
Atlanta Radio Theatre Company - Frontier Days
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Howie Mandel
Hey, it's Howie Mandel and I am inviting you to witness history as me and my How We Do It Gaming team take on Gilly the king and wallow. $267 million gaming in an epic Global Gaming League video game showdown. Four rounds, multiple games, one winner, plus a halftime performance by multi platinum artist Travy McCoy. Watch all the action and see who wins and advances to the championship match against Neo right now@globalgamingleague.com that's globalgamingleague.com everybody.
Megan McCardell
Games.
Narrator
Welcome again to the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company's podcast. This week we revisit our show at Stone Mountain park for their Frontier Days Festival, performed on the plantation grounds on May 1, 2004. When we were approached with the invitation to perform at the festival, we were very excited to get the opportunity. Then we found out the theme Georgia between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, with our specialties lying in the realms of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Our selection of material that was suitable was a bit thin, but then we found ourselves seized by the pioneering spirit, if you'll pardon the pun, and we refused to allow a mere lack of programming to stop us from being a part of the event. 11 new audio scripts were conceptualized, written, rehearsed and rewritten over the course of three months, overlapping our other projects. Our writers are truly to be commended for rising to the occasion and providing us with material on such short notice. We begin with a short history, which bridges us into A Sage Conversation by Augustus Baldwin Longstreet Then A Feast at Sycamore Grove by Bill Arp
Daniel Taylor
after the Revolution was won, the movement west across Georgia continued, and after 50 more years, the state was beginning to look almost civilized. Instead of a society of hunters and lonely pioneer farmers, you could now find lawyers, lawyers, politicians, more lawyers, newspaper editors, and plantation owners scattered across the fields and hills of Georgia.
Megan McCardell
Could we rethink this?
Daniel Taylor
Too late. Much, much too late. Well, one such early notable was Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, lawyer and politician and newspaper
Megan McCardell
editor and judge and state legislator and president of Emory University. We're very proud of him. So proud we hardly ever mentioned that his parents were from New Jersey and
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
he was educated at Yale.
Daniel Taylor
In 1835, he published a book, Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents, etc. In the first Half of the Republic, a collection of 20 stories about the people and society of the state at that time. And we've drawn on it very heavily for this show.
Megan McCardell
All of the stories are charming, many
Daniel Taylor
are timeless, and a few of them are distressingly, well, modern Case in point,
Megan McCardell
a Sage Conversation by Augustus Baldwin Longstreet. Adapted by Daniel Taylor.
Jeremiah Long
I was traveling with my old friend Ned Brace, when we stopped at the dusk of the evening at a house on the roadside for the night. Here we found three nice, tidy, aged matrons, the youngest of whom could not have been under 60. One of them, of course, was the lady of the house, whose husband, old as he was, had gone from home upon a land exploring expedition. She received us hospitably, had our horses well attended to, and soon prepared for us a comfortable supper. It was immediately after I had looked at my watch in token of my disposition to retire for the night, that the conversation turned upon marriages. Happy and unhappy, strange, unequal runaways, etc.
Townsperson
The strangest match that I ever heard of was that of George Scott and David Snow, Two most excellent men who became so much attached to each other that they actually got married.
The lackaday.
And was it really a fact?
Oh, yes, ma'.
Daniel Taylor
Am.
Townsperson
I knew them very well and often went to their house. And no people could have lived happier or managed better than they did. And they raised a lovely parcel of children. As fine a set as ever I saw. Except their youngest son, Billy. He was a little wild, but upon the whole, a right clever boy himself. You knew those two men, didn't you, there, Baldwin?
Jeremiah Long
Where did they live?
Townsperson
Why, they lived down there on Cedar Creek, close by Jacob Denman's. Their daughter Nancy married John Clark.
Daniel Taylor
You.
Townsperson
You knew him very well?
Jeremiah Long
Oh, yes, I knew John Clark very well. His wife was a most excellent woman.
