Georgia Natural Wonder #230 - Don Carter State Park - Hall County. (Part 1) 128

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Georgia Natural Wonder #230 - Don Carter State Park - Hall County (Part 1)

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We are way down here at Georgia Natural Wonder #230 and we are finishing on the State Parks of Georgia. We come to Don Carter State Park on Lake Lanier. Now Lake Lanier has over 692 miles of shoreline. That's like driving to Miami for the Orange Bowl. The park brings us to Hall County which would be a huge history tangent as one post. Now in my Web explorations I have found some other parks and trails to use as Georgia Natural Wonders to help me break up Hall County into four post. We always like to feature the National Historic Sites, the Historical Markers, and the Noitable People of each County. So this post focuses on Don Carter State Park, Lake Lanier, and Hall County with it's list of National Historic Sites.



From the State of Georgia State Parks Web Site.......

"The Chattahoochee River, flowing from the north Georgia Mountains, meets Lake Lanier at Don Carter State Park, creating a unique opportunity for recreation and outdoor appreciation on the northern edge of metro-Atlanta."

Don Carter is the only state park on 38,000-acre Lake Lanier. Situated on the north end of the reservoir, the park offers outstanding recreation for water lovers. 



Boat ramps provide quick access to the lake and Chattahoochee River, while a multi-use trail welcomes hikers and bikers to explore the hardwood forest.

 

Guests can stay cool at a large, sand swimming beach with bath house.

 

This newest Georgia State Park offers several choices for overnight getaways as well. Two-bedroom cabins are perched on wooded hillsides near the lake. 



One campground is designed specifically for RVs, while another primitive camping area is just for tents and hammocks. The campground and cottage loop is gated, providing access to overnight guests.


Playground and Workout Stations.

History

In 1994, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources began the process of land acquisition that would eventually lead to the creation of the park. In 2009, Governor Sonny Perdue signed a budget including $14 million for the construction of the park. Construction officially began in November 2011. The park opened to the public on July 15, 2013.



The park is named in honor of real-estate executive Don Carter who served on the Georgia Department of Natural Resources board for 29 years and worked to establish Lake Lanier’s first state park.



There are 10 Equestrian Trails (14.5 miles) and 9 Long Hike Trails (14.5 miles).

SHORT HIKING TRAILS

Huckleberry Loop (Hiking)

Easy - Natural surface - About 0.75 miles



Blazing: White rectangle. Parking available at the upper end of the North Boat Ramp (furthest from the water). 



The Huckleberry Trail begins as a spur, then divides to form a loop. You may hike in either direction for views of the lake. Return back to the spur for views of the Beach Cove. 



The trail is named after the native Georgia huckleberries, which are related to blueberries.

Parallel Trail (Hiking)

Easy - Paved - About 0.5 miles



Blazing: Purple rectangle. Connects Terrapin Cove Trail to Huckleberry Trail & Woodland Loop. Access to many important amenities (e.g., bathrooms, playgrounds, parking, etc.).

Overlook Trail (Hiking)

Easy - Paved (ADA accessible) - Only a couple hundred yards long



Blazing: White rectangle. Scenic overlook of a fern-laced creek & hardwood bottom land. Parking is available at the visitor center. It is also has swings located along the way.



Beyond the paved portion, a set of rock steps connects to Terrapin Cove Trail.



Terrapin Cove (Hiking)

Easy - Natural surface - About 1 mile

 

Blazing: Red rectangle. Junctions with Parallel Trail, Overlook Trail, & Hiking Connector #3. Provides access to the beach, visitor center, RV-campground & cottages. A single-track trail, designed for foot-traffic only. Day-use parking near the beach area or visitor center. The name derived from an old Appalachian term for turtle.

Woodland Loop (Hiking)

Easy - Paved (ADA-accessible) - About 1.5 miles


All sorts of trails Whale Tail Point

ADA-accessible & open to bicycles & strollers. Blazing: Green rectangle. Parking near the Beach/Picnic Area. Junctions with Parallel Trail & Dog Creek trails (which are mixed-use). Access to “walk-in” campsites. Signs will warn of the only steep grade on this route.

PADDLE TRAILS



Dog Cove Paddle Trail

Smooth water - About 1 mile

Take a leisurely float around the cove from the kayak shack at the boat ramp. Explore the western part of the cove wetlands or fish in shaded areas.



