The View From Sterling Bluff
Excerpts:
"Richmond Hill, Georgia, won a race with China, Germany, Poland, and a host of other places without ever knowing it was in a race. It was to this little whistle-stop town that the great Henry Ford would commit himself, his resources, and his ingenuity."
"Over a century ago, men were writing with awe about the ancient oaks at Richmond Plantation What would they say now that thirteen additional decades have been added to those majestic trees? The natural beauty here has but one rival- the historical beauty."
"Oglethorpe had lofty aspirations for the new colony. Initially, he barred slavery, rum, and lawyers from Georgia, seeing all three as contrary to the best interests of the new English settlement."
"Fort McAllister was not one of the most beautiful forts in the Confederacy... yet it was precisely the right concept. The sandy banks of the fort were blasted again an again by federal gunboats only to settle back into place so that at night only a little work would make the ramparts as good as new."
"Think of it. Here was a man who could have built a personal retreat anywhere on the face of the earth, and he chose Ways Station!"
"The vision of Ford was to see huge fields of goldenrod glistening in the sun (dispatching tons of its allergic pollen into the winds) and great American combines rumbling up and down the rows harvesting the nation's next rubber crop."
"The Fords loved Richmond Hill because of the privacy it provided and because they were seen differently by the people who lived there. They were not 'locked in' at Richmond Hill as they were elsewhere, Mrs. Ford once commented."
"Though familiar with virtually all corners of the world, Ghaith Pharaon saw the beauty and tranquility in Sterling Bluff that so intrigued Henry and Clary Ford. In it, Pharaon also saw the ultimate retreat, one offering beauty, splendor, and serenity."