Townsperson
Well, the boys were just as clever for boys as she was for girl. Except Bill. And I never heard anything very bad of him unless it was his laughing in church. That put me more out of conceit of him than anything I ever knew of him. Well, now, we must take an early start tomorrow, and I'm tired. Come, friend Balton. We're setting up. Too late for travelers.
Jeremiah Long
Probably right, though. Good night, ladies.
Townsperson
Good night to you and our thanks again for your hospitality, Mrs. Reed. Good night.
Daniel Taylor
Thank you.
Townsperson
Didn't that man say them was two men that got married to one another?
It seemed to me so.
Daniel Taylor
Why, to be sure he did. I know he said so, but he said what their names was.
Townsperson
Well, in the name of sense. What did the man mean by saying they raised a fine passel of children?
Daniel Taylor
Why, bless your heart, soul, honey. That's what I've been thinking about. It seems mighty curious to me somehow or other. I can't study it out no how.
Townsperson
The man must be joking.
Daniel Taylor
Certainly. No, he wasn't joking. For I looked at him and he was just as much in earnest as anybody I ever seed. And besides, I mean no Christian man would tell such a story in that solemn way. And didn't you hear that other man say he knew that their daughter Nancy.
Townsperson
But law missy. Ms. Reed, it can't be so. It doesn't stand to reason. Don't you know it don't?
Daniel Taylor
Well, I wouldn't think so. But it's hard for me somehow to dispit to dispute a Christian man's word.
Townsperson
I've been thinking the thing all over in my mind and I reckon. Now I don't say that it is so, for I don't know nothing at all about it. But I reckon that one of them men was a woman dressed in men's clothes. For I've often heard of women doing them things and falling their true love to the wars and being a waitin boy to em and all sich.
Well maybe it is somehow in that way. But law me twould have been obliged to been found out, don't you know it? Would only think how many children she had. Now it stands to reason that at some time or other it must have been found out.
Daniel Taylor
Well, I'm an old woman anyhow and I reckon the good man won't mind what an old woman says to him. So bless the Lord if I live to see the morning, I'll ask him about it.
Townsperson
Now, just before me and my old man was married there was a gal named Nancy Mountcastle. She was a mighty likely gal. I knowed her mighty well. She dressed herself up in men's clothes and followed Jemmy Darden from Petan Kink and King and Queen clean up to Loudon.
And did he marry her?
Oh no, Jimmy didn't marry her. Pity he didn't, poor thing.
Daniel Taylor
Well, I know the gal on the Tar river done the same thing. She followed Moses Rusher way down somewhere in the south state.
Townsperson
And what did he do?
Daniel Taylor
Ah, Lord bless your soul, honey, I can't tell you what he did bad enough.
Townsperson
Well now it seems to me. I don't know much about it, but it seems to me men don't like to marry gals that take on that way. It looks like it puts him out of conceit of them.
I know one man that married a woman that followed him from Carolina to this state but she didn't dress herself in men's clothes. You both know him. You know Simpson's Simpson, Trotty's sister and Rachel's Son Ruben. Twas him and his wife.
Oh, I know them mighty well.
Yeah, well, it was his wife. She followed him out to this state.
Oh, I know them all mighty well. Her daughter Lucy was the littlest teeny bit of a thing when it was born I ever did see. But they tell me that when I was born. Now, I don't know anything about it myself, but the old folks used to tell me that when I was born they put me in a quart mug and Martin covered me up in it.
Jeremiah Long
The lack of Disney the next morning was when we rose from our beds. We found the good ladies sitting round the fire just as I left them, for they rose long before us. At least I hope they did not spend the entire night reconfirming the entire family tree in this end of the state in search of the improbable branch of which Ned Brace had told them. Mrs. Barney was just in the act of exclaiming.
Townsperson
Brother Smith married. Morning.
Morning to you, ladies.
Daniel Taylor
Good morning, gentlemen. And breakfast is ready whenever you want.
