Featured in the image accompanying Lot 1131 is Katherine Brand Cook wearing the Colored Diamond, Multi-Gem and Natural Pearl Pendant Brooch. The image, courtesy of her family, shows Katherine in a long dark dress accented by crystals, along with a brooch of floral motif, and Lot 1131 being worn as a pendant. A wonderful mix of colored diamonds, diamonds, emeralds and a natural pearl, this unique brooch was crafted in the early 1900’s.

Originally from New Jersey, Katherine Brand Cook met and married the Philadelphia lawyer, Charles Adamson. He is most known for establishing a small town in Northwest Georgia called Cedartown. In the mid to late 1880s when Adamson first visited Georgia, he felt an immediate sense of connection to Cedartown. Not long after his visit he began to organize the Cedartown Land Improvement Company. Originally headquartered in Philadelphia, Adamson along with his father and brother eventually chose to reside in Cedartown as their business became successful.

As the Cedartown Land Improvement Company began to grow, Adamson founded the Cedartown Cotton Manufacturing Company where the focus of production was on high grade hosiery yarn. In addition, the family acquired the nearby milling company, Paragon Mills. Soon after, the businesses were consolidated under one name – The Cedartown Cotton Company. For 20 years The Cedartown Cotton Company was in operation, allowing the family to support and give back to the small Georgia community.

While the company was eventually purchased by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber company and is no longer in operation, there are still traces of the Adamsons Northern roots. Charles hired a civil engineer from his native Philadelphia to expand streets of the small town. Names such as Chestnut, Walnut and Wissahickon still flank the street signs. It was said that Charles, Katherine and their family grew to truly love this small town in the South, also helping to establish a library and a once notable hotel and dining destination for the area, The Wayfair Inn.