While camping at Indian Springs State Park in Flovilla, GA. Shane and I took some time to check out this small hamlet right outside the entrance of the park. The small town is so close that you can walk to the village from the park. And if you aren’t careful you will miss it.
Even if you are not planning on visiting the park, I implore you to take an afternoon to visit this wonderful community. The folks here are some of the nicest characters you will ever meet. They all share a common goal and that is to enrich their environment and help it thrive.
There are only a handful of stores in this tiny village, but it is so quaint and beautiful it is worth your time. In all, Shane and I spent 2 hrs here, and that’s because we stopped to talk to the locals and enjoyed an ice cream cone in the Whimsical Garden.
The first thing I saw when I entered Big Chief’s Country Store was the large pallet hanging on the wall next to a Jeff Gordon statue. It said, “Hey Y’all!”. In the south this is the standard greeting. I immediately fell in love with this pallet and wanted to take it home with me. Shane said, “no”. Our home is not decorated in southern charm. Maybe I should consider changing just for this sign!
This store has your normal gas station merchandise but is also reminiscent of a store from the past. As you enter you see the “penny candy” baskets. This really took me back to my childhood when my siblings and I would walk to a local 5 and dime with 50 cent in our pockets and come home with a pocket full of candies. Like any good country store there are local products to purchase such as: local honey, yellow root tea, scorned-woman hot sauce (hmmm interesting), scented soaps and lotions made with the Indian Springs mineral water and jarred preserves with the villages own label. I couldn’t help but pick up a jar of the F.R.O.G jelly for my toast. (no frogs were injured for this jelly) It is Fig, Raspberry, Orange and Ginger jam!
The friendly shop keeper told us to check out the other shops and garden while we were here and off we went. As we were crossing the street we ran into a lady, who was delivering an iron to one of the cottages. Now, mind you, Shane is a stand-offish kind of fella. He doesn’t like to stand around and yammer on but I will stop to be friendly. This southern belle was so enthusiastic about showing us the cottages that I couldn’t tell her no and I am SO glad I didn’t. She introduced herself as “Frankie” and called herself the “village idiot” when she misplaced the key to one of the houses. Her good nature and friendliness made me giggle. She told us about the houses, the cottages and the village. “It was in ruin but has been refurbished,” she said. She left us to walk through the cottages on our own. Take a look at the photos of one the cottages that are for rent. They are gorgeous!
From there we headed down the side walk to the local antique store. If you are into country furnishings you should come down here for a peek. It’s a neat shop!
As we began to walk around the stores, the locals would greet us and were so friendly . They were genuinely glad to see us. I wanted to spend all my money here supporting them!
Upon entering one store, we met Bob who told us that he was the newest store owner to the area and he told us that he just couldn’t resist the pull to setup shop in this small village.
Bob’s store front is beautiful. Everything in order and had wonderful symmetry. He told us that his daughter helped decorate the store including the shelves behind the counter. The store has all kinds of decor for the country home. I want to bring my nieces and sister down here because this is right up their alley!
We talked with Bob a good while about the pulley’s hanging in his shop and the hand crafted barn doors his son makes. He told us more about this town and this is where the story got good.
This is how I heard it: This area was pretty much in ruins a few years back. It was drug infested and run down until a local woman named “Frankie” decided that she wanted to make a difference in her community and help nurture it back to a prosperous village.
*screeching record*
Wait, what?!
The woman who was delivering the iron to the cottage, the “village idiot” was the entrepreneur, and renovator of all this! She was so humble and down to earth I would never have guessed it. She took no credit for any of it. She just was so happy to share with us the town she loves, the history, and the beauty. She was proud of this hamlet and just wanted to show it off!
I hope I have the story straight. Frankie, being a small business owner, purchased much of the stores, cottages and homes in the town and refurbished them. Painstakingly each building was restored with great attention to detail. Frankie used to grab a sandwich at Fresh Air BBQ and sit on the dock at Indian Springs State Park. There she dreamed of making this place beautiful and with the help of others that is what they did!
The coolest building in the town is the Outfitters store. When it was purchased it was in horrible shape. Thick with Georgia red clay (thick and hard dirt) that was two feet deep on the floor and really run down. But during the restoration process they were able to keep the original wooden siding on walls and the indispensable counter along with the antique cash register.
In town there are two shops with antiques, and country home decor. There is a bikers shop with leather goods, the outfitter store, a woman’s clothing boutique, and a children’s wear store. The cottages and church are usually open for people to meander through.
Before you leave town make sure you stop at Mrs. Lee’s Stagecoach Sweet Stop for a scoop or two of hand dipped ice cream. The banana pudding ice cream was wonderful and we stood and talked with the mother/daughter staff. They are a hoot! Just sit back and let them talk and you will be in stitches.
Shane and I grabbed our ice cream cones and headed up to the Whimsical Garden which is the shiny gem of this town.
Keep the Lust for Wandering Y’all!
Fran
P.S. I told you I bought the F.R.O.G. jam right? Here it is smeared on my campsite toast.
For more information about the Village at Indian Springs please visit
http://www.thevillageatindiansprings.com/welcome check them out on Pinterest and on Facebook
Disclaimer: I received no compensation for this post. It is my honest opinion about this lovely village.
Wanderluster 
Hi!
This is Frankie!! Just randomly ran across this wonderfully-written piece! Thank you so much for your kind words and hope you’ll come back and stay in one of our cottages on me! A new delicious restaurant opened here too, Yahola Creek. Call if you may be in town!
Frankie Willis
Cell 770-312-7665
Chief Village Idiot
The Village At Indian Springs
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