The Legend of Peggy Snead

I  am attempting to write a book about a curious yet elusive woman in a small north Georgia town who managed to run a successful up-scale house of prostitution for over thirty years. Peggy Stone Snead was an uneducated country girl from an area called the 'Prospect Community' near Centre, Alabama. She came to Rome, Georgia as a young woman to work in the Celanese Mill by day, and began moonlighting in a local 'house' by night. It was said that she was exceptionally beautiful and many of the men at the plant tried to get close to her with no success whatsoever. It wasn't until one of them discovered her at her night job that it was understood why, so those who's hopes had been dashed time and again, found that there was another way to get to know her.

Over time, she supposedly earned enough money to start her own business and she left the plant to open up her own house. It was said that her business sense was remarkable. She ran a tight ship and her girls had frequent medical attention and were 'guaranteed safe'. On one rare occasion when a client did come down with an embarrassing 'condition', Peggy made good on her word by covering all of his medical costs.

Local business, such as dress store owners, grocers, and pharmacists catered to the cash paying Madam by bringing goods to her house for purchase. She kept a side business during prohibition of selling beer and Cuban rum - all without consequences. It was said that hers was a clearing house for girls from Cuba and the west coast so her house was constantly full of fresh faces. She also had a suspicious amount of property in the Virgin Islands as well as in Floyd County.

Most remarkable of all is that Peggy's was well known nationally and internationally and received no opposition from the local Police, local businesses or even the local women. Everyone looked the other way and accepted the house as a part of the community - peacefully. This is a phenomenon that has not occurred before or since. My question is why? What made Peggy different? From her signature pink clothing and hair to her signature pink French poodle, she stood out and hasn't been forgotten these long years.

I have been collecting all sorts of amusing stories about this woman and her house and I am posting here to collect more. Everything you read here is pure heresay, I admit it!I have a great start but there are just as many new questions being raised as there are answers. If you have any sort of anecdote about her or the house, please post them. I even take second and third hand stories...and your name won't be used.

--MWH


Peggy (probably late 40's or early 50's)

Snead Cab Company, Rome, GA

Prohibition or Not?

Peggy was born in 1913 and did in fact grow up during "Prohibition". My use of the term to describe the period of her illegal liquor sales may have been a slight misuse of the term but, certianly not an embellishment as was recently claimed by an anonymous commentor. Alcohol was most definitely prohibited in Floyd County throughout the fifty's whether or not it was officially "Prohibition".

Although Prohibition officially ended with the ratification of the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933 (when Peggy was 20), Georgia was one of eight states that wouldn't even consider the amendment.

Many southern counties continued to prohibit alcohol sales locally and several still do today. Rome and Floyd county remained dry up into the late fifty's and possibly early 60's because I can still remember it and I was quite young then. As a result, Floyd County, Georgia remained dry up into the early 60's and was a hot bed of boot leggers.

I remember as a child when many Romans made the treck on Friday's after work to either Marietta, Atlanta or Piedmont, Alabama where liquor could be purchased legally and brought home.  Rome had several restaurants where you could bring your own liquor in a brown bag but you couldn't purchase liquor while there. Those that come to mind are Diprima's Steakhouse and private clubs like the Coosa Country Club and the Elks Club.

The local churches were very vocal in their opposition to liquor sales as you can see in their "Open letter to the Grand Jury" below. There was a very real issue of public drunkeness and drugs that was plainly visible. Yet Peggy very successfully ran a back door drive through liquor sales through all of this, which was probably a much more dangerous business than prostitution at the time.

I'm attaching some archived newspaper clippings from Google archives that will give you an idea of the climate;