Flat Island Paddle Trail

Swift current after heavy rains - About 3 miles



Travel upstream to the most northern island in Lake Lanier. See rocky bluffs, reedy shoreline & explore 1-mile Flat Creek near the northern end.

Lost Cove Paddle Trail

Smooth water - About 2 miles



Cross the main channel of the Chattahoochee into a larger cove & explore another tributary of the mighty river.

Whale Tail Paddle Trail

Swift current after heavy rains - About 2 miles

Traverse across more open water as your travel downstream (no current) towards the park’s largest peninsula, the Whale Tail. 



Stay in the main center channel for full sun, or explore the shorelines for more plants & wildlife.


Or just play on the Beach.

Now I have never been to this park, but Lake Lanier has over 90 corps, state, county and city parks spread around its 680 miles of shoreline, 23 of which provide swim beaches. Not all all of the shoreline is Hall County.


Keith Bridge Park and River Forks Park.

There is Lake Lanier Islands. In 1962, when the beauty and potential of four partially flooded mountaintops on Lake Lanier was realized, the Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority (LLIDA) was formed to champion the evolution of Lanier Islands into the one-of-a-kind recreational destination it is today. In 1969, the original iconic bridge to Lake Lanier Islands Resort was completed and during the '70s much of the infrastructure was built.



Every year from mid-November through January, Lake Lanier Islands are decorated with over 6 miles of Christmas lights, the largest animated light show in the southeast and one of the world's largest light shows.



In 2018 the Lake Lanier Islands Management Company made a deal with Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Development and SafeHarbor in order to invest millions of dollars into the island and theme park LanierWorld, and assume management.



But this is not a post on Lake Lanier Islands, although it probably should have been, and there will probably be one someday, hell we did a post on Callaway Gardens.

Lake Lanier

Now when we think of Natural Wonders in Hall County, it's Natural to choose one on Lake Lanier. Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. The lake encompasses 38,000 acres of water, and 692 miles of shoreline at normal level. Named for poet Sidney Lanier, it was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its construction destroyed more than 50,000 acres of farmland and displaced more than 250 families, 15 businesses, and relocated 20 cemeteries along with their remains in the process. The town of Oscarville occupied a part of the current location of the lake. Oscarville was a small Black community.



In GNW #178 on the Chattahoochee River Forsyth County, we posted how a stretch of Georgia Highway 53 had to be abandoned that ran too close to the planned shoreline. Gainesville's Looper Speedway was also condemned and abandoned.



Gainesville Speedway opened in 1949 as a 1/2 mile dirt oval speedway running Stock and Modified Stock Cars.



The track was owned and built by Max Looper, so it was often referred to as Looper Speedway.



Despite the popularity of the track it was closed in 1956 and the Military moved in and flooded the entire area, Over the years during periods of drought the top steps of the grandstand will appear out of the murky depths.



The lake's original purposes were to provide hydroelectricity, navigation, and flood control of the Chattahoochee River, and water supply for the city of Atlanta. Buford Dam broke ground on March 1, 1950.


Big Hub Bub When they broke ground. Set off some dynamite too.

On February 1, 1956, Lake Lanier began filling when the sluice gates of Buford Dam were closed.



Tangent Sydney Lanier

We did this tangent originally in our GNW #63 with the Marshes of Glynn as the Natural Wonder of Brunswick. In 1874 the poet Sidney Lanier came to Brunswick. Inspired by the beauty of the marshlands adjacent to the community, Lanier composed his most notable poem, "The Marshes of Glynn," which was published in 1878.



A short distance south of the old visitors bureau on US 17 on the left is Overlook Park and the Lanier Oak, where Georgia poet Sidney Lanier wrote his most famous poem. Overlook Park provides the breathtaking view of the expansive tidal marshlands that inspired the nineteenth century poet.


View from Sydney Lanier Bridge.

Sidney Lanier contributed significantly to the arts in nineteenth-century America. His accomplishments as a poet, novelist, composer, and critic reflect his eclectic interests, and his melodic celebrations of Georgia's terrain are among his most widely read poems. His works reflect a love of the land, as well as his concern over declining values and commercial culture in the Reconstruction South. Some of his writings extol the rhythmic natural world and the religious vision it evokes.



Lanier County, formed in southwest Georgia in 1920, is named in the poet's honor, and Lake Lanier in Hall County was dedicated to him in 1955, in recognition of his life and accomplishments. In 2000 Lanier was inducted as a charter member into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.



Life

Sidney Lanier was born in Macon on February 3, 1842. He graduated from Oglethorpe University, when it was located near Milledgeville, in 1860 with high honors.



