Winterville

Mom and daughter duo, Crystal and Taloria Clark, share a suite together at Queens Beauty Bar in Winterville. Taloria started helping her mom when she was only 4 years old. (Photo Submitted)

Mom and daughter duo, Crystal and Taloria Clark, share a suite together at Queens Beauty Bar in Winterville. Taloria started helping her mom when she was only 4 years old. (Photo Submitted)

Continuing legacy of beauty, braids

Finley Millwood
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Taloria Clark’s love for hair started when she was 4 years old. As her mother was completing hair school, Taloria would prep and wash her clients’ hair to get them ready. Now, Clark and her mother, Crystal, share a suite at Queens Beauty Bar in Winterville.
Kristen Moore, a K-9 handler, dog trainer, owner of the Georgia K-9 Athens location and vice president of Central Georgia K-9 Search and Rescue, holds her Belgian Malinois named Carerra at Pittard Park in Winterville this fall. The pair work together in human remains detection and trailing exercises. (Gabrielle Gruszynski/The Oglethorpe Echo)

Kristen Moore, a K-9 handler, dog trainer, owner of the Georgia K-9 Athens location and vice president of Central Georgia K-9 Search and Rescue, holds her Belgian Malinois named Carerra at Pittard Park in Winterville this fall. The pair work together in human remains detection and trailing exercises. (Gabrielle Gruszynski/The Oglethorpe Echo)

Paws on patrol: Dogs are integral part of police work

Gabrielle Gruszynski
Thursday, January 29, 2026
For the Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Office, teamwork on patrol can take many forms. Sometimes, it’s an officer and their four-legged partner. The county’s one active K-9 team is a German shepherd named Roni handled by Sgt. AJ Wiles.
Jonathan Scott, Winterville’s cultural heritage director, holds a metal artifact earlier this month. The city plans a nearly year-long celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary. (Neva Drane/The Oglethorpe Echo)

Jonathan Scott, Winterville’s cultural heritage director, holds a metal artifact earlier this month. The city plans a nearly year-long celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary. (Neva Drane/The Oglethorpe Echo)

From coal to commemoration

Neva Drane
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Several Winterville locals opted for coal in their stockings this Christmas. Only the pieces were around 200 years old, uncovered by Cultural Heritage director Jonathan Scott during his archaeological digs of the town.  They were packaged and sold for $3 by the Winterville Heritage Foundation.
Runners start the Winterville Snowflake 10K in 2023. This year’s race is the first of six in the Firefly Trail Race Series, which includes two races in Oglethorpe County. (Photo/Olivia Shapiro)

Runners start the Winterville Snowflake 10K in 2023. This year’s race is the first of six in the Firefly Trail Race Series, which includes two races in Oglethorpe County. (Photo/Olivia Shapiro)

Winterville Snowflake 10K first in six-race Firefly series

Ansley Gavlak
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
Runners and walkers across Oglethorpe County will ring in the new year with the return of the seventh annual Firefly Trail Race Series, a six-race lineup designed to bring the community together and raise awareness of the Firefly Trail.
The Winterville home of Crystal and Demetrius Whitted was destroyed by a fire that started around 2:46 a.m. Dec. 24. There were no injuries, but two kittens were killed in the fire. (Photo/Submitted)

The Winterville home of Crystal and Demetrius Whitted was destroyed by a fire that started around 2:46 a.m. Dec. 24. There were no injuries, but two kittens were killed in the fire. (Photo/Submitted)

Winterville home destroyed by fire

Ansley Gavlak
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Crystal Whitted didn’t have much time to react when fire began to spread through their Winterville home in the early morning hours of Dec. 24. “It happened so fast,” she said. “I only had a few seconds to think and walk in (the bedroom) and get out.
Sharon Brown Hodges

Sharon Brown Hodges

Obituary: Sharon Brown Hodges

News Staff
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Sharon Brown Hodges, 80, of Winterville, passed away on Dec. 14, 2025. Sharon was born on May 29, 1945, in Comer to Albert Mercier “Sport” Brown and Ella Kate Brown. She was known throughout her life for her deep love of horses, especially her beloved Flash.
Lizzie Wadsworth sits in the cockpit of a 1967 Piper Cherokee at Athens-Ben Epps Airport last week. The Oglethorpe County High School grad, who is a junior at UGA and vice president of the UGA Aviation Club, hopes to become a commercial airline pilot. (Photo/Mia Fishman)

Lizzie Wadsworth sits in the cockpit of a 1967 Piper Cherokee at Athens-Ben Epps Airport last week. The Oglethorpe County High School grad, who is a junior at UGA and vice president of the UGA Aviation Club, hopes to become a commercial airline pilot. (Photo/Mia Fishman)

Wadsworth finds her wings

Mia Fishman
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Lizzie Wadsworth became hooked on the thrill of flying when she was just 12. Her father, Robert, a pilot, helped her lift the plane from the runway and into the clouds. Sporting a pair of rainbow leopard print sunglasses and balancing on her dad’s knee, she fell in love with the sky.
The recently renovated Marigold Auditorium will host a Christmas concert for the first time since 2017. Strung Out Like The Lights At Christmas will start at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5. (Ansley Gavlak/The Oglethorpe Echo)

The recently renovated Marigold Auditorium will host a Christmas concert for the first time since 2017. Strung Out Like The Lights At Christmas will start at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5. (Ansley Gavlak/The Oglethorpe Echo)

Christmas concert returns to Winterville Auditorium

Ansley Gavlak
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
An old Winterville tradition turns new this holiday season, as the city revives its annual Christmas concert — Strung Out Like The Lights At Christmas — at the newly renovated Marigold Auditorium. The Dec.
Izzy (left) and Tania Marler enjoy bonding over baking for Three Dogs and a Girl Bakery. Izzy serves as CEO and Tania assists with tasks, such as posting on social media. (Emily Adams/The Oglethorpe Echo)

Izzy (left) and Tania Marler enjoy bonding over baking for Three Dogs and a Girl Bakery. Izzy serves as CEO and Tania assists with tasks, such as posting on social media. (Emily Adams/The Oglethorpe Echo)

Homemade happiness

Grace Burnett
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Three Dogs and a Girl Bakery in Winterville embodies Izzy Marler’s mission of inclusion.  A graduate of the Destination Dawgs program at the University of Georgia, Izzy bakes and sells artisan, breads, treats and pastries alongside Tania Marler, her mother, from their Winterville home.
David Charles Cheek, Tim Cheek’s son, was photographed in his grandfather’s uniform at Halloween one year. Tim Cheek said Charles was his dad’s name. (Submitted Photo)

David Charles Cheek, Tim Cheek’s son, was photographed in his grandfather’s uniform at Halloween one year. Tim Cheek said Charles was his dad’s name. (Submitted Photo)

A man ‘full of hope’

Elizabeth Kim
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Tim Cheek still recalls with great clarity the afternoon that he lost his father. His family had a less-than-pleasant lunch in their Crawford home that August day in 1995.