An Archival and Field Survey of Selected Historic Cultural Resources, Allatoona Lake, Georgia

This monograph includes an analysis of the occupation and human use of the Allatoona Lake area from 1800-1950. It is divided into a series of time slices covering Cherokee land use, early white settlement (including agricultural and industrial development), the Civil War period, Reconstruction, and emergence of the New South. The antebellum period was significant for the development of iron manufacturing. Associated with this industry, but supported by agriculturalists as well, was the construction of the Western and Atlantic Railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga, Tennessee. This railroad was one of the first state-owned roads of its kind, and its construction was heralded as a major economic boost to opening the interior trade of the United States. The general economy was a loosely structured hunter-stockman-farmer system characteristic of Upland South culture that was prevalent throughout the southeastern United States by 1825. The Civil War is of interest to the Allatoona area because of a battle for the strategic Allatoona Pass. The W & A Railroad was the major supply line for Sherman's forces in the capture of Atlanta and his Savannah Campaign (the March to the Sea). Failure of the Confederates to capture the pass was the end, according to some military historians, of the South's hopes for independence. The economic redevelopment after the War was based on a combination of general farming and attempts to maximize the potential mineral wealth of the area. Success was sporadic. A number of historically important sites and resources exist today including iron furnaces, mill seats, and Civil war fortifications. Evidence of farm sites are abundant, but active farming ceased in the area during the 1920s and few habitation sites retain anything but debris and preferred species of vegetation. The study indicates conclusively that the area has been witness to a long and eventful human occupation. The evidence suggest that work still remains to be done to fill in the complete record about density of settlement and economic activity in the area. The potential for future studies exists.