Lake Martin Magazine

If you’re driving down Highway 229 towards the Red Hill community you’ll ride past a small cottage with odd-looking shutters and an asymmetrical roof. This is the home of the Dirt Road Gourmet. No, it’s not a restaurant or a catering business. It’s a manufacturer of frozen food, specifically casseroles, that is owned by Jackie and Rebuen Thornton.

In the fall of 1871, David Burson steps out of the courthouse at Dadeville and runs smack dab into an old friend he has not seen in some time

Logan Walters’ directions were right on the money, and they can see the Paschal Townsend place in the distance. As they draw nearer, they can see the couple sitting side by side in rocking chairs on the front porch.

It is the middle of May in the year 1853. The sun is rising rapidly in the eastern sky, promising a day much hotter than it should be for this time of the year.

Onstage at the Red Hill schoolhouse, a guitarist plays the first chords of “Elvira,” and couples get up to dance, stepping and spinning to the steady beat of the song.

It is Friday night in Red Hill, and the old schoolhouse is packed with people listening to the Red Hill Rendition band play country, gospel and oldies for Lake Martin residents and visitors.