Page 54 - Spring 2021

Cotton boom
Stores of note were the large tannery selling silk goods and a suit shop where a traveler could “find an establishment where his measures could be taken and a fine cloth suit could be made for him by an expert tailor, according to the prevailing style,” according to Robert Ashford’s account.
Even with the travelers, Salem residents made most of their money from farming. Most grew cotton. They planted this crop in increasingly larger amounts from Salem’s heyday in the 1820s until the Civil War.
In tandem with the increased cotton production, Clarke County’s slave population rose from about 30 percent to a little over 50 percent, according to Ernest Hynd’s 1974 book “Antebellum Athens and Clarke County.”
Salem’s 1850 U.S. census figures revealed that the town’s 22 free, white households owned 185 slaves.
Only about 10 percent of households in the county had slaves, though, and most that did only had a few, Hynd wrote.
Murder
Salem may best be remembered for the ghastly murder of Peter Perry. In 1820, resident Thomas Wells had a beautiful wife
of whom he would get very jealous, and he thought she may have been having an affair with Perry.
Perry anticipated that Wells would kill him and wrote a will. Two weeks later, Perry was dead.
“Wells met him one day upon the streets of Salem and stabbed him in the heart,” Ashford wrote.
However, citizens did not know that until Perry’s will was read a month later, the two men had exchanged several heated letters, and Perry said Wells had tried to start a fight with him.
Perry wrote that he had not had an affair with Wells’s wife and that he hoped Wells would soon realize this.
The will said that in the event he was killed, the town should prosecute Wells. But he also wrote that Wells should be given ample time to repent.
Largely because of the will, Wells was tried and convicted of first degree murder. In October 1820, he was executed in Watkinsville, which was then the Clarke County seat.
Town’s decline
Salem’s economic downturn hastened once the first railroad bypassed the town 15 miles to the south around 1840. Then the Georgia Railroad was completed around 1890. The stage coach was subsequently discontinued.
OCAF OFFERS
MISSION
EXHIBITIONS
OCAF supports artists through a variety of art exhibitions. New shows open every six to eight weeks and shows are open to members and the public to submit!
CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
We offer a range of arts classes and workshops for kids and adults at all skill levels! From painting and sculpting to bagpipes, there's something for everyone!
EVENTS
OCAF hosts an array of events, including an annual juried exhibition, holiday marketplace, pottery invitational, and artist talks and demonstrations.
Gallery hours: 10am-4pm Tuesday-Saturday
P.O. Box 631
34 School Street, Watkinsville, GA 30677 706.769.4565
WWW.OCAF.COM
The Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF) promotes cultural arts and artists and provides art education to the citizens of Oconee County and the Northeast Georgia area.
OCAF is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
Proud Host of:
NATIONAL JURIED ART EXHIBITION
PAGE 52 | OCONEE THE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021