THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
From ancient
Indian trail to the Unicoi Turnpike covered a period from unrecorded
history in the mountain area to a time when ancestors responded to the
urge to settle lands in the North Georgia wilderness and see if there
was, indeed, “gold in them thar hills” as was quickly rumored. Parts of
the road remained intact until 1925 and into the 1930s when state roads
replaced the old route.
During the
Revolutionary War, South Carolina militiamen targeted Cherokee outposts
aligned with the British. Pushing through Rabun Gap, they attacked and
destroyed a Cherokee settlement near present day Franklin, NC. Marching
onward, they went to Quo-neashee (Hiawassee Town) and overcame the
Cherokees there. They faced southward, and going on the Unicoi Trail
across the Gap, they were wary of possible ambush from the enemy hiding
in the laurel thickets. In a journal of the militia’s expedition, they
told of sixteen stream crossings from the foot of the mountain on the
north side to the Chota settlement in the Nacoochee Valley.
With the
Revolution won, America began to make treaties with the Indians to
claim the area of the mountains that formerly held Cherokee settlements
aligned with the British. A peace settlement was made with the Cherokee
nation about 1795. Through various
treaties after that, portions of land were opened up for white
settlement.
Negotiations
began for a permanent road or turnpike following rather closely the Old
Unicoi Trail from Augusta to Maryville, Tennessee. In 1812 Georgia’s
General Assembly requested approval from the federal government for
establishing the road. In March, 1813, the US Cherokee Agency in
Tennessee signed a treaty for work on the road to begin. The Unicoi
Turnpike Company had charge of both construction and management and the
Cherokees were to be paid $160.00 per year for a period of twenty years
for use of the land that comprised the road.
In 1816,
Georgia officially chartered the road and set tolls for its use. It is
interesting to read the tolls compiled in Lucius Q. C. Lamar’s Compilation
of the Laws of the State of Georgia, 1810-1819,
Act # 489, pages 774-776: ‘For every man and horse, 12 and 1/2 cents;
for every led horse not in a drove, 6 and 1/4 cents; for every loose
horse in a drove, 4 cents; for every foot man, 6 and 1/4 cents; for
every waggon (sic) and team, one dollar; for every coach, chariot,
other four-wheel carriage, chaise, chair or other carriage of pleasure,
one dollar and twenty-five cents; for every two-wheel carriage (etc.)
for pleasure, seventy-five cents; for every cart and team, fifty cents;
for each head of cattle, two cents; for each head of sheep, goats, or
lambs, one cent; and for each head of hogs, one cent.”
Where feasible,
the roadbed was dug out following the ancient trail. It was required to
be twenty feet wide, twelve feet wide where bridges or stream crossings
occurred. Only hand tools were used to grade the route. It was tedious,
back-breaking work, and required much longer than anticipated. The work
started on the road in March, 1814. The Georgia Legislature had asked
for completion in 1817, but had to renegotiate for the road to open in
November 1818. The Tennessee crews were having the same delays. The
road finally opened for full operation in 1819, and was advertised as
“a safe route and with as much convenience as any other road through
Cherokee Country” (from a brochure by Robert Bouwman, Traveler’s
Rest and Tugaloo Crossroads by Georgia Parks,
Recreation and Historic Sites, 1980). There was irony in this
advertisement about the Unicoi Turnpike, because there was no ‘other
road’ offering competition at that time.
Financial
troubles beset the Unicoi Turnpike Company. The Georgia Legislature
“loaned” the company $3,000 in 1821. The Cherokees complained that the
promised $160 per year had not been paid their agency. In its early
years, the Unicoi Turnpike was 150 miles in length. Road houses and
accommodations sprang up about every twelve miles along the road, as
that was about the distance that could be made in one day with droves
of animals for market, or a covered wagon loaded with goods.
Our earliest ancestors came over the Unicoi Turnpike, settling first in areas of Habersham County in the late 1820s. In 1828, gold was found on Duke’s Creek. Then the busiest period of the Unicoi Turnpike opened with prospectors, miners, land-lot and gold-lot claimers going to Nacoochee Valley to settle. A virtual stampede of travelers traversed the Unicoi Turnpike to what they considered a land of promise. It was a vital route for Georgia’s economy in the mountain area and a “shining white road” to new lands and fulfilled aspirations for our ancestors.
[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.]
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