Augusta, Georgia

Augusta, Georgia, is a lovely old city, on the Savannah River which flows between Georgia and South Carolina. In fact, St Paul’s Episcopal Church actually backs right up to the levee.

When I lived there, Augusta was a relatively small city of around 100,000, compared to Atlanta, which was huge. I think now, it has doubled. The River had not been developed at that time. In fact, behind St. Paul’s Church, you could walk up the dirt levee from the parking lot behind the church, which we did, many times, as kids. Below, on the other side was just weeds. For many years, now, that part of the river bank has been laid out, attractively with azaleas and a brick walkway that curves around the bend of the river, really lovely. And farther down river, on the Georgia side, there’s a marina with sail boats and homes lining the shore.

Residential streets in the older part of the city are brick in some areas with big, beautiful historic homes. Our street was brick and our front yard had huge, tall pine trees, plus dogwoods and azaleas. Our street was Pine Needle Road. I loved that name.

Augusta has a symphony, three colleges, a medical school, technical and educational institutes around the River region, a military base, museums, a and many cultural places and events.

Most famously, it is the home of the Masters Golf Tournament, the first week of April, at the Augusta National Golf Club. The course is beautiful with shrubbery around the greens of pink azaleas and white dogwood trees, which are also prevalent throughout the city. Springtime in Augusta is absolutely breathtaking. And, watching the greatest golfers in the world on that beautiful course is a wonderful experience. One nice thing they did, I remember, was the prices at the food stands, out on the course were very reasonable. Another neat thing, the staff in charge of the grounds went around the course at the end of each day and you not only never saw a paper cup or a piece of paper, but they had fresh pine straw on the paths around the course! The whole place was clean as a whistle!

Going to the Masters was really special. When we were in college, at Spring Break, girls and boys brought home friends and we went to the Masters during the day and there were parties at night and we all made new friends. It was a blast.

Also, there was a huge lake about thirty minutes away where we used to go water skiing. My sister and I were pretty good slalom skiers. Some of the boys, however, went up the ramps. I never tried that.

Growing up, I remember the Atlanta girls were much more worldly and sophisticated than we were. They grew up faster in the big city, which was not necessarily a good thing. We really grew up in a time of small town innocence, not unlike the old sitcom, Happy Days. It was a fun time and a neat place to grow up. We had hay rides, skating parties, horseback supper  rides, and we danced, danced, danced.

There was a great place not far from my house, called Teen Town where we played basketball, ping pong, ring tennis, and had dances. Ring tennis was fun. It was a hard, solid rubber ring that you threw back and forth across a net. I dislocated a finger, once, playing that game, and you sure didn’t want to get hit in the head with it. I have never met anyone since I left Augusta, who’s even heard of ring tennis. I think they were taken off the market.

On Christmas Eve, our family always went to the candle light service at St. Paul’s. The lights were out in the church and candles were everywhere, just beautiful. Each person had an unlit candle with a paper holder. It was a lovely service, and at midnight two acolytes walked down the center aisle lighting the candle of the person at the end of each row, who then lit the person’s next to him, and so on down the row. So everybody left, singing Silent Night and holding lit candles to carry out into the crisp night air to our cars – really pretty. Sometimes, though, the wind said, “I don’t think so.” Anyway, I loved that service. It was a great way to start Christmas.

After college, I got a job in Houston, and have been in Texas ever since, in San Antonio. But the above should give you some idea of what my home town was like when I lived there. I have fond memories of those days.