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Local history items make unique gifts
Liberty lore
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It is that time of year when we frantically search for just the right gift for someone. Why not consider a book or item depicting the local history of Liberty County? There are several available, and I think you’ll be pleased with your choices.
This year, we are very fortunate and indebted to Meredith R. Devendorf for providing us with a great treasure book, “ Images of America — Liberty County.” This 128 page book is full of great pictures documenting the county’s past. Each photo is accompanied by a description.
“This book is not about the famous, the infamous or the unknown, but everyone,” Devendorf said. “Together, their individual threads weave the tapestry of Liberty County.”
The book contains photos of 1893 hurricane damage, lawmen pouring moonshine down drains in front of the courthouse, Camp Stewart, John F. Kennedy’s visit and more.  
“ Images of America — Liberty County” is available in book stores and at the Midway Museum.
The book, “Children of Pride,” is also available. It is the historic collection of letters the C. C. Jones family wrote to each other and friends for many years before the Civil War and after. This gives the reader a good personal picture of Liberty County during that era. It shares heartaches and pleasures.
“Dwelling Place,” by Erskine Clarke, required nine years of research in Liberty County before it could be written. It is also about the Jones family, their many coastal plantations and the slaves who worked for them.
“Recollections of a Southern Daughter” is a memoir by Cornelia Jones Pond of Liberty County. The 208-page unbound, handwritten manuscript was found in the attic of an old home many years ago and the great-nephew of the writer presented it to the Midway Museum. Josephine Martin edited it and it was printed in 1983 as “Life on a Southern Plantation.” In 1998, it was published in its entirety by Lucinda H. MacKethan from the University of Georgia Press. She did much research and added several pages of history and biographical information.
Check with local churches to see if they have cookbooks. Many produce them. Gum Branch Baptist Church made a nice one a couple years ago.
Betty Grugin prints of Liberty County are available at The Frame Gallery on Main Street and possibly at Victory Trophies.
Hinesville City Hall has Hinesville-Liberty County afghans, bell pulls, wall hangings, tote bags, T-shirts, polo shirts, caps, pens, coins and  coffee mugs.
I am sure there are other Liberty County items available that I’m not aware of. Look around and choose something unique — a slice of Liberty County history.
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