According to the National Register of Historic Places, the Jarrett-Hayes House “was built by Robert Jarrett using hand-made bricks and slave labor...it also has an original ell on the rear… The house reflects the construction methods of the period with the on-premise, hand-made bricks, pegged interior woodwork, and turned balusters...The property was at one time a thriving 800 acre plantation producing corn, wheat, cotton, peas, and beans. In 1950, it was purchased by Elizabeth Turnbull Hayes, great granddaughter of Robert Jarrett. The land was used for farming until the creation of Lake Hartwell in 1958-1960.”
It is well maintained and remains an important symbol of the area’s early history.
Just above Toccoa Falls, a reservoir was created when E. P. Simpson built a rock dam to generate hydroelectric power for the surrounding area. The Toccoa Falls Institute built an earthen dam over the original rock dam in 1940 to increase power generation for its growing student population. After World War II, the reservoir, Kelly Barnes Lake, was expanded again by increasing the size of the dam. After 1957, it was discontinued as a power source but remained open as a recreational site.
After four days of heavy flooding, the dam failed in the early morning hours of 6 November 1977. The resulting torrent of water raced without much warning through the Toccoa Falls College campus, killing 39 people and injuring 60. It destroyed nine houses, 18 mobile homes, numerous college buildings, and many automobiles. It was the largest disaster in Georgia since the 1930s and devastated the community.
A memorial to the victims was placed near the falls by the class of 1986, and another monument is located near the courthouse in Toccoa. The victims were: Karen Anderson, Joey Anderson, Becky Anderson, Gerald “Jerry” Brittin, William L. “Bill” Ehrensberger, Peggy Ann Ehrensberger, Robert Ehrensberger, Kristen Ehrensberger, Kenny Ehrensberger, David Fledderjohann, Mary Jo Ginther, Brenda Ginther, Rhonda Ginther, Nancy Ginther, Tracy Ginther, Cary E. Hanna, Tiep “Tia” Harner, Robby Harner, Christopher Kemp, Cassandra Metzger, Dirksen Metzger, Jeremiah Moore, Ruth Moore, Edward E. Pepsny, Carol Pepsny, Paul Pepsny, Bonnie Pepsny, Eloise J. Pinney, Monroe J. Rupp, Jerry Sproull, Melissa Sproull, Jocelyn Sproull, Joanna Sproull, Richard J. Swires, Jaimee Veer, Mary N. Williams, Betty Jean Woerner, and Deborah Woerner.
The short walk from the bookstore at Toccoa Falls College to the falls makes it one of the most accessible natural wonders in the state.
If follows Toccoa Creek, the upstream source of the falls.
At 186 feet, the falls are about the same height as Niagara Falls (Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side). A sacred and mythological place to the indigenous Yuchi, and later, Cherokee people, the falls were first occupied/owned by White settlers in the late 18th century.
The first two owners are believed to have been Col. James Irwin, and Joshua Catcher. The early owner with whom it was most associated was Col. William Wofford (1728-1823), but like the falls themselves, ownership changed constantly, with at least 23 different owners until 1911.
In 1911, Dr. Richard A. Forrest (1881-1958) established Toccoa Falls Institute and Bible School, after purchasing a hundred acres and the Haddock Inn, a popular tourist destination built in 1873, from E. P. Simpson.
The Inn burned circa 1913 but other structures soon sprang up to take its place and the college remains today.
The falls attract thousands of visitors each year, including artists who draw inspiration from their natural beauty.
The only way to access the falls is to stop by the Toccoa Falls College bookstore and pay a small fee. At $2 ($1 for seniors), it’s one of the best bargains in Georgia. You won’t be disappointed.
It’s not unusual to find old cemeteries stretched beyond the boundaries of their more formal current configurations, and in the woods around historic Providence Methodist Church near Traveler’s Rest there are many vernacular headstones scattered along the fringes.
It’s safe to presume that these are among the oldest memorials in the cemetery, which dates to 1857. Local stone, be it granite, gneiss, or something similar, was readily available in the creeks and valleys near Providence, and as such was the logical material for marking the final resting places of some of its earliest members.
The marker pictured above is a great example of such a stone. Many were placed “as-is” but this one appears to have had a bit of finishing.
Robinson family plot
The Robinson family plot contains the most significant vernacular marker at Providence. Two of the three gravestones are slightly stylized, as as seen in this view, and contain text on the back side, although it’s nearly unreadable now.
