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PAGE 6A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 12. 2015
Old Highway 5 - The road no longer taken
Fallen leaves cover the pavement, much of which still re
mains, as the ancient highway circles behind the Quick
Burger.
A cotton gin near the original Highway 5.
Old Photos courtesy of Ball Ground historic society.
All photographs are taken
from a generally south to north
point of view. Photographs
circa the 1950s were con
tributed by the Ball Ground
Historical Society.
By Larry Cavender
Contributing Writer
Bisecting Pickens County
from south to north is a road fa
miliar to all local travelers, High
way 515. Of course, this traffic
artery has not always existed,
and before the completion of 515
in the 1980s, the main means of
moving traffic through the
county was another road also fa
miliar to Pickens countians. State
Highway 5, or as it is now
known, Old Highway 5.
This road, although not as
new and modem as the four-lane
515, is still relatively new - his
torically speaking, dating back
only to the early 1950s. Yet, it is
predated by another Highway 5,
a road that is now, for the most
part, lost to history and no longer
taken.
Portions of the ancient road
still exist today but now are
known by many different names
- Old Canton Road in Ball
Ground, Kennesaw Avenue in
Nelson, Station Street in Tate,
Hopkins Lane between Tate and
Jasper and Old Tate Highway
just south of Jasper. Many miles
of the old road are no longer in
use but traces remain of this
highway which was the most in
tegral means of transportation
through Pickens County during
the Great Depression and World
War II eras.
Much like Highway 515
spurred the economy in the
1980s with new businesses
sprouting along the new route.
State Route 5 did the same in the
1950s. New businesses estab
lished themselves along the new
highway and flourished through
out the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s
long before Highway 515 was
constructed.
Some of those businesses are
now long gone, but just like the
ancient Highway 5, traces of
these old businesses can still be
found. For example in Ball
Ground, there was Nix Nu-Way
Service Station, the name of the
business celebrating the new
route. It was most recently a tire
store. The Busy Bee Cafe, lo
cated just a hundred yards south
of the four-way stop in Tate, is
now all but forgotten with all
traces completely lost to human
ity. The Jasper Truck Stop is now
just a solitary old vacant building
standing across from the court
house admin building on South
Church Street.
Before we begin our journey
back through time, for clarifica
tion purposes, the highways will
be called by the names by which
they were best known in the
1950s. What is now Old High
way 5 will be called the new
Highway 5 while the ancient
road will be the original High
way 5. Let’s begin by following
this original Highway 5 north
The old roadbed runs along the railroad tracks in many areas between Tate and Jasper.
The Apple Orchard Road north of Nelson. The orchard was in the field to the left of the road.
Ollie Nix at a swimming pool near Ball Ground on the original
route.
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BRIC'HTOH
BEACH
nmontt
crossed the newer highway for a
few yards where Worley Cross
roads intersects with new High
way 5, and if you look closely,
you can see where the old route
has now been barricaded to
through traffic. At the pink Geor
gia Marble Company sign in
Tate, the old Highway 5 veers
right again and continues north
past the railroad depot, behind
Cool Springs Baptist Church
(which at one time fronted the
old highway), through a residen
tial area and intersects again with
the newer road as it nears the in
tersection with Parker Road.
At the Parker Road intersec
tion, the older road is now a res
idential driveway running along
the front of several homes. At the
intersection of Ray Road, it
crosses back over the newer
highway and the ancient road
way can be seen as an opening
through the forest and the route
continues by circling behind the
Quick Burger.
The old road is pretty much
lost to view at this point until the
entrance road to Pickens High
School. Just as you cross the rail
road going to the high school,
you can look both north and
south and see where the ancient
road ran parallel to the railroad as
most roads of this era did. Then,
for just a few yards, the old
Highway 5 becomes Hopkins
Lane.
The old highway is again lost
to view until it veers right just
north of the Dairy Queen where
it becomes Old Tate Highway
and its route goes behind the now
defunct Jasper Truck Stop and
the Budget Inn motel. Our jour
ney ends as the old highway
merges with the new highway
just south of Gamer Ace Hard
ware and continues into down
town Jasper.
The ancient route when it passed the former Roy Jordan's Grocery and Used Furniture — now
home to Two Brother's Bar-be-que.
Walt Quarles swimming hole near Ball Ground.
from Ball Ground and through
southern Pickens County to
Jasper.
Before time and the under
growth removed any traces, a
short strip of pavement that was
a part of this ancient road could
be seen just to the south of Ball
Ground at the four-way stop
where Howell Bridge Road inter
sects with the later highway. A
few years ago, you could travel
north on the ancient highway
from there, but the construction
of the new Ball Ground Elemen
tary School now prohibits this.
However, from about a half
mile south of Gilmer Ferry Road,
can travel for more than two
miles on the original Highway 5,
past the public library, the old el
ementary school, Ingram Truck
Body Company and north past
Two Brother’s Bar-be-que where
the ancient route intersects with
the later Highway 5 just south of
the Gospel Temple Church.
Interestingly, this church was
once known in the early ’50s as
“the chapel on the hill” until the
new construction elevated the
highway. Although the church is
still located on a hill, it doesn’t
seem to be as you look down
upon the church from the high
way above as you pass it.
From there, the new Highway
5 pretty much runs concurrent
with the older road until you get
to the county line in Nelson.
Here, at the old Georgia Marble
Company sign, the older road
veers right and goes past the TDS
office and Nelson Baptist Church
and continues for another mile
and a half until it crosses the
newer Highway 5. This section
of the road was once known as
the Apple Orchard Road because
an orchard once grew along the
route. Now, all that remains of
the old orchard are a few sparse
trees in a field to the west of the
road.
The older highway actually
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