When the Civil War (1861-65) began,he volunteered to serve in the Confederate army. In 1864 he was captured and held as a prisoner of war for four months in Maryland, during which time he contracted the debilitating tuberculosis that plagued him for the rest of his life. After the war, he stayed at his brother-in-law's house in Brunswick attempting to regain his health. It was during this period that he was inspired to write several poems, including Marshes of Glynn, considered a masterpiece of nineteenth-century American poetry.



His marriage to Mary Day in 1867 led to the births of four sons. Rarely fully focused on one occupational pursuit, Lanier had difficulty maintaining steady employment and providing for his family; he worked in Georgia, Alabama, and Texas as a tutor, teacher, and law clerk. He was frequently impoverished and sometimes ill with the ever-present tuberculosis, which was exacerbated by stress and worry. For one school year he was principal of an academy in Prattville, Alabama, but it closed in 1868 in the face of economic depression.



From 1868 to 1873, he studied law and worked in his father's legal office in Macon. Lanier then moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he accepted a position as first flutist for the Peabody Orchestra. During his years in Baltimore, he studied English literature and eventually became a lecturer at the Peabody Institute and then at Johns Hopkins University.



Today Sidney Lanier is most noted for his experimental musical renderings of Georgia's fields, rivers, and shores in such poems as "The Song of the Chattahoochee" (1877), and "The Marshes of Glynn" (1879)



In the alliterative and fast-flowing lines of "The Song of the Chattahoochee," the river speaks of its rush through the northeast Georgia counties of Habersham and Hall. Despite the call to "abide" made by the luxurious native laurels, ferns, grasses, oaks, chestnuts, and pines, as well as the "friendly brawl" of stones and jewels on the river's bottom, the Chattahoochee insists upon its duty. It must water the fields and turn waterwheels on the plains as it makes its way toward the Gulf of Mexico.


Valleys of Hall under Lake Lanier.

Lanier found his purest voice in the religious vision of "The Marshes of Glynn," which was inspired by the poet's visit to Brunswick. Set in southeastern Glynn County, the poem begins with a rhythmic description of the thick marsh as the narrator feels himself growing and connecting with the sinews of the marsh itself. Then as his vision expands seaward, he recognizes in an epiphanal moment that the marshes and sea, in their vastness, are the expression of "the greatness of God" and are filled with power and mystery.



By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod
I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God
Oh, like to the greatness of God is the greatness within
The range of the marshes, the liberal marshes of Glynn

Lanier's health continued to worsen. He died on September 7, 1881, in Lynn, North Carolina, where he had traveled in the hope that the climate might cure him.



In our post GNW #77 (Part 2) we recounted the Sidney Lanier poem about the Chattahoochee coming out of the Hills of Habersham.

Out of the hills of Habersham,
Down the valleys of Hall,
I hurry amain to reach the plain,
Run the rapid and leap the fall,
Split at the rock and together again,
Accept my bed, or narrow or wide,
And flee from folly on every side
With a lover’s pain to attain the plain
Far from the hills of Habersham,
Far from the valleys of Hall.



All down the hills of Habersham,
All through the valleys of Hall,
The rushes cried ‘Abide, abide,'
The willful waterweeds held me thrall,
The laving laurel turned my tide,
The ferns and the fondling grass said ‘Stay,'
The dewberry dipped for to work delay,
And the little reeds sighed ‘Abide, abide,
Here in the hills of Habersham,
Here in the valleys of Hall.'



High o’er the hills of Habersham,
Veiling the valleys of Hall,
The hickory told me manifold
Fair tales of shade, the poplar tall
Wrought me her shadowy self to hold,
The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine,
Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign,
Said, ‘Pass not, so cold, these manifold
Deep shades of the hills of Habersham,
These glades in the valleys of Hall.'



And oft in the hills of Habersham,
And oft in the valleys of Hall,
The white quartz shone, and the smooth brook-stone
Did bar me of passage with friendly brawl,
And many a luminous jewel lone
-- Crystals clear or a-cloud with mist,
Ruby, garnet and amethyst --
Made lures with the lights of streaming stone
In the clefts of the hills of Habersham,
In the beds of the valleys of Hall.



But oh, not the hills of Habersham,
And oh, not the valleys of Hall
Avail: I am fain for to water the plain.
Downward the voices of Duty call --
Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main,
The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn,
And a myriad flowers mortally yearn,
And the lordly main from beyond the plain
Calls o’er the hills of Habersham,
Calls through the valleys of Hall.


