Old Home Sites 1

Home Sites on this page:

1 - TO01, Hickorynut Cove, Towns Co.

2 - TO02, Hickorynut Cove, Towns Co.

3 - TO03, Hickorynut Cove, Towns Co.

4 - UN01, Brown, near Trackrock Gap, Union Co.

5 - RA01, (Hicks?), near Horse Cove, Rabun Co.

6 - UN02, (Conley?), near Turkeypen, Union Co.

7 - TO06, Ben Gap, Towns Co.

In early 2018, while taking a shortcut on a descent from a botanizing exploration high up in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness adjoining our home, I came across an old collapsed fieldstone chimney. Looking at the old 1903 topo map later, I noticed an old home place marked at that location. The map also showed an old trail leading past that building to another house, even further up the mountain. I decided to study the old maps a little closer and then see if I could locate more of these local old home sites from 100+ years ago. Many of these take a practiced eye to recognize! Old Homesite TO01 - Hickorynut Cove, Towns Co., GA

This is the original collapsed chimney that I found.

It is located at one of the uncommon flat areas on the mountainside, and even before I spotted the chimney, I was thinking that it would be a good home site.

Corners of the stacked stone structure can still be seen in these two images.

We bought our land in 1995. I wish I had found this chimney earlier; it might have still been in more recognizable shape.

From a later visit with Molly

Another... Queen of the Mountain
Old Homesite TO02 - Hickorynut Cove, Towns Co., GA

This collapsed chimney is all that remains of the second home site that I located from the map. It's been on the ground a long time, from the looks of it...

Much older, and made from a different type of stone than the first chimney. Located at 3250 ft. elevation. If you weren't looking for it, you would probably never recognize this as an old chimney, but all the stones are squared off, with flat faces. I'm always amazed at how high up on the mountain sides some of these folks lived.
Old Homesite TO03 - Hickorynut Cove, Towns Co., GA When I saw the first two old Hickorynut Cove home sites on the old map, I had noticed an additional home place marked along the same old road, further to the west. I never got around to looking for it, but stumbled onto the old collapsed chimney in late March, 2019.

Not much remains but the collapsed chimney.

Chimney corner stones
Old Homesite UN01 - near Trackrock Gap, Union Co., GA A nice chimney and old foundation at the old Brown homestead.

A beautiful chimney - fireplace ruin

House stone foundation corner support, with old Mason jar This property appears to have been purchased by the USFS from a T.S. Candler in 1938.

Dry stacked - no mortar was used. Any original clay chinking is long gone...
Old Homesite RA01 - Horse Cove, Rabun Co., GA The old Hicks Cemetery is nearby. Perhaps some Hickses lived here(?)

Remains of fireplace

Rear view of fireplace-chimney
Old Homesite UN02 - Southern Union Co., GA Located high up in a mountain gap, this chimney is a real beauty...

Still chinked with Georgia clay, it gives the stone an orange-red appearance.

A pair of old metal wheel rims act as lintels to support the fireplace header.

Rear of the chimney This property was purchased by the USFS from Frank E. Conley in 1938.

Sheldon provides some scale to appreciate the chimney's size.
Old Homesite TO06 - Ben Gap, Towns Co., GA While exploring a rock pile complex, my friend Cliff and I came upon this old homesite, which I had marked the location of previously from an old 1900 map.

Old chimney



Rear of chimney

Chimney with part of foundation showing in foreground.

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