THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union
County, Georgia
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
How Some Places in Union County Were Named
The Suches area
of Union County is
"across the mountain" from the county seat of Blairsville, a large
mountainous area somewhat isolated until more modern roads were built
in the 1930s and 40s. Suches contains three militia districts, Cooper's
Creek, Canada and Gaddistown. How did Suches get its name?
Go back a long
ways to the time the Cherokee Indians inhabited the area of Union County.
Cherokee Chief Suches was the major chief of the area "beyond the
mountains."
When the United
States government gave orders to move the Cherokee west to Oklahoma,
Chief Suches cooperated by giving General Winfield Scott, commander of
the U.S. Army commissioned to move the Cherokee on what now is known as
the Trail of Tears, a census of the Cherokee population of his domain.
Why Chief
Suches would side with the U.S.
government to assist General Scott with the exodus has been lost in the
mists of time. Did the chieftain realize that the Cherokee homelands
would succumb to the white man's rule? Did he see no other hope for his
people than to have them vacate their mountain home? Did the white
man's greed for land and gold supercede
any thoughts of preserving the Cherokee's domain?
Whatever the
answers, Chief Suches helped Scott to locate and round up the Cherokee
families of his area. As a tribute to this Indian chief, the land in
Union County "over the mountain" in the southwest section of the county
that adjoins Fannin County on the west and Lumpkin County on the east
is known as Suches. When you travel the picturesque route to this area
of Union County, you
might like to imagine that it was once the domain of Cherokee Chief
Suches and his braves.
A placid lake
in the region is named Winfield Scott after the General who not only
led the Indian removal but who, during the
Civil War, served as a commander in the U.S. Army. So popular was he
that he received two nominations to run for president of the United
States, but
he never made it to that high office. Many believed Scott's lack of
support for the presidency stemmed from his infamous part in the Indian
Removal.
Woody Gap is
the gap in the mountains through which Georgia Highway 180 winds
southwest to meet Georgia Highway 60 at Suches. Woody Gap, Woody Lake in
Suches, and Woody Gap School were
all named for Union County's
beloved Forest Ranger Arthur Woody and early Woody settlers there. John
Woody, Ranger Woody's paternal grandfather, was a founder of North Georgia Agricultural College at
Dahlonega. John Woody had also fought with the U.S. Army at the famed
battle of Gettysburg,
bearing a U.S. flag
which has become a treasured legacy of the Woody family.
Known as "the
barefoot ranger," Arthur Woody began working for the Forest Service in
1912 as a surveyor. His love for the forest and
outdoorsman expertise were recognized and in 1918 he became Georgia's
first forest ranger over the newly-established Blue Ridge District of
the Chattahoochee National
Forest. His
work with the Civilian Conservation Corps and his efforts to bring the
deer back to the forests and stock the lakes with trout, bass and bream
are notable.
Likewise, he
wanted better education for the Suches community. Plans began in 1936
to build a school that would consolidate the scattered schools of Mt. Lebanon, Mt. Zion,
Cooper's Creek, Sprigg's Chapel and Valley
into one complex. Arthur Woody and his son Walter made numerous trips
to Atlanta on
behalf of establishing the consolidated school. These men bought the
land that was formerly owned by the Governor Joseph E. Brown family and
gave it for the school site. The building was constructed, using native
stone. In 1941 the school opened in January, at mid-term. Through thick
and thin, the school has maintained its position in the annals of Georgia
education as an "isolated" school, and continues to this day. It was
named to honor the Woodys, father and son,
who labored long to get the school located in Suches.
Now to the
three militia districts in Suches. How did Canada get
its name? It is believed that some of the early settlers there thought
their new mountain home resembled areas of Canada, and
thus the name. Who knows? As for Cooper's Creek and Gaddistown, these names can definitely be traced
to early settlers by the same name. On the fast-flowing streams, the
pioneers who had known how to build and operate grist mills in North
Carolina and Tennessee used
their expertise to channel the mountain streams for water power and to
establish mills. With mills built, roads had to be cut for settlers to
have a path wide enough for their wagons to bring grains to be ground.
Civilization was slow coming to this remote mountainous area of Georgia. Now
citizens enjoy not only the beauty and majesty of surrounding mountains
but the relative quiet and solitude of their mountain homes. Place
names pay tribute to those who have gone before.
c2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 15, 2007 in The Union
Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights
reserved.
[Ethelene
Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and historian.
She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708
Cedarwood Road,
Milledgeville,
GA
31061-2411.]