Bass at Belton Bridge

It is quite ironic that the valleys of Hall are now submerged under Lake Lanier.



Over 10 million people visit the lake annually, including its marinas and the Lake Lanier Islands water park.



The rowing and sprint canoeing events during the 1996 Summer Olympics were held on the north end of the lake. It has since hosted many international events such as the 2003 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, 2016 Pan American Sprint Canoe/Kayak Championships and the 2018 ICF Dragon boat World Championships.



TRD Addendum Lake Lanier

Top Row Dog spent many a Summer Weekend at Lake Lanier back in the 60's and 70's. Here are some old slides from my many misadventures.


Skinny Top Row Dawg with Pop on the dock, and Sisters and Friends overload the boat.


Fishing, ski belt at all times near water. Sisters and Cousins group ski.


6 year old TRD with his dog Hobo on surf board. TRD with pop and sister pushing me on to Pop's shoulders. 
 
Well ...... Enough about the State Park and Lake Lanier and the Natural Wonder of it all, we turn ourselves to Hall County.

Hall County Georgia

Wikipedia tells us that Hall County is a county located in the northeast portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 203,136, up from 179,684 at the 2010 census. The county seat is Gainesville.

History

Hall County was created on December 15, 1818, from Cherokee lands ceded by the Treaty of Cherokee Agency (1817) and Treaty of Washington (1819).



Slightly more than half of Hall County, the eastern portion of the county, is located in the Upper Oconee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin flowing to the Atlantic Ocean, while the western half of the county is located in the Upper Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. So the Continental Divide runs through Hall County.



The county is named for Lyman Hall, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Georgia as both colony and state.

Tangent Lyman Hall

Now we did the following tangent in GNW #33 about the Islands of Liberty County. It is an interesting fact of American history that three signers of the Declaration of Independence were associated with what became Liberty County. Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett lived there, while George Walton was held prisoner at nearby Sunbury after being wounded and captured at the fall of Savannah. Another Midway resident, Nathan Brownson, served in the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1778. Tangent on the old Bulldog - Lyman Hall…..



Lyman Hall (April 12, 1724 – October 19, 1790), physician, clergyman, and statesman, was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia. Hall County is named after him.

Early life and family

Lyman Hall was born on April 12, 1724, in Wallingford, Connecticut. He was the son of John Hall, a minister, and Mary (née Street) Hall. Lyman Hall studied with his uncle Samuel Hall and graduated from Yale College in 1747, a tradition in his family. In 1749, he was called to the pulpit of Stratfield Parish (now Bridgeport, Connecticut). His pastorate was a stormy one: an outspoken group of parishioners opposed his ordination; in 1751, he was dismissed after charges against his moral character which, according to one biography, "Were supported by proof and also by his own confession." He continued to preach for two more years, filling vacant pulpits, while he studied medicine and taught school.



In 1752, he married Abigail Burr of Fairfield, Connecticut, however, she died the following year.



In 1757, he was married again to Mary Osborne. He migrated to South Carolina and established himself as a physician at Dorchester, South Carolina, near Charleston, a community settled by Congregationalist migrants from Dorchester, Massachusetts decades earlier. When these settlers moved to the Midway District – now Liberty County – in Georgia, Hall accompanied them. He was granted land in Georgia near the Midway Meeting House in St. John's Parish in 1760. Hall soon became one of the leading citizens of the newly founded town, Sunbury.

Revolutionary War

On the eve of the American Revolution, St. John's Parish, in which Sunbury was located, was a hotbed of radical sentiment in a predominantly loyalist colony. Though Georgia was not initially represented in the First Continental Congress, through Hall's influence, the parish was persuaded to send a delegate – Hall himself – to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Second Continental Congress. He was admitted to a seat in Congress in 1775. He participated in debates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that year but did not vote, as he did not represent the entire colony. A year later, as an official representative of Georgia, Hall signed the Declaration (along with Button Gwinnett and George Walton of Georgia). He left Philadelphia in February 1777, though he continued to be elected to Congress until 1780.