Townsperson
Well, I shouldn't wish to keep it waiting.
Daniel Taylor
Mr. Brace, didn't you say last night that. That them was two men that got married to one another?
Townsperson
Oh, yes, madam, yes.
Daniel Taylor
And didn't you say they raised a fine passel of children?
Townsperson
Oh, yes, ma'. Am. Except Billy, I said. You know that he. He was a little wild.
Daniel Taylor
Well, yeah. Yes, I know you said Billy wasn't as clever as the rest of them, but now we old women were talking about it last night after you went out and none of us could make out having. They could have had children. And I said, I reckon you wouldn't mind an old woman's chat. And therefore I would ask you how that could be. I suppose you won't mind telling an old woman how it was.
Townsperson
Oh, certainly not, madam. They were both widowers before they fell in love with each other and got married.
The Lackaday.
I wonder why none of us ever thought of that.
Daniel Taylor
And they had children before they got married?
Townsperson
Why yes, madam. They had none afterward that I ever heard of.
Howie Mandel
Hey, it's Howie Mandel. And I am inviting you to witness history as me and my How We Do It Gaming team take on Gilly the king and wallow. $267 million gaming in an epic global gaming league video game showdown. Four rounds, multiple games, one winner, plus a halftime performance by multi platinum artist Travy McCoy. Watch all the action and see who wins and advances to the championship match against Neo right now@globalgamingleague.com. that's globalgamingleague.com everybody games.
Megan McCardell
Has the news been getting you down? I'm Megan McCardell and I'm here to help. I'm the host of a new show
Jeremiah Long
from Washington Post Opinion called Reasonably Optimistic,
Daniel Taylor
and it's an antidote to the pessimism
Megan McCardell
that's riddling America right now.
Narrator
Every Wednesday I'm going to talk to people who see a path forward. It does seem to me that there
Jeremiah Long
is some awakening of a desire to act together to solve problems where they are.
Howie Mandel
You know, I am a believer in America and it's worth fighting for.
Jeremiah Long
Join me Wednesdays on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Daniel Taylor
We're going to cheat on the Frontier Days format just a little here because Bill Arp, Charles Henry Smith was his real name, did not write the first of his Bill Arp letters until April of 1861, but after he got started, he kept on writing, including a column for the Atlanta constitution ran for 25 years until the summer of 1903 when he died.
Megan McCardell
We slowed him up. Sir, if you travel out I20 west of Atlanta, halfway to Alabama, you'll cross over Bill Arp Road. If you already recognize the man that road is named for, you've probably already heard the piece we'll read today. If you do not know him, I envy you your first hearing of it. This is a feast in a sycamore grove By Bill Arp Adapted by Ron N. Butler I was peeling some nice soft peaches for dinner just to save Mrs. Arp the trouble and get an approving smile, when suddenly she came up behind me and said, william, are your hands right clean? I held them up for her to look at. Well, if they weren't at first, I reckon they are now. Folks get more particular about such things as they get older. It takes more water and soap and whitewash and sweeping and scouring than it used to. I used to can knock the ashes out of my pipe on the piazza floor and get a little dirt from my shoes on the banisters and leave some dirty water in the pan at the back door. But I am gradually quitting these little things for the sake of being calm and serene in my declining years. Cleanliness is a good thing, I know, and the Scriptures say it is next to Godliness. If that's so, then I know some old women who are might nigh sanctified already, but somehow I like a little clean dirt scattered around just to enjoy the contrast when we do clean up. I don't think a man can enjoy a clean shirt until he gets One dirty. Likewise, folks lose the savor of eating the same kind of victuals every day and in the same room, keeping off the same flies, kicking off the same cat from under the table. So the other day I took a notion to change the program. Mrs. Arp had told me many a time that she had never eaten any barbecued meat since she was a child. And she thought then that it was the best meat she ever did eat. So I got an old timer who said he used to barbecue meat way back when Mr. Polk run agin Mr. Clay and paid him to do us a barbecue. I cleaned up the ground and trimmed the trees in a beautiful