Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, April 13, 2023 | Volume 135 Number 52 | Jasper, Georgia | 22 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly | $1-00
At long last, county library reopens
photo/Angela Reinhardt
Library staff get things in place at their renovated and now re-opened
facility off Burnt Mountain Road on Library Lane.
Renovated building
now includes 8,200
square feet of
books, teen area,
quiet reading space
and more
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Mid-morning April 11, Pickens
County Library employees were the
only ones inside other than a few
contract workers reshelving books.
The expanded and remodeled facil
ity had just reopened the day before
after being closed nearly two years
for renovations, and word hadn’t
quite reached the general public.
“We’re getting people trickling
in,” said Pickens Library Branch
Manager Katie Dobson. “People
will start to hear about us. We’ve got
a couple areas not quite open to the
public yet, but we’re here.”
The renovated building includes
an expanded space of 8,200 square
feet, which allows more space for
books and technology, program and
meeting areas, and more space for
seating, study and quiet reading. The
library is bright and open, with a
modem and colorful teen area, an
expanded youth area, a large tech
nology area, and other new addi
tions like a check-out kiosk and
book sale space.
"We are excited to be back oper
ating in our renovated and expanded
location where we can fully serve
our community,” says Angela
Cortellino, executive director of Se
quoyah Regional Library System. “I
want to thank our patrons and com
munity for their patience. The wait
was well worth this incredible space
we now all have."
Partial funding of $1.8 million
for this project came from Pickens
County’s SPLOST program. To
fund the remaining portion, the Se
quoyah Regional Library System
applied and received from the state
a $2 million Capital Outlay Grant,
which is administered by the Geor
gia Public Library Service.
These grants are funded by the
sale of g ee Library on 8A
Resurrection
of the
Nelson -
Simmons
Tavern
By Chris Feldt,
Progress Contributor &
Board member Pickens Historical Society
In 1804, the Cherokee Indians had negotiated the
terms of the creation of the Federal Road that ran be
tween Tennessee to Augusta, Ga. In exchange for set
tlers' passage through the Cherokee Territory, the
Indians were allowed to operate taverns along their
old Cherokee highway.
In less than 30 years, in 1832, the Cherokee Ter
ritory was mapped out at the request of the State of
Georgia with the purpose of dividing the land into
lots, giving away lots by a lottery system creating
Cherokee County, which was later divided into sep
arate counties, all under the control of the state of
Georgia.
There were three taverns located in the land that
now comprises Pickens County. The Daniel's Tavern
- (formerly located east of Long Swamp Creek on the
north side of Hwy. 53) and Hamage’s, located where
the Tate Mansion presently is.
The third tavern was the Nelson-Simmons tavern
located northwest of Jasper, just east of the Volkswa
gen repair shop on Talking Rock Road.
By 1832, the infamous Colonel Haney Nelson
was operating a tavern about four miles southeast of
the Carmel Mission site. He also was listed as a Post
master of Talking Rock for about a year and a half,
although he wasn't living in Talking Rock.
In 1835-1836, Nelson was one of the last Indian
Agents (a non-native agent tasked with assimilation)
who was keeping Georgia Governor Wilson Lump
kin appraised of the lands that had been evacuated
by the Cherokee.
See Tavern Resurrection on 7A
Above, The tavern as seen in the 1970s with the open breezeway. Below, the current front
of the rebuilt tavern with a door that converts the former dogtrot breezeway into an enclosed
foyer.
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Affordable housing development at Pea Ridge
gets nod of approval from planning commission
screenshot from qPublic
The highlighted 15-acre tract is recommended for rezoning to accommodate a mixed
housing development with both traditional homes and manufactured housing.
Fishing
Rodeo a
no go for
this year
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The popular kids Fishing
Rodeo hosted by the Pickens
County Sportsman Club will
not happen this April as
usual, as the city of Jasper
has work to perform at their
water intake area on Long
Swamp Creek.
“We just weren’t able to
get another location secured
with the warm weather com
ing and limited cool water
streams in Pickens County,”
said the club’s Community
Outreach Coordinator An
drew Weldon. “This is a
Pickens County event, and
we’d like to keep it here. The
city has been a great host
over the years and we hope
that we can have something
later in the year if their work
is completed.”
According to Jasper As
sistant City Manager Kim
See Fishing on 8A
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
An affordable housing
project on 15 acres at the
corner of Pea Ridge and
Highway 53 got a nod of ap
proval for rezoning from
agriculture to rural residen
tial at the April Planning
Commission meeting Mon
day.
Owner and developer
Robert Wilkie said he has
been working with home
prices that are now consid
ered affordable here, which
is anything below $300,000.
Wilkie said there is clearly a
big need for housing at this
price level.
“Anything under
$300,000 is hard to come
by,” he said. “Believe it or
not, affordable housing
prices [are $300,000 or
less]. As crazy as it sounds
that is where we are now.”
Wilkie told the commis
sion his project will likely
be mix of manufactured
housing and traditional stick
built homes. Responding to
a couple of questions about
“trailers,” Wilkie said man
ufactured housing, when
put on a solid foundation
and landscaped well, look
nice, offer the chance for
someone to move into a new
home and avoids the prob
lem of high construction
material prices as well as
supply chain issues. He said
the manufactured home
models he uses at other sites
are generally the middle of
the road and would likely be
sold for $250,000 to
$260,000.
There was some discus
sion regarding the lot sizes
on the 15 acres. Wilkie said
he lets “topography deter
mine lot size” but thought he
might have some as small as
one acre. Planning Director
Wes Frye explained to the
commission that with rural
residential you can build on
one acre lots but that de
pends on if the health de
partment will issue a septic
permit for that particular lot.
Frye said, “The understand
ing is we will issue a build
ing permit if they will issue
See Pea Ridge on 8A
Longtime street
preacher calls
for churches to
take lead with
homeless issue
Page 9A
Non-profits
Fashion
show to
benefit Ruth
House
Page 3A
Creative
Coloring
Page 8B
Obituaries 6A
• Bob Bates
• Michael Bonner
• J.L. Chamblee
• Karen Cole
• Judith Mulkey
• Don Silvers
• Jackie West Sr.
• Cynthia Wilkie
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
pickensprogress.com
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