Where history flows like water

With less than one year remaining of our tour – and with Mr J about to deploy for several months – we are focused on our ‘Bucket List‘. The trouble is, almost every place we visit in America compels us to return – either for the beautiful scenery, or the friendly natives! Indian Springs proves no exception.

Just a 30 minute drive away, Indian Springs is not even our closest State Park, and we have driven nonchalantly past it’s sign on the I-75 dozens of times…

I feel a rare connection with American history as I chat with the handful of people visiting the spring last Sunday. Like the Creek Indians before us, we come for the health benefits of the water. Unlike the Indians, we bring 5 gallon plastic water containers…

“The water does not need to be refrigerated,” explains a gentleman outside, who has been coming here once a month since moving to Georgia twenty years ago. Like the other people I speak to, he uses municiple water for cooking and the spring water for drinking. He advises us to let the water sit for 48 hours to let the smell of rotten eggs (sulphuretted hydrogen) dissipate. He swears the taste is better than any bottled water you can buy.

Above the covered spring is a list of it’s “Curative Powers”. And a detailed analysis of the water shows everything from Arsenic, which promotes appetite and digestion, to Silica, a possible aid in treating cancer…

An elderly African American lady sits in the sun, podding peas into a carrier bag, while a younger relative loads a heavy water container onto a parcel trolley. Later, I chat with two women who have their containers lined up at the covered spring – a lady from Mexico and another from Camodia. We come from three different continents but are united by the act of collecting water – and conversation flows.

The ancient ritual of collecting water continues at Indian Springs, GA

As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink… so our son  wonders off to do what he does best: find stuff. He returns with a shed snake skin and an abundant supply of baby frogs!

Unbelievably, this week marks the completion of our third year posted to America’s Deep South. Despite the many challenges of raising our young family far from home we continue to feel our glass is half full, in fact our cup overflows…

We are invited to sample the spring’s water inside the restored Edwardian refinement of Idlewilde House

This curious address catches my eye on a 1800’s photo at Idlewilde House

Your visit to Indian Springs would not be complete without stopping off at The Village with its clutch of charming stores and immaculate Whimsical Botanical Garden (free entry).

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Kick-starting the Bucket List

I thought only my kids left patently inappropriate things out in the rain, blocked the toilet, and neglected to tell me they’d broken something… but apparently contractors do it too.

Time waits for no man (or woman) and we have just over a year left of our posting to Georgia. With this in mind I recently drew up a list of ‘Things To Do‘ before we leave – from paddling kayaks down our stretch of the Ocmulgee River, to a date night at the iconic Fox Theatre Atlanta. Last week, Prince performed there with just a mike and piano, in what would be his very last concert.

Yesterday evening I played Prince’s music videos to my children in the bath. They were born into a world of wifi and you tube, and will now grow up in a world without Prince, but hopefully they will now remember the day this music legend died.

Parting is such sweet sorrow. Which is why I have spent the last six weeks renovating an investment property – at the expense of my nails, morning jog and weekly blog. The thought of saying goodbye to the wonderful friends we have made, not to mention the winter sunshine, set me on two year search to find a little piece of Georgia we could return to in years to come.

Georgia can now be part of our retirement plan, relieving me of the dread of long, grey British winters and tearful farewells. And hopefully by the time we come back our local Ocmulgee National Monument will be part of Georgia’s first National Park!

We have loved the mountains, the beaches, the peaches, the quirky festivals and antique malls too much to turn our backs and leave forever. We have loved just about every moment of our first two and a half years here with the exception of the Red Tape…

So, until next summer we will keep packing in the sights, sounds and smells of Georgia, with turtles hatching on the beach, the Morehouse College Glee Club, and attending the Vidalia (sweet) Onion Festival being just a few of the things on our ‘Georgia Bucket List’.

I remain confident we can complete our posting and still have Never Eaten McDonalds.

 

PLEASE NOTE If you wish to use my blog in any form you must contact me for permission. Thank you.