I have to thank Mike Flores for the email that is inspiring me to put this all together. I had already wanted to mention Gary Lynch and his film ventures, so when I read freaky 60s liberal Mike's thought provoking lecture notes on Jefferson Davis (one anecdote claims that a Pope wove a crown of thorns for Jefferson Davis as he languished in Gitmo- I mean, prison, for two years without a trial) I wanted to learn more about the man who gave his name to our extended front yard, Jeff Davis Drive, in Fayetteville, G-A. When I first began visiting the Clifton family in the big pink house in the middle of town in about 1970, there was only one area code- 404,one phone number, 461, and one Zip code, 30214. There were two grocery stores, Colonial, and Abbot & Tant's, and two drug stores, Jones' and Don Scarborough's. There were two churches (ours didn't count), First Baptist and First Methodist, and two roads, 54 & 85.
All of this seemed like more than enough for most people I knew in F-ville during my growing up years, and certainly was a fitting stomping ground for a child who had been cooped up in the house with Mama, Flipper and Days of Our Lives for a good part of her first four years.
I was already obsessed, although I had never even thought to consider my notice of such things-I was raised under the feet of the head of the drafting department at the Highway Department and the Chief Supply Officer of Third Army at Ft Mac, with highway numbers and addresses and telephone numbers. Even so, I don't remember caring for whom the street was named- I thought it much more remarkable that one of the boys was named Jeff, and he lived on a street named Jeff. Now that was famous.
For the next ten years Jeff Davis was my home away from home, and then my home. I met the Shamrock/Lees, Miss Boots, Miss Annie, Mz. Griffin. When Mama died her funeral was held at Mowell's as would be her daughter's seven years later, Mary Ellen lived around the corner as did Jenny and Linda. I've just now had the pleasure of emailing with Gary Lynch, who lived right off the corner of Georgia Avenue on Jeff Davis. None of us are yet as famous as Paige Connor or Gary Williams, but that dogwood lined divided street has nonetheless led us to dream big.
Gary, however has done more than dream; he regularly participates in film festivals and actually makes movies! His brother,is of course quite well known on YouTube as the official Historian of the City of Fayetteville.
So- you can go to this site to see a clip from a well produced biography of Jefferson Davis, or here , or to his -IMDB page(!) to see more about Gary Lynch and his movie magic.
Look to your left to see more Fayetteville ephemera.
