Q: In the movie “Driving Miss Daisy,” Miss Daisy was a teacher in Atlanta. What was the name of her school and where was it located?
—Frank Burnett, Decatur
A: I reckon there is no better source than the author himself. So with the help of the Alliance Theatre, we contacted Alfred Uhry, who graduated from Druid Hills High School in 1954 and won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his renowned play about a headstrong Jewish retired teacher and the accommodating uneducated black man her son hired to drive her around town. Uhry said Miss Daisy is a fictional character, but "I imagined her teaching, say, the fourth grade." Uhry's grandmother taught grammar school at Atlanta's Crew Street School, which was on Crew Street. "I know she lived on Pryor Street, somewhere near the state capitol, so I guess she must've taught somewhere in that area," Uhry said. Crew Street runs parallel with Capitol Avenue/Hank Aaron Drive, just south of Turner Field. The world premiere of Uhry's play "Apples and Oranges" will be at the Alliance Theatre on Oct. 5-28.
Q: With the anniversary of D-Day coming up, I was wondering about the camp in Georgia where the paratroopers in “Band of Brothers” trained. Can you tell me more about it?
A: We'll jump right in. More than 17,000 soldiers trained at Camp Toccoa near Currahee Mountain in Stephens County. That group, included Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, featured in Stephen Ambrose's book – "Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest" – and the 2001 HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers." The 506th was part of the 101st Airborne Division, which parachuted into Normandy in the early hours of June 6, 1944. The camp was constructed in 1940, and the Army took over in 1942, turning it into a paratrooper training school. Recruits were often required to run from the camp up Currahee Mountain and back as part of their training, leading to the phrase, "3 miles up, 3 miles down." Only one building remains, but there are memorials to both the men and Col. Robert F. Sink, the unit's commanding officer, according to the Currahee Military Museum's website. The museum contains exhibits dedicated to the camp and the soldiers who trained there, and is housed in Toccoa's renovated railroad depot.
What do you want to know about Georgia?
If you’re new in town or have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail Andy Johnston at q&a@ajc.com.
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