little sycamore grove down by the branch. And I had a pit dug and we sacrificed a fat lamb and a fat pig and hung them up overnight. And we hauled in a load of bark and stove wood and the old fellow had a big bed of coals going by daylight and put the meat on. And after breakfast we built a table and some plank seats and put up a swing for the children and swung a hammock and put everything in shape for the company. Of course I invited Mrs. Arp first and foremost, then the kindred and friends who are our welcome guests. The girls fixed up the vinegar and pepper and butter to baste the meat with while it was cooking. And they made an old fashioned Brunswick stew. For my part, I roasted a lot of green corn in the shuck under the hot ashes at one end of the pit. And when everything was in a weaving way, about 12 o', clock, I blowed the horn for the company. About a score of them came down and were delighted with the prospect and the place, especially the children. Mrs. Arp organized herself as a toasting committee of one and in due time pronounced it all very good and ready for business. Gallant gentlemen carved the fragrant carcasses and prepared the meat for distribution. The meats came on in due time and everybody got a sweet and juicy rib. The ribs are the best part of anything. I reckon. This is why a woman is so sweet. For she was made of a rib while man was made of dirt. The stew was declared splendid. I noticed that the married women all flavoured it with hot onion sauce. It always seemed strange to me how soon after marriage a woman begins to love onions. After this course was over, the girl surprised us all with lemon pies and cakes and frozen sherbet. And after that we all rested and played cards and had music on the banjo and sang songs. The men told some big yarns, which the young ladies believed and the old ones didn't. Can't fool a married woman with yarns. One of our party told about hunting deer up in the Kahuta Mountains and how he rode up a cliff so steep that when he got most of the top, he reached out and pulled the top burrs from a pine tree whose roots were at the mountain's base. Another one told about killing 19 wild turkeys with one shot. This was way out in Indian Nation, where the turkeys grow so big, he said, that they broke down the trees. I was just about to wade in when I noticed Mrs. Arp was perusing me so modestly I refrained and postponed the telling of my adventures for a more convenient season. It's not prudent for an old man to tell the heroic exploits of his youth if his wife lived in the same settlement and knows his raisin. So I never do brag much when Mrs. Arp is about. We had a splendid afternoon and wounded up with melons from the spring and then adjourned back to the house, feeling all the better for this little episode in our daily life.
Narrator
And finally we will proceed on to the triumph of natural justice. By Ron N. Butler.
Megan McCardell
The first gold rush in the United States wasn't in California. No, it was right here in Georgia. 20 years earlier, 1829. Small problem. The gold country wasn't in the state of Georgia back then. That land was the Cherokee nation, home to 17,000 Indians with a treaty with the United States that gave them title so long as the streams flowed and the forests grew.
Daniel Taylor
Sadly, having that piece of paper did the Cherokee no good. They were forced off and the gold hunters flowed in and filled to bursting. A land with few roads, fewer towns and no law except what they made for themselves.
Megan McCardell
Well, you know, folks in those days made their own soap, too. And it was pretty funny looking, too. Here is 1830. A place is called Headquarters. It wouldn't be called Dahlonega yet for a few years. And you might as well call it a town. It has a bar.
Daniel Taylor
Well, the Triumph of Natural justice by Ron N. Butler.
Townsperson
Where's the judge? Mr. Micklethwaite, there's been a robbery. I mean a burglary. I mean, somebody stole something.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Judge is in the back room.
Jeremiah Long
I'm back here, son. Now what's the matter?
Townsperson
They stole it. Whiskey. A whole keg of whiskey.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
What?
Townsperson
Mr. Hovis done brought it up from Gainesville in a wagon of supplies. Got into town after dark last night and went straight to bed. And when he woke up to unload the truck this morning, it Was going.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
That's my whiskey. I ordered it. All that lazy good for nothing left it sittin out or anything.
