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This information is based on interviews conducted with Colonel Lemuel J. Allred and Mr. James Simmons, by the Ellijay Courier newspaper in 1887. Not long after Pickens County was carved out of Cherokee County and Gilmer in 1853 by legislation drafted by Colonel Lemuel Allred, a new town was proposed as the county seat. James Simmons, the former legislator who moved to the area in 1835 and lived in Colonel Haney Nelson's old Tavern along the Federal Road, originally proposed

As with most counties in America, Cherokee County has several family cemeteries. Back in the days of the early settlers of a county, in the age of pre-refrigeration and automobiles, families of moderate means would have their own private family graveyards. The Green-McCraw (later misspelled McGraw) family cemetery is one such place. The first time I went to this property I was also in search of an old family homestead. I didn't find one, but I did find their cemetery.

Charles Walker's conceptual drawing of an Indian Removal fort. Nearly 190 years ago, in what is now Cherokee County, more specifically in an area near Lake Allatoona and Bridgemill, an Indian Removal fort was built in 1838. Eight years earlier, Camp Hinar was established when a Federal Lieutenant named Abram Fowler destroyed 19 buildings built by prospectors and gold miners who had illegally entered the Cherokee Territory. The Indian Removal Act was passed in May, 1830. Dis

The history of violence, especially when used to protect tradition, and/or fighting against a centralized power structure is frequently found in the historical record. A common perception is that all, if not nearly all of the violence committed by vigilantes groups in the United States was inspired by racism. (K.K.K., Christian Nationalist Movement, Black Panthers) And while this is historically accurate, the anti-revenuer groups of North Georgia during the late 1800s did

Amicalola Electrical Membership Co-operative began in 1940 as one of the last electrical membership co-ops. Rather than benefiting from...

Historian Bernice McCullar provided, through her popular Atlanta newspaper column, Georgia Notebook many Georgians of her day with all of...

Pickens County, in the Appalachian Mountains and one of Georgia's smallest counties in size and population in 1860, existed as an...

Being curious, detail-oriented, and courageous are the most important inherited traits of an explorer. While you can teach people how to read maps, look at aerial photography, and determine latitude and longitude, you cannot make someone curious. Like color blindness, you’re either born curious or not. Assuming your curiosity led you to this article, I will teach you the basics of RUREX. If URBEX = Urban Exploration, I will assume RUREX means Rural Exploration. If not, I

For years, I regularly contributed articles to the now gone North Georgia Journal and Georgia Backroads. In the process, I learned much...

The home guards remain one of the most confusing aspects of the history of the Civil War in Georgia. Family tales and reminiscences...

Steele's Bridge 1964 baptism Most people from Pickens and Dawson County are familiar with the metal span bridge over the Amicalola River. Spanning 80 feet over a popular fishing and tubing location known as the Devil's Elbow, the bridge has been a landmark of local activity for over 120 years. Map of Steele's Bridge Dawson County John Chumley and his family helped build the bridge. The Chumleys lived downstream from the elbow, and Wash Steele owned the property upstream.

The Mitchell Map Wauchope's Interpretation of the Mitchell Map The Mitchell map of 1755 was the first map to show Long Swamp as a place (albeit, under a different name). The map was compiled from the best sources of information at the time under the direction of the Second Earl of Halifax. The map remained one of the largest and most accurate depictions of North America through the 18th Century. At six and a half feet wide and four and a half feet high, it is a massive map

As with Lindsey Williams Evans, Carter Lee Smith, C.L. “Seal” (a pronunciation of the C and L together) Smith, was determined not to spend a life in jail. He was convicted and sentenced to life along with Hoyt Evans. Carter Wilson and Carter Jones were sentenced to 12 months of hard labor. Like Lindsey Evans and his wife, Carter, and Rosetta Harriet Matilda Rosetta Smith, nee McCollum, gave birth to a daughter about two weeks before Cape was murdered. Once incarcerated, C

Policeman Lee Cape had always suspected his enemies would eventually get him. But he would tell his friends, “but when they do, I’ll be so old I won’t have lost too many years anyway.” William Lee Cape, better known as Lee Cape, spent the better part of four decades in law enforcement. Lee was born two years before the Civil War began and by the age of 18, had moved in with his grandmother who lived in Pickens County. Lee had a reputation by his early 20s of being a tough g

The Keith Plantation of Cherokee County The overgrown entrance to the Keith Plantation. Note the main house in the background According to local sources, the Keith Plantation near Canton, GA, in present-day Keithsburg* during the Civil War. The property held over 3,300 acres along the Etowah River two miles north of Etowah. (Note: At one point in the past, Canton was named Etowah) The plantation had a large brick house made from a kiln with red clay from the Etowah River.

The Treaty of Tellico and the great road that traversed Augusta, Georgia to Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1805 the Federal Road was created, having been established by a treaty between the Cherokee and the United States Government. Chief James Vann, a half Scot, half Cherokee leader. The treaty allowed for the passage of the white settlers through the Cherokee Territory. A series of taverns and public houses were constructed along different segments providing travelers with

https://www.northgeorgiahistory.com/copy-of-p harr-map

Juan Contreras, Sr.'s grave marker - Pleasant Union Baptist Cemetery, Waleska This is the tragic story of the Contreras family of Cherokee County, Georgia. In 1976, two teenagers killed their father and tried to make it look like an accident. For whatever reason, they decided the fictional site of the murder would be at the S-Curves below Cove Mountain, across the road from the entrance to the Perseverence Quarry. In early 1976, Juan Contreras, Sr., and his wife Peggy d

Fort Newnan was built in March of 1838 in Gilmer County (Present-day Pickens) It was named after Major General Daniel Newnan, Georgia Secretary of State of the 1820s. The Fort was led by Captain Reverend John Dorsey. He led a mounted regiment. On May 26, 1938, After the Indian removal was completed, Captain Dorsey refused to give up the post. A detachment was sent to arrest him, but by their arrival, he had gone home and half of his men had left. The remainder of his tr

Carmel Mission, which took its name on January 7, 1824 - previously named Taloney Mission, was a missionary outpost of the Presbyterians established in 1819 in Gilmer County (present-day Pickens County). The property today is located about two miles northwest of Talking Rock, 12 miles south of Ellijay, just north of 136, and south of Talking Rock Creek by a fifth of a mile on private property. (LL83) Carmel was located near Sanderstown (named after John and George Sander