 1908,  Charlie Callaway hitched up the mule and wagon... and he went to pick up Winnie Davis Cargile at her mama and daddy's house. It was a good day for a wedding. Charlie had a marriage license issued by Fayette County "ordinary" S.B. Lewis.. and he knew how to get to the North Bridge that crosses the Flint River. Justice of the Peace J.W. Dixon was waiting at the bridge... it was REALLY going to happen...

                 Charlie was 23 years old. Winnie was 14 years old.
                            

 

                                                Charlie Callaway- Year unknown

            when Charlie would tell the story of the wedding day, he wouldn't talk about the difference in their ages- he wouldn't talk about how Winnie's Daddy wasn't too happy with his teenage daughter "courtin'" a 23 year old man... those stories were for Winnie to tell. No... Charlie would get a glimmer in his blue eyes and focus on the way his young Bride to be was SO excited about their wedding day. when he pulled up near her house in the wagon" Winnie jumped straight off the bank into the wagon seat like a turkey hen flyin through the air.. her feet never touched the "running board step"
                                               

   - Winnie Davis Cargile about four years before she became Mrs Charlie Callaway

               Winnie listened to him tell that story at least a million times through the years.. she denied it .. she denied it every time.. and laughed along with him- every time.. for 59 years...

          Shared Laughter is an affirmation of True Love.. REAL love

      The Justice of the Peace was waiting.. and Charlie said " That man read somethin' out of some kinda book.. and then,, he read something out of some magazine... and he said... " allright- Y'all are married" . The Newlyweds BOTH hopped like Turkeys off the wooden bridge in to the wagon to go honeymoon and set up house keepin' in their sharecropper house.
       The baby came about a year after they were married- a boy, he lived just a few days.
        the sadness left them in such a dark place. a 15 year old mother, losing her first child. Grief paralyzed them and they couldn't think of a reason to give him a name. An uncertain future in uncertain times...

      The years went by.. sharecropper "arrangements " came and went... " places" were bought .. and sold.. and in 1924 Charlie bought 55 acres of land for $14.00 an acre.. the  Holt House became the Callaway Farm House.

 

                                       Callaway Farm House by Artist Susan Howell Graham

 

 

 

it took two bales of cotton every year to make the payment on the farm...1925 was a DRY year.. but the two bales were delivered... year after year,,, after year...

 

   when Charlie Callaway died January 3, 1967. He had raised nine children to be grown. He had bought and paid for almost 60 acres of land. and he didn't owe a dime to anybody. His son James Callaway says that " Daddy was a miracle worker" I think my Father is right about his dad, my grandfather Charlie... and I also know that Charlie knew and trusted the REAL miracle worker.His Heavenly Father that brought the Callaway family through trial and tribulation.

 

                        

 

                                                         Charlie Callaway- year unknown

 

 

                                                     

 Winnie Callaway - year unknown

 

    Because a 14 year old girl eloped with a 23 year old man in 1908... the Callaway Farm is still thriving... Cotton is no longer grown here... the old Farm house has been gone for many years.. The Callaways still live here... Corn and tomatoes and watermelons and all kinds of vegetables are being raised and sold here.. Come on by... blow the horn,... and James and Alice will take care of you.. you will get some fresh picked vegetables... and maybe you will be blessed to hear the story of Charlie and Winnie...from one who knows it well... the one who told it to me

                                                         

 

  



The Callaway Farm House

           A few days ago I was feeding my daily Facebook addiction- scrolling down with a fevered frenzy -checking out the photos of what my friends were having for lunch, seeing the usual political posts, smiling at the gazillion pictures of cute kids and kitties...I just knew that I was going to stumble upon a treasure if I just kept on scrolling....

 

        Just a few more minutes.... then I will  get back to work.. I WILL finish mopping my kitchen floor....

 

 

      THEN..... I SAW IT.... I SAW THIS:

 

 

A Pearl of great Price caught my eye... and captured my heart...

 

 

the minute I saw this painting, my fingers that had been adeptly and easily "scrolling down" my Facebook newsfeed became paralyzed... I read what others had commented... I managed to type " Beautiful Work"... and the Artist asked me, " Clay, do you recognize that house? "... of course I recognized it.... and the longer I gazed at this painting... I saw a couple of " additions" to the scenery.

 

in fact... I can still see them....

 

on the porch.. in front of the far right window.. I see a silver haired lady in a rocking chair.. dipping her snuff.....delivering her passionate diatribes on the days of King Cotton, FDR,and The New Deal.

 

She watched Lawrence Welk every Saturday... and she always listened for the Rain Crow.. " I don't need no TV weather man to tell me when we are gonna get rain.. the rain crow gets it right every time.."

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

       I also see.. a little boy... sitting on the steps... his mind is racing toward the creek... planning and plotting an afternoon of sliding down the leaf covered bluff .. a piece of old barn tin waiting to be ridden as a make shift summer day sled... he has heard her stories a million times...

 



    and now that so many years have passed by... that little boy wishes he had listened more closely... he longs to go back.... if only for a moment.. to hear her stories... thank you Susan Howell Graham for taking me back to that front porch.. to the days of fun and frolic .. because of your beautiful painting of the Callaway Farm House... I have heard Granny Winnie telling her stories... and these days....          I am listening.....

 

          Artist Susan Howell Graham, her Father Jimmy Howell; who commissioned this painting as a gift to my Father James Callaway .and... her painting of the Callaway Farm House