Jeremiah Long
Now calm down, Horace. If he'd tried to unload the wagon in the dark, like as not, he would have dropped your keg.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Well, maybe so indeed.
Jeremiah Long
Now Jimmy, have the townsfolk apprehended the malefactor? What? Is the perpetrator in custody? In where did they catch the man what stole the whiskey?
Townsperson
Oh no. But there's a whole mob of folks searching out in the woods and going through miners tents and.
Jeremiah Long
Sounds like they caught someone.
Narrator
Let me go. I haven't done anything.
Jeremiah Long
Put him down, boys.
Narrator
Thank you, sir. You must be the sheriff of this town.
Jeremiah Long
Indeed, sir. Headquarters has no sheriff. A sheriff presupposes a county. And our fair city to be sits in no county. This is the Cherokee Nation until such time as President Jackson gets the redskins moved out.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Not a minute too soon.
Townsperson
You tell him, Judge.
Narrator
Judge.
Jeremiah Long
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn, esquire, at your service.
Narrator
But judge, if we're in no county and no state, then what court are you a judge of?
Jeremiah Long
Indeed, mister. I say Mr. Long.
Narrator
Jeremiah Long of New York in the United States.
Jeremiah Long
Delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Long. Much as you may find the circumstances regrettable. Indeed, you have put your finger on the vital point. I have headquarters, haven't no sheriff, nor a mayor, nor a cognizant judiciary. But being in need of some mechanism of justice, I have established myself here at Micklethwaite's Tavern as a magistrate of natural justice.
Narrator
Natural justice? Never heard of such.
Jeremiah Long
Ah, but natural justice is the original and unblemished law by which mankind lived in Eden before the fall. It partakes of neither dusty books nor tedious precedent, but of that yearning for fairness that springs in every human breast. As the French sage Jean Jacques Rousseau said, obedience to a law which we prescribe to ourselves is true liberty indeed.
Narrator
I'm not sure, your honor, that I see the difference between natural justice and mob rule.
Jeremiah Long
The judgment of the mob is a path that is always open to you. What say ya boys?
Townsperson
Hang him with a teeth.
Narrator
I believe I will throw myself on the mercies of the court of natural justice, your honor.
Jeremiah Long
A wise decision indeed. Now what evidence does the people present?
Townsperson
Here's a keg, judge.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Hey, watch it with my whiskey. And that is my whiskey. That's Mr. Daniels Mark on the side.
Jeremiah Long
And where was it found?
Megan McCardell
In the Yankees tent under his cuff.
Townsperson
There were blankets wrapped around it, but
Narrator
we found it anyhow.
Jeremiah Long
Very incriminating, Mr. Long, very incriminating. Indeed. What have you to say for yourself?
Narrator
I've never seen that keg before in my life.
Jeremiah Long
Any idea how it might have come to rest under your bunk in your tent?
Narrator
None at all.
Jeremiah Long
Am I to infer that you contend some unknown person secreted a keg full of prime spirits under your bunk and wrapped it with your bedclothes during the night, all without your knowledge?
Narrator
Infer what you want. It is the truth, and I'm innocent.
Daniel Taylor
Hmm.
Jeremiah Long
A bald and unconvincing narrative lacking in verisimilitude, indeed. Court will now pronounce sentence.
Townsperson
What?
Jeremiah Long
Grab him, boy. Jeremiah Long, late of New York, this court sentences you to be taken outside to yonder oak tree, a noose placed around your neck and your hands tied behind you.
Townsperson
You'll dance before you die yet.
Jeremiah Long
Stand upon the property. You stole your mallets, Mr. Long, there to stand if you can, until sundown, and you still be standing. To be cut down and banished from the township of headquarters forever.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
And that's exactly what they did. Placed a keg of whiskey on a stump and Jeremiah Long atop the keg with a noose around his neck. And there he stood, teetering this way and that as the sun rose to noon and passed until it was sinking in the west.
