*Ed. note: always avoid alliteration.

Wow, ten years. Hard to believe.

It doesn’t seem that long ago in some ways & in others it feels like an eternity. It’s funny how time can twist & change before your very eyes like that.

In June of 2010 I was about halfway through a 3 & 1/2 year stint of writing a print column for About Covington to Madison magazine (I would later write a few more columns for the next Publisher). These pieces were mainly about local history & lore, the occasional profile piece, local events & happenings, human interest stuff & even the rare foray into fiction.

While my first print piece was published in Winter of 2009, it wasn’t until about a year & a half later (June 1), when I first set up a weblog on a site called Blogger. I’d decided to do this because my monthly columns ended up being kind of popular & I had several folks ask me how they could get a copy. So, after having experimented with a political blog over the previous few years, I decided to set up a page where I could publish these writings on the world wide web.

On that first day, June 1 of 2010, I posted TPC’s first four pieces,  a multi-part installment on the 1921 John Williams peon murders – a horrible, dark chapter of our area’s history.

For its first couple of years, the online edition of TPC was pretty much strictly for publishing those columns from the aforementioned print publication. Later, especially after I retired the column (the first time) in the summer of 2012, I started to add additional content to The Chronicles.

During these early days, the site probably averaged about a post a month still mainly dealing with just local history, places & events.

It wasn’t until March of 2015 that the vision of what would truly become TPC first came into existence. It just felt right, needed even. And as the year progressed that feeling only became reinforced. It was a busy fall & winter road into 2016, and TPC was there to give it the REAL Story at every turn.

2015 was also very important as it saw its first contributing writer, J. Ellis “Da” Millsaps. This publication would not have become what it would later become if this hadn’t have happened. There’s a reason why Da is the Editor Emeritus of this publication. His friendship, counsel & wisdom is much appreciated.

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2016 & 2017 continued on much the same arc as the previous year where we were averaging more like a post a week instead of one a month while breaking some big stories & providing some excellent pieces.

It was in 2018 that the die was truly cast, however, as local advertising campaigns were begun & a goal was set of averaging more like one post a day (though we’ve never quite gotten there). It was also in this year that the final, vital piece of the puzzle – the rest of our regular contributing staff – came together. First was my old Terry College (UGA) compatriot, Perrin Lovett, giving us a glimpse of affairs national like no other & then our two wonderful women – Kayla Leasure & Bess Tuggle –  bringing their wealth of talents to the writings of The Chronicles, as well as helping to shape the direction & essence thereof.

And last but not least, the true key to all of this:

You, Dear Reader.

Thank you so much.

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Here’s to the next 10 years!

With a full heart filled of gratitude & love,

Marshall B. “MB” McCart