Q: What makes Vidalia onions so unique and why are they called Vidalia onions?
A: There are several layers to the story behind Georgia's unique Vidalia onion and how it was discovered by accident. Middle Georgia farmers were desperate in the 1930s. It was tough to scratch a living from the earth during the Great Depression, so some of them decided to plant onions in the sandy soil that is prevalent in Vidalia, which is in Toombs County, and the surrounding area. They were surprised to see that the onions they grew were sweet, not hot or tangy. Word spread of the new sweet onions and people didn't tear up when Piggly Wiggly, a chain of grocery stores headquartered in Vidalia, made room for the discovery in their produce sections. Popularity continued to grow and the Georgia legislature trademarked the name in 1986. The value of the crop in 2011 was $92 million, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. To be considered a Vidalia, an onion has to be grown from a yellow granex hybrid in a 20-county area of southeast Georgia, where it is sandy enough for rain to wash sulfur from the soil, according to the Vidalia Onion Committee, which appropriately enough, is on Vidalia Sweet Onion Drive in Vidalia. The lack of sulfur results in the onion's sweetness. Vidalia just held its 35th Annual Vidalia Onion Festival, which kicks off the harvest, and the official "shipping date"was April 12, which means its time to whip out that Vidalia onion pie recipe.
Q: What does Roswell’s Bulloch Hall have to do with Theodore Roosevelt?
A: Roswell's stately Greek Revival home was built by James Stephens Bulloch and wife Martha Stewart Elliott after they moved from Savannah in the late 1830s. The house was completed in 1839, and their daughter Martha, who was called "Mittie," grew up there. She was introduced to a man named Theodore Roosevelt at the 1849 wedding of Susan Ann Elliott and Hilborne West of Philadelphia. Roosevelt had accompanied West to the ceremony. Mittie visited Philadelphia in 1853 and became better acquainted with Roosevelt, who later wrote Martha – James Bulloch died in 1849 -- for her approval to marry Mittie. Martha granted it and Roosevelt and Mittie were married in the dining room at Bulloch Hall on Dec. 22, 1853. They moved to New York City, where their first son was born in 1858. They named him Theodore Jr., but called him "Teedie." He became the 26th president of the United States in 1901 and saw Bulloch Hall for the first time during a trip there in 1905, becoming the first president to visit the South since the end of the Civil War.
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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