For many longtime Molena residents, turkeys weren’t just for Thanksgiving, they were a way of life. Starting in the 1930s, many Molena families began raising the birds. They became so popular the city named a Turkey Queen, entered parades and even dressed the turkeys in homemade costumes every year.
Above, a Molena farmer faces his turkeys as he decides which one will be invited to Thanksgiving dinner.
Molena residents share turkey tales
“Molena was just covered in white turkeys at one time,” said Molena resident Betty McCrary. “It was a good business to be in because everyone could work together and make it a family business.”
The first turkeys, like those on Lewis Lester McCrary Sr.’s farm, were wild, bronze turkeys, not the white turkeys later raised on commercialized turkey farms in Molena. Lewis Lester McCrary Jr. joined the business in 1951 and took over the business in 1965. Buck McCrary expanded the business into the business of producing thousands of turkey hatching eggs, which were shipped to North Carolina for turkey production.
Every year the governor of Georgia pardons a turkey, sparing him from meeting his end for Thanksgiving. Many believe President Harry S. Truman pardoned the first turkey in 1947. That is around the time Lewis Lester McCrary Jr. presented Georgia Gov. Herman Talmadge with a turkey from his Molena farm.
“He presented a live turkey to Gov. Herman Talmadge in the late 1940s,” said McCrary. “For a while it was a booming business in Molena and we were referred to as the turkey capitol of Georgia. There were just turkeys everywhere.”
For more on this story, read the Nov. 24 print/e-edition of the Pike County Journal Reporter.
To subscribe, click here.
The first turkeys, like those on Lewis Lester McCrary Sr.’s farm, were wild, bronze turkeys, not the white turkeys later raised on commercialized turkey farms in Molena. Lewis Lester McCrary Jr. joined the business in 1951 and took over the business in 1965. Buck McCrary expanded the business into the business of producing thousands of turkey hatching eggs, which were shipped to North Carolina for turkey production.
Every year the governor of Georgia pardons a turkey, sparing him from meeting his end for Thanksgiving. Many believe President Harry S. Truman pardoned the first turkey in 1947. That is around the time Lewis Lester McCrary Jr. presented Georgia Gov. Herman Talmadge with a turkey from his Molena farm.
“He presented a live turkey to Gov. Herman Talmadge in the late 1940s,” said McCrary. “For a while it was a booming business in Molena and we were referred to as the turkey capitol of Georgia. There were just turkeys everywhere.”
For more on this story, read the Nov. 24 print/e-edition of the Pike County Journal Reporter.
To subscribe, click here.
Happy Thanksgiving Day to all and to all a good night.
I'm confused again, I must quit drinking.
Bless you.
And may Stone Mountain be the wind beneath your wings.