Progress, Meet Woodstock

When first I visited Downtown Woodstock, I held a photo in my hand. The old depot. I was determined to find it. I held the photo up. A single building beside an old road and completely surrounded by trees. But alas, it was nowhere in sight. I stood in front of the and looked all around. Where was it? Where…could…it…be…?

As I looked up and down the busy street, it occurred to me that progress had found its way to Woodstock. Progress, let’s not forget, is not a fact, it’s an idea–a way of interpreting change. But progress had found this place before. Back in the day, Woodstock was a bustling little bundle of construction and expansion. There were mills and cotton, and they built that elusive train depot so they could flag down a customer or two.

I asked my faithful guide Bwana what she thought of all this.

She said, “Shut up and quit calling me that. And watch the kids while I browse in this antique store.”

My daughter went with her, while my son and I snuck down to for some chili dogs, illustrating the very core difference between the sexes.

Becky, the owner, was not upset about the sidewalk and road work. But I asked some patrons what they thought. Won’t it be easier to get around once it’s all finished?

“Ha,” said an older gentleman. “You thought you had to high-tail it across that road ‘afore!  They’re going to make it downright scary! Like a multi-lane highway right through downtown.”

Progress. I got warm fuzzies looking at the next Atlanta suburb. I just had to ask some of the other store owners if they were not simply overjoyed by it all. But all I got for my troubles was a surly reply and an earful of financial difficulties from a few business owners.

Apparently, last summer became the “summer of no return” for some beloved businesses who couldn’t make ends meet during the recession and as the sidewalks became difficult to traverse and patrons dwindled. But on the upside, we’ve got bricks. And bricks are quaint.

Quaint, you understand, is how we make things look to make them look like they didn’t look before, but how we imagine they did.

But back to my depot quest. The old photo I held of the depot is ancient. It’s from 2004. It was taken by Steve Storey, a railway buff and a program manager for Georgia Main Street, part of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Take a look at it his 2004 picture and compare it with my iPhone picture taken in March of this year. In less than a decade, Downtown Woodstock has been totally transformed. Now, if you plan to drive from one part of downtown to another, you’ve really got to plan ahead.

But on the plus side, city planners have attempted to keep an original look and feel to many of the renovations and kept the work going right through the economic recession. Also, the new shops now opening on the east side of the depot are an easy draw for downtown shoppers and a force to be reckoned with for traditional Main Street shops.

Ah, progress. Can’t stand in the way of it, can’t beat it, might as well enjoy it. I think I’ll stroll down to Café on Main and have lunch on the patio while I think about this.

-The Lost Towne Laker