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THURSDAY. JANUARY 7. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
Continued From 1A
Chickens
day Monument Road) not to
be confused with present
Firetower Road in Hinton.
As years passed, The
Georgia Appalachian Trail
Club (GATC) began “blazing
the trees” for markers along
the way, and hikers stayed at
a shelter beneath the fire-
tower (where the present day
fire station on Monument
Road is) that was built by our
local Civilian Conservation
Corps in 1934.
In 1938, the GATC as
sembled the first sign mark
ing the Southern Terminus of
the AT, after carrying it up in
segments from the then-
abandoned Dude Ranch to
Mount Oglethorpe.
But according to the
records of the Georgia Ap
palachian Trail Club, the log
ging industry, vandals and
the elaborate growth of the
chicken breeding industry in
North Georgia ended up de
stroying most of the viability
of the Oglethorpe section of
the trail.
[ Author’s Note: I’ve read
accounts online about moon
shiners being a part of the
problem, however, in all of
the historical literature, they
are not mentioned.]
By 1955, the start of the
trail was ovemm by around
150,000 free-range chickens
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The wooden sign was installed by the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club in the late 1930s.
It was carried up in sections from the Dude Ranch property that was within the land that
is now Bent Tree.
The monument placed
there by Col. Sam Tate in
1930 was damaged by re
peated gunfire aimed at
General Oglethorpe’s face
and other spots. It has since
been restored.
that were being bred on the
east side of present-day Mon
ument Road at the newly re
located Vantress Poultry
Experiment Farm.
The chickens had left so
much detritus on the ground
that many hikers simply
could not make it to the mon
ument without falling in the
mess. Specifically, the
GATC mentioned, "We pro
ceeded along the crest of
Oglethorpe Mountain amidst
glorious scenery. Our next
encounter was with a chicken
ranch, acres in extent which
sat straddle the trail. There
was no way around it, so we
again waded through filth,
this time of thousands of
chickens. It was so slimy
that one of our group fell flat
on her face in the stuff."
Additionally, its remote
location had made the monu
ment a partying spot for the
locals and some 50,000 dis
carded cans of beer and other
drinks littered around the
area.
People were known to use
the monument for target
practice. General
Oglethorpe’s face was dam
aged badly. Horses had done
their business on the base of
it, and, as a final, albeit logi
cal blow, it was struck by
lightning over and over.
In 1958, because of the
above-mentioned problems
(and because the start of the
trail was on private land -
meaning they couldn’t force
the owners to keep up the
property) the start of the Ap
palachian Trail was moved to
Springer Mountain, with the
approach trail, no longer
through Pickens County but
through Dawson County be
ginning at Amicalola State
Park.
By the 1970s, the poultry
farm was long gone as were
its thousands of chickens.
But the marble spire sat next
to an AT&T tower and other
FCC equipment at the top of
the mountain. It had become
a non-important relic of a by
gone age.
Finally, after 60 years of
being abused atop Mount
Oglethorpe, the marble spire
was brought down to Jasper
in 1998 and restored by a
Finnish marble artist named
Eino. The once front-facing
face of Oglethorpe now
looked to the side, and a mar
ble ball that once stood atop
the monument (missing since
the 1960s) was never re
placed.
Today, the spire stands
sentinel near the north end of
Main Street - a poignant re
minder of an age gone-by,
Georgia Marble and its ec
centric founder.
[Writer/Researcher Chris
Feldt has lived in Pickens
County since November,
2018 - feldtcj@gmail.com.]
This photo and one of Oglegthorpe face at bottom are from
Along the Appalachian Trail: Georgia, North Carolina and Ten
nessee by Leonard M. Adkins (2012)
Communication towers were later put beside the monu
ment at the original site. The marble spire was relocated to
downtown Jasper in 1998.
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