Q: Was the John Pemberton who invented Coca-Cola the same pharmacist who lived in the John Pemberton House in Columbus?
--Beryl Farris, Tucker
A: Columbus was the real thing for Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist who invented Coca-Cola, which was the subject of an Actual Factual question earlier this month. Pemberton was born in a small Crawford County community called Knoxville, but his family moved to Rome. He headed south to attend the Reform Medical College of Georgia in Macon and then moved to Columbus in 1853. Pemberton married a hometown girl named Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis and they bought a house at 1017 Third Avenue in 1855 for $1,950, or roughly the cost of about 487 12-packs of Coke these days. They lived there until 1860, when they moved to another home in Columbus, but their first home, described as a "Victorian cottage with elements of Greek Revival," is referred to as the John Pemberton House. It's owned and maintained by the Historic Columbus Foundation, which moved the house to its present location at 11 7th Street in 1969. It includes an apothecary shop and many Coca-Cola mementos, pharmaceutical items and a soda fountain. Pemberton later moved to Atlanta, where his formula for Coca-Cola was perfected, but he's buried in Columbus' Linwood Cemetery.
Q: I’ve heard about the seven natural wonders of Georgia. What are they and where are they located?
A: As we know, Georgia has been blessed by nature, from the mountains in the north to the coastal islands, but seven sites are considered to be the state's top natural wonders not named Herschel Walker. The original list, which was compiled by state librarian Ella May Thornton in 1926, included Stone Mountain, the Okefenokee Swamp, Amicalola Falls (Dawsonville), Tallulah Gorge (Tallulah Falls), Warm Springs, Jekyll Island and the marble deposits in Long Swamp Valley in Pickens County. The list was revised by Georgia Voyager magazine in 1997 and the AJC in 2001, with Jekyll Island and Long Swamp Valley being replaced by Providence Canyon (Lumpkin) and Radium Springs (Albany). Five of them -- Roosevelt's Little White House Historic Site (Warm Springs), Stephen C. Foster State Park (Okefenokee Swamp), Amicalola Falls State Park and Lodge, Tallulah Gorge State Park and Providence Canyon State Outdoor Recreation Area -- are a part of the state parks system. Now there's no need to look any further for a fall break getaway, is there?
What do you want to know?
If you’re new in town or just have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail Andy Johnston at q&a@ajc.com.
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