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We left off at Redden W. Randell's sentencing of 5 years for the murder of Theodore Samms in November of 1940. Two months later, on January 14, 1950, Redden went to the Lawrence A. Powell Funeral Home and ordered a $250 wooden coffin for himself to be delivered to Madison, Florida, where the first woman he murdered was buried. Redden told the funeral home that his wife would pay for the expenses later. The next day, he wrote a suicide note and left it on a ledge in his pan

In 1939, Redden remarried Evelyn Ray of Gilmer County. She was 12 years his junior. At the time Redden was 48 and his bride was 36. Redden and his young bridge pose beneath the stucco arch in front of the old White Path Hotel property. Ten years later, at one of R.W. Randell's rentals events were set in motion that would set a course for disaster. Another Murder On February 1, 1949, Mr. Randell and his wife traveled together to collect rent from one of his African-American

The Beginning White Path, a small hamlet in the mountains of North Georgia, takes its name from the famous Cherokee Indian leader who disagreed with the policies of European assimilation and acculturation. He lived in a small village in the Cherokee Territory known as Turniptown, not far north from present day Ellijay, Georgia. When the Cherokee were rounded up into removal forts, White Path was likely held at Fort Hetzel and later forced to leave his homeland to walk the T

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

Everyone who has driven to the town square has driven by the old Sam Penland Store (currently the Ellijay Florist) on River Street. Sam Penland hails from the same family which started Penland's Orchards. Sam Penland began operating out of the River Street location in 1914 as a merchandise store. Sam Penland and his son in front of the store. The faded mural on the wall shows an advertisement for Ballard's Obelisk Flour. Ballard's Obelisk Flour was produced in Memphis,

On March 6th, 1963, About 25 men from the Gilmer County Public Works camp started their early day working at a rock quarry located on the northwest side of Highway 52 near the present day Oak Hill Independent Church. The night before had been filled with heavy rain. As soon as their day began, two prisoners and a guard were caught in an unexpected landslide. A guard named F. M. Miles, and two prisoners, Robert Hamby and Lawrence Mulkey were trapped under the debris. Twent

Many longtime residents of Ellijay have walked to the abandoned railroad trestle of the old Marietta and North Georgia Railroad/Later known as the Louisville and Nashville Road. The metal bridge spans the Cartecay River between River and Industrial Boulevard. Even though the bridge was built in 1902, it is in remarkable shape. Although much of the bridge is covered in kudzu, the only part that seems to have failed to erosion are the creosote timbers that are beneath the iron

Tim Day, a member of the Gartrell/McCravey line recently reached out to me about helping him track down some long-lost relatives. Back in 1995, Roger Cagle, father of Bill Cagle, took Tim and others on a drive somewhere near Price Creek. Tim remembered seeing and hearing about a Talona Methodist Cemetery. He and I spent several hours driving down various back roads in Northwestern and North Central Pickens County. We stopped at Price Creek Baptist Cemetery to pay homage t

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

During the heart of the Civil War, Pickens County was torn between sides. The flag that flew over the courthouse yard was a Union flag. Yet, many of the residents fought on each side. Many of the Darnell family fought for the North, while those from the Fields side predominantly fought for the South. And while many neighboring counties were far more aligned with the Confederacy, as with Pickens's history with race and slavery, Pickens was more of a mixed bag. There we

In 1804, the Cherokee Indians had negotiated the terms of the creation of a Federal Road that ran between Tennessee to Augusta, Georgia. In exchange for settlers' passage through the Cherokee Territory, the Indians were allowed to operate taverns along their old Cherokee highway. In less than 30 years, in 1832, the Cherokee Territory was mapped out at the request of the government with the purpose of dividing the land into lots, giving away lots by a lottery system creating

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