LISTEN: Audrey Davenport of the Habersham County Historical Society and the Regional African American Museum of Northeast Georgia talks with GPB's Orlando Montoya about an endearing message on an underpass in Cornelia, Ga.
No one in the small Northeast Georgia town of Cornelia quite remembers when it started.
But sometime in the '60s, '70s or '80s — again, folks are very fuzzy about this — someone named Tim professed his love for someone named Tink by painting graffiti on a railroad underpass that leads out of downtown.
The not-so-creative graffiti read: “Tim Loves Tink.”
Every so often, the town would have to re-paint the underpass and, in the process, erase the unsightly vandalism.
And, every time, within days, it would reappear: a sloppily-sprayed “Tim Loves Tink.”
After decades of this cat-and-mouse game between upright town fathers and an apparently determined vandal, the town decided to give in to this repeat offender — and get one step ahead of him (or her).
The town repainted the underpass but, this time, professionally stenciled the three words, which by now had become well known in the area.
And there it remains, one of Georgia’s more unusual roadside oddities.
“Tim Loves Tink” is now so beloved in Cornelia that the town has earned a grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts to start its first-ever mural project based around it.
Audrey Davenport of the Habersham County Historical Society and the Regional African American Museum of Northeast Georgia is coordinating the grant for the city.
She says that she’d love to identify Tim, Tink and their love story, but in the end, it’s all about art and community.
“It has stood the test of time like we all hope love stands the test of time,” she said. “Just the fact that someone got up to the top of that underpass and had that much nerve to paint such a message is part of the intrigue.”
Davenport is collecting stories (real and imagined) about “Tim Loves Tink” and is planning for a mural to be created on the underpass.
Other plans for the grant include pop-up art events around town and in public schools.
“Tim Loves Tink” also has gotten city officials talking about public art elsewhere in the city.
Cornelia recently created its first-ever mural ordinance.
The city manager, Lee Anderson, says a former mayor, who claimed to know Tim and Tink, told him that the affair that started it all was brief and in the 1960’s.
“I think it’s just something that people have come to understand is always going to be there,” he said.
Cornelia is more known for its Big Red Apple Festival each fall and for its history as a railroad town.
“We might have to rebrand ourselves,” said Anderson.
Anyone with stories to share about “Tim Loves Tink” should contact Davenport through this website.