In January 1779, Sunbury was burned by the British. Hall's family fled to the North, where they remained until the British evacuation in 1782. Hall then returned to Georgia, settling in Savannah. In January 1783, he was elected an early governor of the state – a position that he held for one year. During his administration he had to deal with a number of difficult issues, including confiscated estates, frontier problems with Loyalists and Indians, and a bankrupt and depleted treasury. One highlight, however, was the role he played in helping to establish the chartering of a state university, believing that education, particularly religious education, would result in a more virtuous citizenry. His efforts led to the chartering of the University of Georgia in 1785. At the expiration of his term as governor, he resumed his medical practice. That same year he sold his plantation, Hall's Knoll, and in 1790 he moved to Burke County, where he purchased Shell Bluff Plantation.

Death and legacy

Hall died at Shell Bluff on October 19 1790 at the age of 66. Hall's widow, Mary Osborne, survived later dying in November 1793. Lyman Hall is memorialized in Georgia where Hall County, Georgia bears his namesake; and in Connecticut, his native state, where the town of Wallingford honored him by naming a high school after its distinguished native son. Elementary schools in Liberty County, Georgia and in Hall County, Georgia are also named for him. Signers Monument, a granite obelisk in front of the courthouse in Augusta, Georgia, memorializes Hall and the other two Georgians who signed the Declaration of Independence. His remains were re-interred there in 1848 after being exhumed from his original grave on his plantation in Burke County.



In popular culture

Lyman Hall is portrayed in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and in the 1972 film of the same name by Jonathan Moore. As presented in the play and in the film, at a critical point in the struggle of John Adams to convince his fellow delegates to the Second Continental Congress to choose independence, Hall re-enters the chamber to change Georgia's vote. He says he has been thinking: "In trying to resolve my dilemma I remembered something I'd once read, 'that a representative owes the People not only his industry, but his judgment, and he betrays them if he sacrifices it to their opinion.' It was written by Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament." Hall then walks over to the tally board and changes Georgia's vote from "Nay" to "Yea."



Hall County (Continued)

New Georgia Encyclopedia tells us Hall was the forty-fifth Georgia county to be created. Its seat of government, Gainesville, was incorporated in 1821. Early settlers were largely Scots-Irish, English, and German stock from the Carolinas and Virginia—chiefly Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. Few African Americans lived in this area of small farms at the time. The discovery of gold north of Hall in 1828 attracted thousands of newcomers to the area. 



Gold Mines in Hall County.



The passing of the gold rush in the 1830s saw the return to the small-farm grain and livestock agricultural economy. Though distant from the combat of the Civil War (1861-65), Hall County inhabitants provided nine companies of men to the Southern cause.



Hall County’s most significant Civil War connection, however, is a postwar resident, General James Longstreet, who moved to Gainesville in 1875 as postmaster and hotel operator, anticipating that the town would become a southeastern railroad hub. Longstreet purchased the forty-room Piedmont Hotel and 115 acres just outside the town, where he raised poultry and planted vineyards.



Railroads came to Hall County in 1871, contributing to the creation of a local textile industry by the turn of the century. Three large mills dominated nonagricultural employment in the county between the 1920s and midcentury.



After the destructive Gainesville tornado of 1936 and with the onset of World War II (1941-45), Hall County, especially Gainesville, became the location for the rise of the state’s poultry industry. The Hall County seed-and-feed store operator Jesse Jewell was the father of large-scale agricultural growing and processing and pioneered the use of vertical integration in Georgia’s poultry industry. Poultry supplanted textiles as the leading industry in the area, and today Gainesville claims the title “Poultry Capital of the World.” Several major poultry producers, including Gress Foods, King’s Delight, Mar-Jac Poultry, and Pilgrim’s Pride are located in the county.


Drawing of the J. D. Jewell Inc. poultry plant, Gainesville, GA, made in the 1940s. Jewell became famous for producing frozen chicken that was shipped around the world.

The damming of the Chattahoochee River in the 1950s, flooding 38,000 acres, created Lake Lanier, which brings 12 million visitors each year to the area. Twenty-first-century Hall County is largely the product of Lake Lanier’s influence.



The booming, service-centered city of Oakwood, on I-985, is a gateway on the busy pathway to Road Atlanta and Chateau Elan. 


Just south of Oakwood is Flowery Branch, home to the $20 million training complex of the Atlanta Falcons.



Latino residents now account for 28 percent of the county’s population. Large numbers have found employment in poultry processing and other low-wage industries and most reside in neighborhoods with poverty rates that exceed 50 percent. 

Queens.

Spanish-language media and an impressive Hispanic cultural infrastructure continue to grow as old-line churches, businesses, and services make progress in the transition to bilingual communication.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Hall County, Georgia

Alta Vista Cemetery

Alta Vista Cemetery is a graveyard located just outside Downtown Gainesville. The famous Confederate general James Longstreet is buried here.



