Early Americana in Northeast Georgia

Relive history at three historic sites

BY DENISE WEIMER

Imagine planning a trip to Northeast Georgia in 1805. Coastal and Middle Georgia are flourishing, but the upper section of the state is less tame. Your jostling journey takes you on miles of winding roads hemmed in by vast wilderness. The threat of attack by Creek or Cherokee Indians is a decade past, and you’re stalwart enough to scorn tales of the Wog (the big furry creature with a tongue long enough to lick between a cabin’s logs) that causes rowdy children to blanch.

But lurking among the shadows are very real dangers: injury, ruffians and wild animals. Lantern light ahead, a safe place to rest, signs of civilization—these things were greatly valued. Visitors are welcome now, as they were then, at several unique locations.

The journey begins at the place that likely caused the University of Georgia (UGA) to locate in Athens rather than Watkinsville: Eagle Tavern. “It was believed that the presence of the tavern was not conducive to learning,” says Anita Ford, Oconee County’s director of tourism.

By 1801, Rhodrick Easley was operating a general store and tavern in Watkinsville, then the seat of Clarke County. His brother Daniel donated the land for the university near Athens. Despite the carefully chosen location of then Franklin College, university students still found their way to Eagle Tavern. According to Ford, “It has been said that school administrators would stand on top of UGA’s buildings with a spy scope and watch the young men as they returned.”

Rhodrick’s tavern was constructed in the “two-up, two-down” plain style. Tourists can view the storeroom, which Ford has restocked with period items for display, and a re-created 1830s tavern. Here, travelers could lay a pallet by the fire for the price of a drink. When not being served, fine spirits were locked in the barred alcove beneath the stairs—thence the term “bar.”

When the stagecoach between Macon and Athens approached, as it did three times weekly, the driver would blow a tin horn from the hill, indicating the number of passengers expecting dinner and bed for the night.

Many items are displayed upstairs, including a working 1700s loom and treasures unearthed during the 1960s excavations. Of special interest is the account of the tavern’s restoration, when historical architect Thomas Little uncovered the sound original structure encased in deteriorating 1800s rooms.

That’s not all that’s been discovered at Eagle Tavern. The East Georgia Paranormal Society and Patrick Burns of Court TV’s “Haunting Evidence” have both visited the inn. Burns recorded two electronic voice phenomenons, a term paranormal investigators use to refer to voices or voice-like sounds, of alleged paranormal origin.

Be sure to ask about: how a skeleton dubbed “Napoleon” came to be deposited in the cellar during the 1880s.

Events:

Every Saturday (from late spring through October): Oconee Farmers’ Market

July 4: Heritage Celebration

Oct. 26-28: Historical Haunts

For more information, visit www.visitoconee.com, or call (706) 769-5197.

About an hour’s drive north of Watkinsville on Highway 441 lies Fort Hollingsworth-White, first shown on a map of the Defensive Plan Western Frontier in 1793. After the Revolutionary War, Jacob Hollingsworth constructed a room-over-room fort house. Logs were dovetailed, wooden pegs employed where necessary, and clay and rock constituted filler. In times of trouble, settlers could view the encircling Indian-trail-turned-wagon-road from upstairs windows.

In 1861, John Lane purchased Fort Hollingsworth. When Lane was killed in the Civil War, his home passed to Joshua and Katherine Lane White, ancestors of the current owners—children of Beacher and Mellie Segars White.

Today, the fort appears much as it did following the Whites’ 1860s addition. The family realized the structure’s historic value, says descendant Willette Mote. “Though Mama did talk Daddy into a bit of paint,” she admits with a smile, referring to the “new” parlor.

Several structures have been donated for reassembly on the property, including a storage crib, a double-pen corncrib, a smokehouse and the late 1700s Nunn-Chandler cabin. The cabin, which sat behind a pillared manse in lower Banks County, is furnished in period style. Another  two-room cabin was reconstructed by late spring 2007.

Be sure to ask about: how Joshua White escaped Confederate officers when he snuck home to harvest his wheat crop.

Events:

May 24: A Day at the Fort

Dec. 6: Christmas at the Fort; group meals and programs by reservation

For more information, visit www.forthollingsworth-whitehouse.com or call (706) 754-4538.

North of Toccoa is Traveler’s Rest. Major Jesse Walton received the property in a 1785 land grant, but it wasn’t until James Wyly purchased the land and began to build his home and inn in 1815 that its full potential was realized. Wyly was a commissioner of the Unicoi Turnpike, which ran past his prime property on the navigable end of the Tugaloo River.

Devereaux Jarrett, who bought the inn and surrounding land from Wyly in 1833, became known as “the richest man in the Tugaloo River Valley.” He expanded the inn to its present appearance as well as operated a tanyard, cotton gin, blacksmithy, grist mill, post office, sawmill, tavern, store, gold mine and ferry as part of his 14,400-acre plantation.

Ramble through the 6,000-square-foot inn, today a state historic site, view the room where Georgia Confederate Gov. Joseph Brown spent his wedding night, and admire furniture original to the Jarrett family. Outside are a dairy house, well house, meat house, slave cabin and son-in-law’s house.

“It’s rare to find a stagecoach inn from the early 19th century in such good condition. The inn still contains 85 percent of its original fabric, mainly Southern yellow pine,” says Manager Chris Floyd at Traveler’s Rest. “Our events are very affordable—for $4 or less, we can take you back in time, if only for a few hours.”

Be sure to ask about: Major Walton’s unusually short stint as property owner.

Events:

Feb. 14: Traveling by Firelight

Sept. 27: Pioneer Days

Dec. 14: Christmas for Travelers

For more information, visit www.gastateparks.org, or call (706) 886-2256.

Denise Weimer, a journalism grad of Asbury College, is a freelance writer, Civil War re-enactor, wife and mother of two girls. Her first historical romance novel, “Redeeming Grace,” was released in 2006.