Thomasville

I am sitting on a black, metal bench in downtown Thomasville, Georgia. It is a warm afternoon with a little breeze. Beside me I see a tall, beautiful tree and around the base of the tree are little red flowers. Enclosing the area of the tree and flowers is a small fence about an inch tall. There is also a life like statue of a black dog lying down. As I touch the statue, I can feel the intricate details of the face. Towards the end of the sidewalk, there is a tall and skinny black light pole with a round globe at the top. As I look down the road, trees line all of Broad Street. These trees shade all of the cars and sidewalks. At the corners of Jackson Street and Broad Street, there are urns with many different types of plants in it. I can also see many yellows bows tied around trees, light poles and the benches reminding me of the soldiers who are fighting in the war. Behind me are many parked vehicles, and even more vehicles driving through downtown. I can hear the tires on the cars as they roll over the uneven bricks on Broad Street. Looking at the bricks, I can tell they have there since the early 1900’s. They are worn and broken from all the carriages and automobiles that have gone over them through the years. They have been there so long that grass is even starting to grow between the bricks.
Sitting on the bench, I hear the Courthouse clock chime. I look towards the big, white courthouse and I see men in suits walking towards their cars with briefcases in their hands. The courthouse looks very old, but has very detailed architecture. The Courthouse takes up a whole block and has a beautiful fountain out front. There are two flights of stairs going up to the front door. It appears to be recently painted, and looks gorgeous. The architecture of the storefronts is Victorian style with lots of trim work. Most of the trim looks to either be made of stone or wood. One of the storefronts is made out of white and gray marble. The buildings appear to be in excellent shape for their age, looking to have only been remodeled a few times, trying to keep the look of the early 1900’s.
Downtown Thomasville is crowded with people today. Everywhere I look, I can see lots of people walking around and shopping. Women are going into Thomas Drug Store to get prescriptions filled while men are going into Kevin’s sporting goods to get hunting supplies. The children are pulling their parents into Shapes and More to play with all of the toys or going to Izzo’s Ice Cream Parlor to get ice cream. As I look back to the right, I see a group of four teenagers walking down the street to the Billiard Academy to get a famous poolroom hotdog, the best in Thomasville. The Billiard Academy is a bright orange building with a green canopy. There is a window for ordering and the teenagers have to wait in a long time to get their food. After the teenagers get their hotdogs, they sit down on a round cement table outside of the building to eat their food. The smell of the wonderful hotdogs is beginning to fill the air. I hear the train blow its horn as it approaches the intersection on Broad Street. The railroad warning bell rings and the lights flash to warn drivers of the train approaching. The whistle blows again and I can hear the metal as the train passes the rails and the creaking of the boxcars as they rock from side to side.
The Business Exchange building is a five-story brick building. On the fifth floor, there are Palladian windows. The front door has massive 9-foot double doors made of solid oak with six feet of glass in each door. Next to the Business Exchange building I can see four workers painting the luxury apartments that are being built above Trolly’s, Loli’s, and Savannah Moon. The apartments are made with brown bricks with bright white trim that shows a lot of detail of the building. There is a terrace at the top of the apartments that people can walk onto to get a bird’s eye view of Thomasville. A yellow lift is alongside the building for the workers to be elevated up to the third floor. I can smell freshly baked bread from Flower’s bakery down the street. The smell of bread is so strong; it is like the bread is right in front of me. As I sit here, I can’t help but think of all the times I have been downtown Thomasville and never noticed how beautiful and historic this town is.