This past week, more than 9,000 voters passed through the little corner of Cherokee County’s early-voting world where I was assigned. We were one of five such locations where the local citizenry could come to cast early votes in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. All told, at least a third of our county’s 134,000 or so registered voters have already cast their votes. The other two-thirds will have to endure long lines next Tuesday at Cherokee County’s 42 precincts.
I will now tell you the names of all 42 voting precincts in Cherokee County, Georgia.
In alphabetic order, they are:
1. Air Acres
2. Arnold Mill
3. Avery
4. Ball Ground
5. Bascomb
6. Bells
7. Booth
8. Bradshaw
9. Bridgemill
10. Canton
11. Carmel
12. Clayton
13. Conns Creek
14. Deer Run
15. Dixie
16. Freehome
17. Hickory Flat
18. Hightower
19. Hillside
20. Holly Springs
21. Kellogg
22. Liberty
23. Little River
24. Macedonia
25. Mountain Road
26. Neese
27. Oak Grove
28. R. M. Moore
29. R. T. Jones
30. Rosecreek
31. Salacoa
32. Sixes
33. Sutallee
34. Teasley
35. Toonigh
36. Union Hill
37. Univeter
39. Victoria
39. Waleska
40. Wildcat
41. Woodlands
42. Woodstock
There now, wasn’t that special?
At least three of the precinct names -- Salacoa, Sutallee, and Waleska -- are words that have meaning in the Cherokee Indian language. No, I do not know what they mean.
Some of the names -- Little River, Mountain Road, Conns Creek, Hickory Flat, Woodlands, Oak Grove -- reflect the geography of our area. Some of the names -- Deer Run, Wildcat -- tell you about our wildlife.
One of the names, Dixie, has been deemed politically incorrect for some time by powers that be in distant places. We don’t care. We Cherokee County residents are rarely swayed by the opinions of others. This independent trait is reflected in the names of two other precincts, Freehome and Liberty.
We used to have a precinct named Lickskillet, but we don’t any longer.
And I have no idea who R. M. Moore or R. T. Jones are or were.
I suppose I should try to find out.
I thought you would want to know these things.
[Editor’s note. I’m pretty sure R. T. Jones is Georgia’s own Bobby Jones, the golfer, but R. M. Moore is still a mystery. --RWP, 4 Nov 2012]
I suppose I should know this or at least have looked it up, but why is 'Dixie' deemed politically incorrect to who and by whom? (Or should be to whom and by who?)
ReplyDeleteMr. P, thank you for asking. Your questions are important to us.
ReplyDeleteThere are at least three theories about the origin of the word "Dixie" and you can read about them in this Wikipedia article. The one with which I am most familiar is the one about surveyor Jeremiah Dixon and the Mason-Dixon line (which is the southern border of the state of Pennsylvania).
Also, the name Dixie was associated with the old slave states that seceded from the U.S. in the 1860s and formed the Confederate States of America. The song of the same name was practically its unofficial national anthem. But the former slaves and their descendants would certainly never sing, "Oh, I wish I was in Dixie" -- so the song not only fell out of favor during the Civil Rights era (1960s) and was highly resented. I have not heard it sung or played in Georgia for 30 years. In southwestern Cherokee County, though, there is an automobile racing track named Dixie Speedway, and that is probably why the precinct in that particular area of the county is still called Dixie.
of course i wanted to know these things, i am glad you asked<><>alll of us out there hang on your every word to know that your georgai isn't the russian georgia in russia for russkins and not for georgians or utarians<<>i like SP has a question iffin this comment makes it past moderation><><i wonder if YP is going to comment and i thought an APPLE a day kept the doctor away
ReplyDeletePutz (David), although it has indeed been said that an APPLE a day keeps the doctor away, the truth -- the unvarnished truth -- was told to me by my late father: An ONION a day keeps everyone away.
ReplyDeleteYour voting precincts at least have names; our county precincts have only numbers - 1 thru 135. Although there is a polling place within easy walking distance of my residence (2 blocks), I must drive almost 4 miles out into the county to cast my ballot -- unless I choose to cast an early vote at the local City Hall, 1 mile away. The gerrymanders must have been really busy when they changed our precincts.
ReplyDeletePat, our precincts actually have numbers as well. I just didn't want to go into all the gory details in my post.
ReplyDeleteI do not envy what's going on in the US today. It's all terrible.Very bad news all around.
ReplyDeleteAs for onions they say to kill germs you should have them all around the house.
Onions are just as powerful as garlic and people should eat both of these items a lot for good health.
Lively Lady, don't you Canadians have elections also from time to time? Or are you referring to the two major candidates we have? I didn't have any trouble choosing between them at all. Their visions for America are quite different.
ReplyDeleteAs for the news, I no longer listen to ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and several others. The pre-election polling here has been an absolute joke this year. I trust the pundits and the so-called experts about as far as I can throw them. Everyone has an agenda. The spin doctors have worked overtime to try to convince the public of things that aren't so. In other words, situation normal.
My Russian Grandmother (not from Georgia) used to say that a garlic clove a day would keep colds away.
ReplyDeleteThat seems to nicely tie in everything mentioned previously.
Except for Dixie, elections and Canada.
Katherine, garlic also is supposed to protect one against vampires, I think.
ReplyDeleteHow places get names is certainly interesting. Over in north eastern USA there are many English names - but hardly any when you get out west. I think that Canton County should be renamed Obama County in recognition of your beloved President's great second term victory against all the odds. Lickskillet ought to have been renamed Romney.
ReplyDeleteY.Pudding, my publishing your comment should indicate to one and all that I am not a sore loser. In fact, I am not a loser at all. My point of view continues to be that the real losers all voted in favor of a second term.
ReplyDeleteP.S. - There is no Canton County in Georgia. My home is in Cherokee County. Canton is the county seat. FYI, it was named after Canton, China.
Here is information from the local historical society: A permanent county seat and courthouse were chosen in 1833 and named Etowah. The name was changed to Cherokee Courthouse in 1833. In 1834 it was changed to Canton (pronounced cant'n), after the Chinese city of Guangzhou, which was then known in English as Canton (pronounced can tahn). The name was chosen because a group of citizens had dreams of making the Georgia town a center of the silk industry, which was concentrated in China at the time. Though Canton never became a significant silk center, it did become a successful manufacturing community centered around a mill that produced denim.