Home Sites on this page: |
1 - TO15, Off Soapstone Creek, Towns Co. |
2 - WH05, Tributary of Chattahoochee River, White Co. |
3 - WH06, south of Cleveland, White Co. |
4 - UNxx, Brick Spiral Chimney, Union Co. |
5 - TO16, Gumlog Road, Towns Co. |
6 - HA01, (Davis or Hamilton), Aerial-Sautee, Habersham Co.
|
November 2021 Old Homesite TO15 - Off Soapstone Creek, Towns Co., GA
When I posted the last old homesite (TO14), I mentioned that I had identified another potential home place on the old maps that was nearby, but had ran out of daylight to go look for it. I went looking for that other site today. Reaching the site required another hellacious bushwhack along old logging roads, choked with rhododendron and blowdown. To make matters worse, I found no sign of the old homesite. It appeared that there was a logging camp in the area decades ago, and I think their disturbance of the land obliterated the old homesite.
|
|
Just one example of the blowdown. I spent much time walking over, through or around it...
|
|
Along the logging road, I found this old ice box (or whatever it is). Probably dumped decades ago.
|
|
Lots of old cable around the suspected homesite. Evidence of an old logging operation...
|
|
I saw some pretty big pines in a few areas. Not champion size, but averaging 42 inches (3 1/2 feet) in diameter.
|
I was afraid I'd been shut out for the day, but before heading home, I checked another map and saw one more potential site nearby. It involved another steep bushwhack, and I was already tired. I wasn't holding out any high hopes, but as I crawled out of a rhododendron thicket, I spied a chimney rising over the vegetation. This one made all the effort worthwhile!
|
|
Much of the chimney front has collapsed, but still a nice example to find nowadays...
|
|
Oblique view...
|
|
Side view...
|
|
Rear view...
|
|
The upper section of the chimney front hasn't collapsed yet. There are two metal structures on top that probably held some kind of chimney cap.
|
|
Interior of the hearth. There was no sign of a lintel stone; it's probably under the rubble of the fallen chimney front rocks.
|
|
There was rubble from an old masonry structure nearby. Concrete, bricks, cement blocks...
|
November 2021 Old Homesite WH05 - White Co., GA
I checked out a tributary of the upper Chattahoochee River where the old maps showed five buildings going up the cove. I only found one site, with a long collapsed chimney.
|
|
Collapsed chimney.
|
|
Stacked rocks near the chimney.
|
December 2021 Old Homesite WH06 - White Co., GA
I saw this chimney in a pasture, while returning home from visiting a gold mine in Dahlonega. The sun was all wrong, but I had to stop and shoot it anyway.
|
|
The late afternoon sun was low in the sky, shining directly on the back of the chimney.
|
|
The front was in deep shadow, but I managed to pull out some detail in post-processing.
|
December 2021 Old Homesite UNxx - Union Co., GA
Another chimney of more recent vintage, so no Homesite ID. A TCHS friend told me about this one...
|
|
Double (back-to-back) fireplaced chimney. What makes this one unusual is the twist in the stack, with the result that the upper stack is about 45 degrees off from the fireplace.
|
December 2021 Old Homesite TO16 - Gumlog area, Towns Co., GA
|
|
Stone chimney with a brick-lined fireplace
|
|
The front steps of the old house still sit in place. Note the grapevine, aka Giraffe, style of masonry on the steps...
|
February 2022 Old Homesite HA01 - Habersham Co., GA
The remains of these two old chimneys are located along a creek below a friend's property. The homesteaders living here were named either Davis or Hamilton; I will try to verify which.
|
|
Remains of chimney 1, from the front Although it has collapsed, this is easily recognized as a chimney firebox.
|
|
The chimney's lintel stone lies a few feet away.
|
|
Chimney 1 from the side. This home dated from the turn of the prior century (~1900).
|
|
Rear of chimney 1. Not quite four feet high at its tallest point.
|
|
A nice spring head lies next to the two chimneys. A few daffodils were appearing around the rim.
|
|
Chimney 2 from the front Chimney 2 is older than the first one, dating to around 1820.
|
|
The two old chimneys are not quite 100 feet apart. Chimney 1 is visible in the rear at upper-right. At some point a big tree fell on the chimney; someone cut it up and moved it off the rock.
|
|
Chimney 2 from the rear. Judging by the wide base of this chimney, it may have supported a massive stack in its day.
|