Narrator
Dang you, Claghorn. Cut me down, or you'll have the blood of an innocent man on your hands.
Jeremiah Long
The court has found you guilty, sir. But true to the merciful dictates of natural justice, you yet have a chance to win your freedom. My strength is as the strength of tin cause. My heart is pure.
Narrator
That's not jurisprudence, you old fraud.
Jeremiah Long
It's Tennyson as may be.
Narrator
I'll see the sun go down. Don't you ever doubt it. It's just. There's something you should know.
Townsperson
What would that be, Yankee man?
Narrator
It's my feet they're burning.
Jeremiah Long
I shouldn't wonder.
Townsperson
You've been dancing on them all day. You're the battle of the ball.
Narrator
Go ahead and laugh, but this keg has gotten hot standing in the sun. I think the alcohol spirit's biling off. That's what's burning my feet.
Townsperson
But if that's so, the whiskey is
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
getting weaker by the minute. Claghorn.
Jeremiah Long
Jeremiah Long, lady of New York, the court of natural justice in the township of headquarters finds that you have fulfilled the punishment meted out to you and are therefore free to, provided you do not darken this polity with your presence again. Cut him down, boys.
Townsperson
I got him.
Knock.
Narrator
I'm free to go.
Jeremiah Long
Indeed, you Are that keg isn't leaking, is it, boys?
Narrator
Then I'll take my leave, sir, of you and of headquarters. And you may all go to the devil.
Townsperson
That's a Knucklesville road.
Daniel Taylor
You're that problem there.
Townsperson
Oh, let me speed you along with the rock, sir. Don't come back here, Yankee.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
I congratulate you, Judge, on the recovery of my whiskey and on reading our town of a thief.
Jeremiah Long
Thank you, sir. Thank you. The only question before the court is this. Was your property recovered without damage?
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
I'm sure it was. A keg seems sound.
Jeremiah Long
But there is only one way to be sure. By test. Additionally, there is the matter of a becoming and civic minded gratitude for the exertions of the court and its officers.
Townsperson
Officers of the court. Oh, man.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Well, I guess I can see my way clear to one drink. Jimmy, bring four tankards. Small ones.
Townsperson
Here they are, Mr. Mablethwaite.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Drink up, gentlemen, with my thanks.
Jeremiah Long
A moment before you partake. Gentlemen of the jury, a toast to the triumph of natural justice.
Townsperson
Natural justice.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Amen.
Townsperson
Yeah. National justice. That's a mighty smooth whiskey.
Megan McCardell
Oh, yeah.
Jeremiah Long
I hadn't twitched once.
Townsperson
It trifle wheat though.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
You idiots. It's so smooth because it's spring water.
Townsperson
Water, Dude.
Jeremiah Long
Jesus.
Townsperson
He's right.
Jeremiah Long
I'm passion. Only now does the full deviousness this malefactor scheme stand revealed.
Howie Mandel
What?
Jeremiah Long
He must have sneaked the whiskey barrel off the teamsters wagon in the night and filled it with water.
Townsperson
That's as obvious as a red nose on your face.
Daniel Taylor
But where'd the whiskey go?
Jeremiah Long
Into another unmarked keg. Or possibly into a brace of pottery jugs. It's a matter of little consequence.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
It is a matter of considerable consequence to me.
Jeremiah Long
Thinking that the teamster would sleep late, he assumed he had plenty of time to replace the keg in the wagonette. Sun up with no one the wiser. But he was wrong.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
So he was wrong. But where's my whiskey?
Daniel Taylor
Hmm?
Jeremiah Long
If he didn't hide his jugs too far from the road, I'd say bout halfway to Knucklesville by now.
Townsperson
And devil if we can find him in the dark. Half moon tonight won't rise for hours.
Jeremiah Long
And thus do the marvelous workings of natural justice turn all about once more.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
I don't see any justice in my being cozened out of a keg of whiskey and that I paid for.
