Dave Wood

That’s a line from a song  sung years ago by Phil Harris who recently came to mind when we visited Eatonville, Ga., a quaint little town with more than its share of white pillars, Confederate memorabilia, bad memories of Reconstruction--all of which have given southerners a sour taste for northerners who come to witness their decline, and the same for  some of the residents on the other side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I guess it’s the same old story wherever you go. There’s a wonderful line in a 1940s movie called “The Third Man” in which a character states “Italy. That’s the country that was poor, cruel, gave the world Fascism—and also the Renaissance; Switzerland. That’s the country that’s clean, well-to-do, kindly and gave the world democracy—and also the cuckoo clock.”

Sure, Sure, Eatonville has one of those great county court houses that make the north’s versions look like state auto registration office sites. But right next to Eatonville’s magnificent pile stands the always open Georgia Writers Museum, “Devoted to Promoting Georgia Writers and staging Literary Exhibits.”

It goes without saying that my B.W., who holds a B.A. in literature, an M.A. in literature and a Ph.D. in literature suggested we take a gander at the museum’s offerings. The modest store-front structure gave way to five galleries, each featuring one of Georgia’s own: Alice Walker, Joel Chandler Harris, Sidney Lanier, Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty. A veritable literary pantheon.

A gentlemanly docent straight out of a Welty novel proudly welcomed us to the free exhibits, but didn’t hesitate to suggest that we should take a good look at all the merchandise and books for sale, including even more Southern writers, such as  Carson McCullers, Lillian Smith, William Faulkner, Shelby Foote, Margaret Walker, Tennessee Williams, Richard Wright, Stark Young, Edgar Allen Poe, William Styron, Walker Percy.

And B.W., M.A. and Ph.D., burdened with the onerous load of initials she totes around, made a few additions of her own. You’ll probably remember reading some of these authors, whose names have graced best sellers’ lists for decades and whose stories often found their way to the silver screen.

Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God), John Crowe Ransom, Kate Chopin, John Kennedy Toole, James Dickey, Pat Conroy (The Great Santini), Barbara Kingsolver, James Agee (A Death in the Family), Ernest Gaines, Peter Taylor, Reynolds Price, Thomas Wolfe (You Can’t Go Home Again), Charles Portis, and James Weldon Johnson (of Brer Rabbit fame).

Oh my! Let’s not forget a screenwriter mentioned in an earlier column: actor Oliver Hardy of Madison, Ga.