Eureka!

GOLD. - A gentleman of the first respectability in Habersham county, writes us thus under date of 22d July: "Two gold mines have just been discovered in this county, and preparations are making to bring these hidden treasures of the earth to use." So it appears that what we long anticipated has come to pass at last, namely, that the gold region of North and South Carolina, would be found to extend into Georgia.

A Milledgeville newspaper, The Georgia Journal, ran the above notice on August 1, 1829.

Although Georgians credit Benjamin Parks for discovering gold, no one is really certain when or who made the first discovery of gold in the region. A story is told that Benjamin kicked up an unusual looking stone while deer hunting west of the Chestatee River in 1828.

North Georgia was soon inundated by thousands of prospectors looking for gold. Benjamin recalled the scene (then in his early 90s) in the July 15, 1894, Atlanta Constitution:

The news got abroad, and such excitement you never saw. It seemed [that] within a few days as if the whole world must have heard of it, for men came from every state I had ever heard of. They came afoot, on horseback and in wagons, acting more like crazy men than anything else. All the way from where Dahlonega now stands to Nuckollsville [Auraria] there were men panning out of the branches and making holes in the hillsidess

Today, his great, great grandson Woodrow Parks (who is 98) owns and operates Parks Clothing in Dahlonega. Since the late 1940s, the store has offered fine woman's apparel to the residents of Dahlonega.

The store opened in the late 1920s as a meat market and grocery store run by his father, Frank Parks, and two other partners. Woodrow delivered groceries in a one-horse wagon.

The unassuming white-haired Woodrow is often mistaken as an elderly tourist when seen walking with a cane around the public square. I had the privilege of meeting this direct descendant of Benjamin Parks when local historian and author Anne Amerson introduced me to Woodrow on a recent visit to Dahlonega.

The time spent that day listening to his delightful stories of growing up in Dahlonega passed too quickly. I plan to return soon to learn more about Woodrow's life in Dahlonega.