This little cottage is located along one of my favorite mountain roads. I often drive it on Sundays with the dogs in tow. We head out to the Mark of the Potter (Highway 197) take a left at Batesville and then drive (Hwy 255) to the Sautee Nacoochee Valley and the Old Sautee store where we buy imported Root Beer and munch on crackers and cheese from Norway.

It was a perfect afternoon to visit this warm and welcoming shop outside of Cleveland, Georgia. For a long time now, it has been a favorite destination on Sunday afternoons. Yesterday, a steady stream of shoppers looking for Christmas decorations and gifts came in and out of this place on a regular basis. But when there was a break in the action, I let Cocoa and Chip get out of the car long enough to say “Hi” to Mr. Goat and Mr. Pig—new additions to the front yard.

Though both know the difference between alive and fake “yard art,” it never hurts to be sure. As you can see in the photo below.

Checking out the sniffs!

Here is a favorite place that I like to visit and up until recently, I did not know that it was Benjamin Hawkins’ cabin. Friend and fellow historian Kelly Vickers recently told me about it. He had met the owner at a luncheon where he was speaking. Last week, I revisited the cabin where it has been relocated in Clarkesville with new eyes and I also enjoyed a conversation with its owner.

In the mid to late 1700′s, Hawkins was a principle agent for Indian Affairs south of the Ohio River. He held this position until his death in 1816. Although he was an agent to all Indians in the South, he chose to live among the Creek Indians, who resided in present day Georgia and Alabama. The Hawkins Line or the Indian boundary line ran through northeast Georgia. He helped to establish it and he also built the Creek Agency Reserve on the Flint River in what is now Crawford County where he lived with his wife, Lavina Downs; six daughters, Georgia, Muscogee, Cherokee, Carolina, Virginia, and Jeffersonia; one son, Madison; about seventy African slaves and a few Euro-American skilled laborers.

The Hawkins Line, sometimes called “the Four Mile Purchase Line” was the boundary between Georgia and the Cherokee Nation from 1804 to 1818. It was established when Georgia bought a four mile strip from the Indians so as to take in Wofford’s Settlement on Nancytown Creek. (Col. William Wofford, who served in the Revolutionary War, is buried near Toccoa Falls, Georgia.) Another interesting note about the Hawkins Line is that it formed the boundary between Jackson Co. and the Cherokees; later Franklin Co. and the Cherokees, and now the line between Habersham and Banks counties. White families could not live beyond this line because it was Indian land.

So here’s the scoop: I bought the Christmas tree from the nursery (photos on the post below) so I would not have to drive to North Carolina and cut one down at a tree farm. That gave me more time to go shopping with Cocoa and Chip, who didn’t bark (not even once) at a single stranger. Yahoooo!

One of my favorite Christmas things is antique ornaments.  And I also love . . .

acorns and anything thing to do with pine needles and fir trees. Chipley on the other paw is still obsessed with one thing—

Cows! We have places we go in the four-wheel drive that take him up close to his favorite things.

Non-verbal clues are so much fun to watch. Cocoa is saying, “I definitely don’t understand what is happening!”

Chip is saying, “Come any closer, and I’ll definitely take a bite out of you, Santa.”

And these guys are just having fun. Billingsly Garden Center on Highway 441 was a great place to pick up this year’s Christmas tree. They were fresh cut yesterday morning in North Carolina and sent down to north Georgia. Every tree on the lot was $25 whether it was 5 feet or 25 tall. I think I got caught up in the moment and over estimated the size of the living room. (smile)