The Renegade

On a dance floor filled with beautiful ladies in flowing white gowns, there is always that one girl. Y'all know the girl. The invitations could say in bold print, "white ballgown required", and here she will come, decked to the nines in every color she can fit onto one body.

Cuthbert, Georgia, is a lovely Southern town filled with gorgeous old homes. The one-story Greek Revival cottages alone are worth the mention. The theme in Cuthbert is decidedly white-columned elegance - except for this girl.

A transplanted northerner named Frank Pulaski commissioned famed Georgia architect William H. Parkins to design this Gothic Revival in 1883, and the (very) (glorious) colorful result still stands today, right on the main promenade. There is also the matter of a larger-than-life college building just down the street - also a product of the creative mind of Parkins - but as houses go, this is the renegade. Think Skippy and Daphne, the famed "fun girls" from a couple of episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.

And you know what? I love every inch of this place. Maybe the white-robed neighbors (not to mention Helen and Thelma Lou) take a different view - and to each their own - but by golly, this is a happy girl and she doesn't care who knows it.

Smile on, sister. Smile on.

Photo by Beth Yarbrough.