M. B. Robinson (27 February 1908-1 December 1908)
The most important Robinson marker is this “Tree of Life” marking the grave of a toddler, M. B. Robinson. Findagrave identifies it by the name on the stone, which is Robson, but I believe this to be a phonetic spelling, since the more modern gravestone in the plot spells the name “Robinson”. We may never know much about these people, but they left behind a beautiful work of art with this enduring piece of folk art.
Providence Methodist Church is located just up the old Unicoi Turnpike from Traveler’s Rest, and its history is closely linked to that landmark. Originally, a wood-framed structure was built at the site in 1857 by Devereaux Jarrett, owner of Traveler’s Rest (aka Jarrett Manor). Some accounts note that Black members were present, but I’m not sure if that refers to slaves or post-Civil War laborers. According to Katheryn Trogdon’s The History of Stephens County, Georgia, the church did double duty as a school house in the early 1920s. Due to deterioration of the building, it was torn down in the mid-1940s and replaced by the present structure. The Jarrett descendants still live nearby and act as unofficial custodians of the church. Though no longer affiliated with the Methodists, they’re still a small but active congregation.
Of particular interest to me are some of the early gravestones, which I will detail in the next post.
Traveler’s Rest was built upon land granted to Major Jesse Walton in 1785 for his service in the Revolutionary War. Walton was killed by indigenous people near this site in 1789. The Walton family sold the land to Gen. James Rutherford Wyly (1782-1855), who built the original section of the house between 1816-1825. The property was purchased by Devereaux Jarrett (1785-1852) in 1838. Jarrett expanded the original structure to ten rooms. He opened it to the public as an inn, trading post, and post office, to meet the needs of a growing population made possible by the Unicoi Turnpike, an early public road in the area. Among its early guests was G. W. Featherstonehaugh, and English scientist who served as the first geologist for the U. S. government and a surveyor of the Louisiana Purchase.
This 1934 photograph by Branan Sanders for the Historic American Buildings Survey shows Traveler’s Rest looking much as it does today, albeit a bit overgrown. Courtesy Library of Congress.
It was known as Jarrett Manor during that family’s ownership. Notably, the last owner, Mary Jarrett White (1870-1957), was the first woman in Georgia to vote. The site is open, with limited hours, as a state historic site today.
Some sources date white settlement in Eastanollee to the late 1700s but there is little to be found regarding these pioneers. Most likely, the village, located southeast of Toccoa, grew in the mid-19th century. A post office has been serving the community since 1875. The unusual name comes from Eastanollee Creek, itself thought to be derivative of a Cherokee word for “shoals”.
An historic survey done in 1989 documents a two-story store in Eastanollee, presumably gone today. The store depicted here wasn’t identified in that survey, but was certainly standing at the time. It likely dates from 1910s-1930s, and has been restored. Sadly, the old Eastanollee Auditorium, which became a symbol of the community, was recently razed.
The village of Avalon is hard to distinguish from nearby Martin, Georgia, today, but it was once a settlement unto itself. The two communities are less than a mile and a half apart. Richard Dempsey Yow (1844-1899) founded the community in 1880, when a post office named Avalon was opened, though most sources date the founding to 1882. Yow and his brother, Thomas Russell Yow (1855-1922), ran a successful mercantile here. [It may have been in the building pictured here, but I have been unable to confirm at this time.] Cooper and Meier were other merchants associated with this structure. The post office located in this block closed in 1955, long past Avalon’s prime, but this village, named for the island of Arthurian lore, hasn’t completely disappeared.
It might surprise some that the name Air Line was applied to this community in 1856. It seems way ahead of its time. But “air line” actually referred to a type of railroad with straighter routes and therefore, in theory, quicker travel times. The Georgia Air Line Railroad was established in 1856 and ran through this section of Hart County, where a village and post office were established to support the enterprise. It was a modern innovation by 1850s standards and a vast improvement over earlier less consistent lines. Today, a busy store still serves the area, and this freight warehouse and the old elementary school survive as reminders of an earlier era.
According to Aubrey Sims, via Facebook, there have been four school buildings at Air Line. He states that two burned to the ground and this is the only one still standing. Air Line Academy was the first, and built circa 1889 near this location. In 1925, a new school was built, which consolidated Union Hill (Bethany) and Cross Roads and was renamed Air Line Consolidated School. It was destroyed by fire in November 1938. A new school, thanks to the New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) agency, was completed and opened in 1940. It originally housed all grades but after another round of consolidation, was reduced to grades 1-8. An arson fire claimed the school in 1968, and the present structure was built in 1969. It remained in use until at least the 1990s. I believe the gymnasium also dates to 1969.
