Ann Parsons Odum Donates Painting to Suwanee

Her family business is new to Suwanee, but the family name is well known in Duluth and Gwinnett County.

Ann Parsons Odum, whose family has owned a business in Gwinnett for generations, was honored Tuesday (Nov. 27) by the Suwanee City Council.

The honor was for some of Odum's artwork, which commemorates a piece of Suwanee history. She donated to the city her painting of the Pierce's Corner building on Main Street in Old Town. The painting, which Odum said was done in 1995, will be displayed at City Hall.

Odum noted Tuesday that her family began a general store in Bethesda, Ga., and moved it to Duluth in 1925.

Parsons Gifts & Cards opened in 1987, and her family moved it to Suwanee in August 2012.

New ownership of its location in Duluth prompted the move to Suwanee. Customers in Duluth were "upset," Odum noted Tuesday. "We were lucky to find somewhere that was a good spot."

The Suwanee location is in the same center as Fresh Market, a development that also includes Cinco restaurant.

Odum's choice of Pierce's Corner as a subject -- the painting actually is titled "Pierce's Antiques" -- came from a personal experience.

"I knew George Pierce," she recalled. "I bought some (Lake Lanier) property from (Pierce)."

The Pierce's Corner building is targeted for redevelopment. Suwanee officials have a lease-purchase deal with The Deming Group of Norcross that would allow a restaurant and a so-called business incubator in the building, which dates to 1910.

This article originated on Suwanee Patch.