LOCAL HISTORY

Shannon’s Historical WWII Site

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After the closure of Gayley and Lord’s Brighton Plant in Shannon, the mill and its property were sold. As part of the property there was a three-tenths-acre parcel that included the Company’s giant flagpole and a monument dedicated to twelve fallen soldiers of WWII. This monument was erected and dedicated on November 10th, 1946. (In Honorable Tribute) It has been determined that this monument is most likely the first such memorial erected in the USA.  

 

A Mrs. Martha McCurdy purchased this memorial property for the sole purpose of preserving it as an historical perpetual memory of those twelve local men who had given their lives for their Country.

She had a binding covenant placed into the deed whereby regardless of whomever the owner was or would come to be, the property could only be used for the purpose of a memorial.

 

Mrs. McCurdy died in 2010, leaving said property to her estate. On April 15, 2021, the McCurdy Estate transferred the Shannon memorial to Georgia’s County of Floyd in consideration of Floyd preserving same in accordance with the terms listed therein. (Copy of Deed)

 

Floyd County Commissioner Scottie Handcock gave public acknowledgement of the County’s acquisition at Shannon’s 2021 Memorial Day Ceremony.