Country Roots

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"We descend from one of the largest intact plantations in Georgia: The William Harris Homestead on Highway 11 in Monroe, Georgia. In 1825, my mother’s great grandpa William Harris started the homestead on 500 acres acquired in a treaty with the Creek Indian Nation. Mother’s grandfather John Lewis Harris was the last occupant of the log cabin. He died in 1929.

"The Harrises were prodigious: William had fifteen children, and John Lewis had thirteen. Over many years of the twentieth century Hubert Harris, grandson of William, acquired the property and continued farming the land. In 1986 the Hubert Harris family listed the property on the National Register of Historic Places.

"We’ve traced our history back to 1776. The Harris family has been in this country since the beginning. The Civil War and slavery are part of Georgia history, and sadly, part of my history, too. Today the Homestead is a museum and educational site using archaeology to learn more about that time 200 years ago.

"My dad was a blue collar worker. Mother made most of my clothes. For Christmas we always got socks and underwear. Our summertime job was picking cotton. It was very rural, southern living."