News Release
Peacock Alley Media Angles

PEACOCK ALLEY:
Clothesline display of both hand-tufted and chenille bedspreads made in Dalton. This exhibit is reminiscent of the spreadline strung along Hwy 41. Located near the old store across the road from the mill.

FRANCES MANGUM:
Demonstrates tufting and will let you try it. Frances, age 85, tufted spreads as a child.

TERRI ISEMAN:
Stylish crafts made from antique spreads. Also offers antique, handmade and machine-made spreads for sale at Terri’s Antique Mall in Rocky Face 706-259-5896

GENE MEALOR:
Artist who grew up traveling along U. S. Highway 41, the official Peacock Alley. His famous Peacock Alley poster is available at the fair at the Historical Society booth in the mill.

PEACOCK ALLEY PLAYGROUND:
It’s not at Prater’s Mill but just up the road at Varnell School. Equipment is designed to represent the carpet industry, a log cabin for the tufters who made the spreads in their homes, and a Tin Lizzie for the haulers who delivered tufting supplies

WHITFIELD-MURRAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY:
Sells Peacock Alley posters and books. Historical Society houses the community’s fine collection of heirloom spreads. Their booth is set up inside the mill. (706) 278-0217

CHERYL WYKOFF:
For twenty years she taped oral histories with people who worked in the spread industry. Her work can be found at the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, Prater’s Mill Folklife Collection and, soon to be,at the Hargrett Rare Book and Document Library at the University of Georgia. (706-694-6455)

PRATER’S MILL GRANARY:
Before this building was a granary, it was a spread house and was located across the road by the store. Mostly women ran the tufting machines but one man did too.  He was the miller’s son.

IDA CHANCE:
Not many people have a book written about them but the late Ida Chance does. Ida “worked spreads” since she was five years old. For years she demonstrated tufting at Prater’s Mill.

MARIA DOUGLAS:
The book, A Handmade Life is the story of Ida Chance making a spread from start to finish. Maria worked with the U.S.C. McKissick Museum in gathering information on southern handcrafts in the early days of the 20th Century. (404) 633-0957

BARBARA LAY:
There is no statue honoring the women who started this industry so Barbara Lay hand carved a doll in the likeness of spread worker Ida Chance. The doll, called “The Spreadmaker”, has been reproduced. (706) 695-2073

For more information, call 706-694-MILL (6455) or e-mail pratersmill@PratersMill.org.  Visit the web site at PratersMill.org.

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