Longstreet's Grave American Flag.

Folks leave cigars on his grave.



Other notable gravesites include: several Georgia governors, an astronaut, a rocket scientist, a circus performer, and that of poultry pioneer Jesse Jewell.


William Lamar “Billy” Lothridge, a college football All-American from 1961 to 1963 at Georgia Tech, he was the runner up for the 1963 Heisman Trophy, losing to Roger Staubach of the United States Naval Academy. He played safety and punter for four NFL teams, including the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins.



Bailey-Harper House-Doctors Building

The Bailey-Harper House/Doctors Building is significant in the area of health and medicine because of its 34-year association with the medical practice of Dr. Jesse L. Meeks. Dr. Meeks' practice was among the largest and most successful practices in northeast Georgia. His practice represents a transition from doctors seeing patients in home offices, long the practice in Georgia, to the establishment of professional buildings near hospitals, which became increasingly common after World War II.



The Bailey-Harper House/Doctors Building is significant in the area of architecture as a representative example of a late 19th-century Georgian cottage, a house type popular in all periods of Georgia history, especially from 1850 to 1890.



Bowman-Pirkle House

It was built in 1818 for John Bowman, who served under General Andrew Jackson during the First Seminole War of 1816–1819. The house was built with the help of Cherokees as a token of the friendship between Bowman and Chief Major Ridge. According to Elizabeth Z. Macgregor of the Georgia State Commission, "this house is probably one of the earliest structures built and occupied by whites in this Indian territory."



The house was moved to the Lake Lanier Natural History Museum near the Lake Lanier Islands Water Park in the 1980s. The house in its original location was vandalized extensively, therefore it was restored and relocated to the secure location.

Brenau University

Brenau University is a private university with its historic campus in Gainesville, Georgia. Brenau was founded in 1878 as a private institution for the education of women. W.C. Wilkes, the institution's first administrator, is credited with building many of the historic buildings that still stand today. 



Although founders initially called the institution Georgia Baptist Female Seminary, it has never been affiliated with or governed by any religious organization. 


Greek house Presidents house.

Through the years Brenau evolved from a proprietary college to a not-for-profit institution governed by an independent board of trustees. Although the residential undergraduate Brenau Women's College remains, other undergraduate programs on campuses, and all graduate and online programs, admit both men and women.


Wilkes Hall / Bailey Hall

In 1900, H. J. Pearce purchased the institution and renamed it Brenau, a linguistic blend formed from the German word brennen, "to burn", and the Latin aurum, "gold". Its motto is "As Gold Refined by Fire".

Candler Street School

The Candler Street School, on Candler St. in Gainesville, Georgia, was built in 1911. It was built by Loden & Prater. Master builder E.L. Prater (1872-1950) also built the NRHP-listed Walters-Davis House (1906), the NRHP-listed James B. Simmons House (1903), and the Stephens County Jail, all in Toccoa, Georgia, and a bank in Taylorsville, Georgia.



Chicopee Mill and Village Historic District

The Chicopee Mill and Village Historic District is a planned industrial town dating from 1927. It is located on gently rolling terrain three and one-half miles from downtown Gainesville and on both side of U.S. Highway 23 (the old Atlanta High-way).


The industrial complex is dominated by the historic mill, and enormous one-story rectangular structure, 954 feet by 236 feet , that occupies five acres.



On the east side of Highway 23 is the mill village. Streets in the village radiate out from a semi-circular green space near the highway where the company store/community center (demolished) was originally located. Chicopee Mill and Village Historic District is an outstanding, highly intact example.



It is historically significant in terms of community planning and development, landscape architecture, architecture, and industry.

Clermont Residential Historic District

The Clermont Residential Historic District, in Clermont, Georgia, is a 19 acres historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

 Clermont Hotel.

It includes parts of Main, Harris, Martin, and Railroad Streets. The listing included 18 contributing buildings. The district represents the only intact grouping of historic houses in the small town of Clermont.

 

The district is important in the area of community planning and development for its development following the construction of the Gainesville and Northwestern Railroad in the early 1900s.


Roark House, a two-story, wood-framed Neoclassical-style structure with central monumental portico and one-story porch across the front facade.

Dixie Hunt Hotel

The Dixie Hunt Hotel is a historic hotel building in Gainesville, Georgia. It was built in 1937 by Brenau University on the site of a former building donated to them by an alumna, the widow of businessman Jim Hunt. The university sold the building in 1969. It was designed in the Art Deco style by architect William J.J. Chase. The style is rare in Georgia; this is one of relatively few Art Deco buildings in the state. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since May 16, 1985.



Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

The Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is a historic building in Gainesville, Georgia, located at 126 Washington Street. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 24, 1974. Part of the building was constructed in 1910 and used as a post office. James Knox Taylor designed it. The courthouse was constructed behind this building in 1936. The post office building is marble and both buildings are Neoclassical designs.



Flowery Branch Commercial Historic District

The Flowery Branch Commercial Historic District is located in the central business district in the town of Flowery Branch along Main Street and Railroad Avenue. The district consists of a collection of late 19th-and early 20th-century commercial buildings that are attached and sited at the sidewalks in a dense concentration.



In terms of architecture, the district is important for its intact collection of representative late 19th-and early 20th-century commercial buildings in
Victorian-eclectic and Italianate styles.



In the area of commerce, the district is significant as a good example of a historic retail, service, marketing, and shipping center which served the community of Flowery Branch and neighboring counties in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in northeast Georgia.

Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery



Gainesville Commercial Historic District

The Gainesville Commercial Historic District in Gainesville, Georgia is an 18-acre historic district which is roughly bounded by Broad St., Maple St., Academy St. and Green St. 



It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.



Gillsville Historic District

The Gillsville Historic District is a 54 acres historic district in Gillsville, Georgia which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The listing included 25 contributing buildings and a contributing structure.

 

It is a linear historic district along Georgia Route 52 and the railroad, in the small town of Gillsville, running across the border of western Banks County and eastern Hall County.



Green Street District (Gainesville, Georgia)

Gainesville's major thoroughfare, Green Street, is a broad, tree lined street with a predominance of Victorian and Neo-classical Revival residences
dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This distinct district, of slightly less than 1/2 mile along Green Street, is defined from
Glenwood Road southward to one lot south of Green Street Place.



The Green Street District of Gainesville is outstanding architecturally as a group of Victorian and Neo-classical/Revival houses dating from the turn of the century, and historically as a statement of the prosperity of the agriculture and mining industries in the Gainesville area.

  
Garner-Hulsey House - Pruitt-Wheeler-McBrayer House - Newman-Quinlan-Jones House.

For the first seven years of its existence there was little activity. Many town lots remained unsold. Then, in 1828, gold was found in the region and miners, merchants and professional men moved in. 


Longstreet-Newton House and Quillian-Brown-Millican House - Mliller-Banks House - East side of Green Street

Gainesville became the trading center for the gold mines and taverns, stores and offices were erected around the square. It was inevitable that Green Street then became the prime residential district. The street was elevated above the business area, was level for a considerable distance and much of it was well wooded. Since the founding of the town, it had been an important road, as a stage coach and freight route to the mining regions and, locally, a pleasant way to the Town Spring, by this time the resort of Gower's Spring. Beginning about 1880, many fine homes were built along this street.


393 Green Street

For over fifty years it was known to visitors as one of the outstanding residential neighborhoods in Northeast Georgia. Architecturally, Green Street has one of the finest relatively untouched group examples of Neo-classical architecture in north Georgia.

Green Street-Brenau Historic District

The Green Street - Brenau Historic District is a large area in Gainesville which contains three distinct residential sections in addition to City Park, Candler Street School, and the historic portion of the Brenau College campus. 


Green Street blends with Brenau College.

In terms of architecture, the district is significant for its collection of late 19th-and early 20th- century middle and upper class houses which provide excellent examples of typical styles, building materials, and technology of their periods in a small Georgia city. 


395 Boulevard and East side of Green Street south of Glenwood Drive

Among those individually significant were A.D. Candler, a governor of Georgia, and Samuel Dunlap, President of the Gainesville National Bank.

Old Hall County Courthouse

The Old Hall County Courthouse is a historic county courthouse in Gainesville, Georgia. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 8, 1995. It is located at the junction of Spring Street and Green Street. It was built in 1937 with an addition at the rear in 1975. The courthouse was built after a previous county courthouse, built in 1884, was destroyed by a devastating 1936 tornado. 



The courthouse construction was partially funded by federal emergency relief for rebuilding A new courthouse adjacent to the older courthouse was built in 2000-2002.



The courthouse was designed by the Atlanta architecture firm of Daniell & Beutell in the Stripped Classical style.



