Canton is the county seat of Cherokee County, Ga., which is affectionately referred to by some as, "where metro meets the mountains" (even though the highest point in the county is the garbage dump). Kids who graduated from Creekview, Cherokee, and Sequoyah call Canton home, and like any kid who ever owned a rec league basketball T-shirt knows, it's a great place to live, work, and play. There are several things every millennial resident of Canton knows to be true.
1. Even though your mail says Canton, you probably consider your real home to be Hickory Flat, Free Home, or Macedonia.
2. No matter where you go, you’re guaranteed to run into someone you know.
It's either someone you didn't want to see, or someone you really wanted to see, but you looked completely awful. Every. Single. Time.
3. You had the pleasure (or misfortune, depending on how far away you lived) of graduating at First Baptist Woodstock.
And you probably came up with some clever names for the church during graduation practice. My personal favorites are “the Mall of Jesus” or “the UFO.”
4. When people ask where you're from, you tell them, "about an hour north of Atlanta."
Because there’s no way they know where Canton actually is.
5. Canton Marketplace did wonders for your high school social life.
Because nothing was more fun than spending your afternoons wandering around Target, followed by some fro-yo that sort of smelled like PetSmart.
6. At least one of your grade school teachers probably taught one of your relatives.
And they probably based all their assumptions about you upon their experience with that relative.
7. It wasn’t uncommon for there to be an entire row of pickup trucks in your high school’s student parking lot.
And they were always driven by people who insisted that the rebel flags they flew were "heritage, not hate."
8. You can name some pretty creative stereotypes for the other high schools in CherCo.
Personal favorites: Weedstock and Ghettowah.
9. You probably learned to drive with the fine people at Dickerson Driving School.
10. You’re pretty sure you experienced the world’s hardest drivers' license road test.
And the person administering it was probably the Devil himself.
11. You could navigate Highway 20 blindfolded.
And you always go over the unreasonably low speed limit.
12. You have very strong opinions on which Chick-fil-A is the “good one.”
And on which of the three (two and a half?) Starbucks is best.
13. You probably took prom or homecoming photos at the gazebo in Downtown.
And had a "fancy" meal beforehand at O'Charley's or Olive Garden.
14. On the 4th of July, you took longer to leave Riverstone than the actual fireworks show lasted.
15. You probably trick-or-treated at Halloween in Woodmont or Orange Shoals, because you knew where the good candy came from.
And you probably went for a few years after you were definitely too old, because no one's too old for full-sized candy bars.
16. You knew what despair meant when you wanted Dairy Queen in the winter.
17. You know better than to get attached to any restaurant on Main Street, because it'll probably be shut down before you know it.
RIP, Painted Pig. And Cafe 190. And whatever else has been in that one space across from the Theatre. (Pretty sure it was also a pizza place for a little while.)
18. There is one exception to that rule: R&M Sandwich Shop.
Also known as the Hoagie Shop, also known as the best place in the world to get a sandwich.
