The Gates of Opportunity!

On my way to Atlanta for the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar today I stopped to visit a photographer friend, Casey Malone, near Adairsville, GA and he treated me to a visual experience!  We visited Berry College, which will most certainly be a location for a future workshop, maybe a Spiritual Bootcamp location.  This is one phenomenal college campus!!!  This campus had humble beginnings when a remarkable woman, Martha McChesney Berry was born in 1865.  The daughter of Captain Thomas Berry a Civil War veteran and Rome, Georgia cotton broker, and Frances Rhea Berry.  Miss Berry left the beauty of her childhood home, Oak Hill, stepping out on a plank of faith and opening the famous Gate of Opportunity School for thousands of young men and women over the years.  Martha Berry devoted her life to the Berry Schools which evolved into today’s Berry College.  She had a vision of her vast undertaking and a gift for inspiring others to help her.  She demanded labor from the reluctant, charmed speeches from the shy, drew praises from the cynical, and attracted major gifts from the nations leaders; Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Charles Dana and many others.  Her portrait now hangs in Georgia’s capital, and she is regarded as one of the outstanding women in Georgia history.

The historic and beautiful campus is a testament to her mission to educate the mountain children of Georgia and bring her faith to them. I want to thank Casey again for introducing me to such a wonderful experience and place!  I hope you enjoy some of the graphics pulled from a day at Berry!

Above a small portion of the vast building donated to Berry by Henry Ford.  The story is told of an trip Miss Berry made to ask Henry Ford for assistance, he gave her a dime and she used it to buy a bag of peanuts, which she planted and harvested a $400. crop, when she wrote him and thanked him for the donation he reportedly went to see what this remarkable woman was doing, he then funded a major building project that resulted in the Ford Buildings.  the door way to the right is but one of the gorgeous entrances to the vast building project.

As I walked and drove around the campus, it is the largest by area and square miles of any college in the world!  I saw many graphic images and had a ball capturing those that appealed to me.

This will provide a wonderful place to worship and photograph among friends next fall.

From simple to sublime, this is a wonderful place, that got it’s start because of one woman’s desire to serve God and her fellow man!

Should we all be so inspired.

Blessings,

the pilgrim