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Harlem, Georgia (Everywhere a sign #11)

February 14th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Driving eastbound on I-20, I was seduced to an offramp by a brown historical marker sign that read

LAUREL & HARDY MUSEUM

and found myself driving five or six miles to the town of Harlem, Georgia.  At the outskirts of the town, stood this sign:
Harlem Georgia sign

On my first pass through town, I didn’t see the museum, and when I re-entered farmland on the other side, I realized that I had passed through the entire town (it’s not big).  I turned around in this driveway
Harlem Georgia driveway tunnel
although it really was too beautiful and not urban enough to call a driveway.  It was really more of a carriageway.  It looks like an engraving from a volume of fairy tales or from a 19th century British or German novel.  While standing in the road, it looked just as it does in the photo above.  I nearly expected to see Fagin and The Artful Dodger skipping arm in arm down the path, or Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow, or a pair of dingledodies.

This is the long view from the main road:
Harlem Georgia dumpster
Check out that handsome and attractive dumpster.  Mmmm, lunch!

I made a U-turn back into town, leaving three barking dogs in my wake.

Passing back through Harlem, I ran into Bojangles…oops, wrong Harlem!

Passing back through Harlem, I kept a lookout for the museum.  I stopped at the traffic light in the center of town.  Ahead of me, on the right, I could see that there were still Christmas garlands hanging on the side of the police station.  One of the taller brick buildings – two stories – had a graffiti-style collage of Stan and Ollie painted on its entire southern side.  Three pairs of grinning faces kept watch over a fenced-in used car lot.

I thought that I had completely missed the museum until, almost back to the north side of town, I spotted it – a square,  hardly noticeable cinder-block building smaller than an average-sized McDonald’s restaurant.  The sides were painted black, and there was minimal signage indicating what was inside.

Since it was too early in the morning for them to be open,  I continued driving back to I-20.

Tags: signs

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Cynthia Port // Jan 26, 2014 at 7:30 PM

    Hello, I just wanted to let you know that the Harlem driveway you photographed and posted to your website is a driveway! Looking at the date I do believe I was living down this perfect tree tunnel driveway/dirt road at that time, nothing like country living! I was so mind blown when I saw this, thank you for posting it, it just made my day!

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