Hall County Jail

The Hall County Jail, on Bradford St. in Gainesville, Georgia, also known as the Old Hall County Jail, is an Art Deco-style building built in 1934–1935. 



It was designed by architect William J.J. Chase and was partially funded by the Federal Emergency Administration of the Public Works Administration

Head's Mill

Head's Mill is located in the vicinity of Lula, along Whitehall Road (County Road 928), at the North Oconee River, approximately six miles northeast of Gainesville, Georgia. The Head's Mill complex consists of a grist mill, millrace, dam, portions of the sluiceway between the millrace and dam, barn, and garage. 



The grist mill was built about 1850 and is a two and one half story, wood-framed structure with an overshot type waterwheel and millrace. The existing metal wheel and elevated millrace replaced the previous wooden structures during the 1930s. 



The dam is made of early poured concrete that probably dates from the 1880s.



In the area of architecture, the mill is significant as a representative example of a mid-19th century, wood-framed mill building used for a variety of milling operations. It illustrates typical materials, construction techniques, and design for the period.

Jackson Building (Gainesville)

The Jackson Building is a historic building in Gainesville, Georgia. It was built in 1915 by Levi Prater for Felix Jackson, a businessman who also invested in railroads and steamships in Texas and Philadelphia. It was the tallest building in Gainesville upon its completion. It was designed in the Classical Revival style by S.D. Trowbridge.

 

Logan Building

The Logan Building is a 1929, one-story, masonry, commercial building located within the central business district of Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia.


 
The 1929 Logan Building is significant as one of the few intact commercial buildings in downtown Gainesville that pre-dates a 1936 tornado that destroyed a major portion of the city's central business district. In the area of architecture, the building is significant as a good example of the one-part commercial block type with recessed storefront and as an example of early 20th century classical and Art Deco stylistic influences on commercial buildings. 



Overall, the building embodies free classical characteristics and high artistic designs derived from the classical revival period. 

Lula Residential Historic District

The Lula Residential Historic District is located in the western section of the small town of Lula, in the area north of the Southern Rail Line, around Cobb, Carter, Chattahoochee, and Toombs Street, in northeastern Hall County. The district is comprised of late 19th-and early 20th-century houses and one plain style church.



In terms of architecture, the district is important for its intact collection of late 19th-and early 20th-century vernacular structures with Victorian-eclectic detailing. 



In terms of local history, the district is important for its association with early Lula residents which included Joseph H. Banks, the first postmaster; Ned Gailey, a jeweler; Richard Martin and H.N. Gowder, merchants; E.F. Whitworth, a banker; and H.A. Gardner, a farmer. The town was originally named for Miss Lula Phinezy, daughter of Ferdinand Phinezy, a large landowner in the area.

Beulah Rucker House-School

The Beulah Rucker House-School is a historic building in Gainesville, Georgia. It was built in 1915 by Beulah Rucker Oliver, an African-American educator, as a historically black school until 1920, when it received funding for the construction of more buildings adjacent to this one from the Rosenwald Fund. Oliver, her husband and their four children lived in the house until she died in 1963. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since May 4, 1995. It is now known as the Beulah Rucker Museum.



Tanner's Mill

Tanner's Mill is a rural industrial complex located approximately three miles northeast of the intersection of Georgia Highways 53 and 211 in Hall County. Situated on Walnut Creek, a fork of the Middle Oconee River, the complex is no longer operational.



Tanner's Mill is historically significant; in the areas of engineering, industry, and commerce as a fine and rare surviving example of the integrated rural industrial complexes that once played a prominent role in the history of Georgia from the early-nineteenth century through the early-twentieth century.



Forty yards above the grist mill is a two-story, overlapping-weather-boarded cotton gin.Upstream from the grist mill and cotton gin are "foundation" columns which once supported the Walnut Factory. Fifty yeards upstream from the cotton gin is a dam which runs sixty feet across the rock-bottomed Walnut Creek.Below the grist mill, a forty-foot-long bridge spans Walnut Creek. One hundred and fifty yards below the iron truss bridge is the Tanner house. Built in the mid-nineteenth century, and perhaps as early as the 1830s, the Tanner house is one and a half stories high, one-room deep, and three bays wide, with a gable roof. 

The Mill was burned by vandals in 1986 and nothing remains of Mill.


Big ole 16 million dollar estate there now.

Our Georgia Natural Wonder girls today are all named Hall, for Hall County.


Bridget Hall - American model / Gabriella Hall - Playboy Girl - actress / Kelly Hall - English glamour model.