The Pickrick: Selling Pick Handles

A chicken restaurant, a pistol, and the road from there to the governor's office.

Collection: Atlanta · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

Lester Maddox, Governor of Georgia, 1967 · Georgia Secretary of State, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.

Open this place in Peplos Install on iPhone Join the Android test

Already installed? The first button opens this exact place. After installing, return here and tap it.

Open this link on your phone to go to this place in the app.

How to install the early version through TestFlight

Get TestFlight. Tap the button, then go to the App Store from Apple’s page. TestFlight is Apple’s free app for early versions.
Come back here and tap the button again. In TestFlight, accept the invitation and install Peplos.

After installing Peplos, return to this page and tap “Open this place in Peplos”.

How the story begins

Lester Maddox sold axe handles at his fried chicken restaurant on this street, and he called them Pickrick Drumsticks. On 3 July 1964, the day after the Civil Rights Act was signed, three ministry students, George Willis, Albert Dunn and Woodrow Lewis, drove up to the Pickrick. They expected to be served. Maddox met them with a pistol. Around him was a crowd of up to a hundred, many holding axe handles, the longest thirty-six inches.

The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.