Jeremiah Long
No, my friend. It is only natural that the man of keenest mind and boldest heart walk away the winner. And here, and tonight, that man is Jeremiah Long. I salute you, sir, in absentia.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Well, you're going to have to toast him in spring water, for there's no more spirits in the town. Your man of destiny got away with the last none, Not a drop. Furthermore, I intend to put my lost keg on your account. If you hadn't kept blathering about natural justice all the livelong day, we might have found out in time that my keg contained only water.
Jeremiah Long
Why, that's hardly fair.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Just maybe natural is the word you're looking for.
Jeremiah Long
I shall take my business elsewhere. See. If I don't, then you will have
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
to take it to Ducklesville, or possibly as far as Gainesville, for there are no other public houses in headquarters.
Jeremiah Long
Then I shall.
Townsperson
Ah, I shall complain to the sheriff.
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
We do not have one of those either. Come the morning, however, I believe I will form a citizens committee to elect one. I may even run for the office myself. How about it, boys? Horace Micklethwaite for Sheriff. Free beer for my supporters
Townsperson
three times, Horace.
Jeremiah Long
Isn't that somewhat along the lines of bribery?
Judge Delmar T. Claghorn
Seems only natural to me.
Jeremiah Long
Indeed,
Narrator
You've been listening to selections from our Frontier Days show at Stone Mountain Park. Featured in the cast were the voices of Joyce Lee, Daniel Taylor, Ron N. Butler, Colin Butler, Phil Carter, Jeffrey M. Brown, Alton Leonard, Jack Mayfield, Terry Sanders, Trudy Leonard and Kelly Swilley. Music by Alton Leonard and Jeffrey M. Brown Foley sound effects designed by Lilly, performed by John Campbell, Karen Wilbanks and Sarah Taylor. Sound engineering was by David Carter. The show was produced and directed by William Allen Rich we hope you're enjoying the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company's podcast. If so, you can write to us@podcastrtc.org or just tell your friends about us. You can find out more about us, including how to support our new Old Time radio by purchasing CDs of our studio productions at www.artc.org. and remember, there is adventure in sound. All material is copyright by its creators or the Atlanta Radio Theater Company.
Daniel Taylor
Artc.org
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Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Atlanta Radio Theatre Company – Frontier Days
Date: March 19, 2026
Host/Featured Group: Atlanta Radio Theatre Company (ARTC)
This special episode showcases three live performances by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, originally staged at Stone Mountain Park's Frontier Days Festival in 2004. The theme—Georgia between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War—prompted the troupe, typically known for science fiction and fantasy, to create 11 new historically inspired audio plays. The episode highlights three dramatized selections:
Each offers a glimpse into Georgia’s past, bringing humor, local color, and a spirit of community to life through carefully adapted period tales.
[00:37-01:45]
Quote:
“Our writers are truly to be commended for rising to the occasion and providing us with material on such short notice.” — Narrator (01:32)
[01:45-10:31]
Notable Quotes & Moments:
A witty send-up of rural storytelling—how rumors, misunderstandings, and tall tales create comic confusion in close-knit communities.
[11:34-17:07]
Notable Quotes & Moments:
A charming and affectionate portrait of rural Southern life, emphasizing the importance of community, tradition, and domestic humor.
[17:07-29:29]
Notable Quotes & Moments:
A sly, satirical rendering of justice on the frontier—where wit trumps formal law, and locals both lampoon and reinforce their own authority.
This episode is a delightful exploration of Georgia’s history through wit, storytelling, and live performance. The company’s embrace of historical humor, satire, and communal memory brings the past to life. Fans of old-time radio, Southern folklore, and classic American storytelling will find it richly entertaining and evocative of a vanished era—where cleverness, good food, and community were the stuff of adventure.
Recommended for:
Listeners interested in classic American humor, historic dramatizations, or the spirit of old-time radio theatre.