Georgia Natural Wonder #67 - Flint River Rapids and Thomaston. 1,861

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #67 - Flint River Rapids and Thomaston

Our last Fall Line Georgia Natural Wonder is the Flint River where it flows and drops over the Fall Line of Georgia. Continuing downstream from Sprewell Bluff, the shoal river environment is suddenly transformed into the raging, whitewater rapids of the fall line ravines. During higher stream stages, these rapids create a Class III and Class IV paddling opportunity that should be seized by only those proficient at the sport. Over a 2.5-mile stretch of river, beginning at Georgia Highway 36, the Flint plunges more than 70 feet in elevation.



Of particular challenge to paddlers is a 1-mile stretch of river known as Yellow Jacket Shoals where the river drops nearly 40 feet. If you are lucky, skilled, or both, and survive the wild ride you will see one of the most interesting and picturesque sections of the Flint. The quartzite shoals of the Sprewell Bluff area are replaced with flat-lying granitic rocks that stretch across the river. It's hard to imagine that these rocks were used as a natural bridge by Native American travelers as recently as a few hundred years ago.



Within this relatively small ecological setting, the biological diversity is truly mind-boggling and even exceeds that found upstream at Sprewell Bluff. Here hardwood slopes transcend into river riparian zones studded with 550-million-year-old rocks. Spanish moss hangs from swamp gum and shagbark hickory. In many places the rocks are grouped in the river to form small islands. During the summer months, the rare and endangered shoals spider lily (Hymenocallis coronaria) and blue flag (Iris virginica) can be found blooming on the rock islands.



It is tricky finding the Flint’s source near where the Flint River surfaces after being piped beneath the length of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Georgia’s second longest river runs beneath Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – and it runs in culverts and ditches through no fewer than five cities and counties surrounding the airport before leaving the metro area.



The Flint is at the center of an effort to increase green space while promoting responsible development in the neighborhoods surrounding the airport. It’s a dream that’s sort of like the Atlanta Belt Line of the south side…if, instead of railroad tracks, you had water, and the world’s busiest airport.



The Flint River, which stretches from the Piedmont to the Chattahoochee River in southwest Georgia, is one of only forty rivers in the nation's contiguous forty-eight states that flow unimpeded for more than 200 river miles.


Still in Fulton County.

The Flint has had many names. One early name given to the river and to the village settled by ancient Eastern Woodland tribes near today's city of Albany is Thronateeska, or Thlonotiaske, meaning "flint picking-up place." The Muskogee Indians called the river Hlonotiskahachi, ronoto being Muskogean for "flint." When Hernando de Soto first saw it on March 5, 1540, he named it Rio de Capachequi. Later Spaniards called it the Rio Pedernales, pedernal meaning "flint" in Spanish.

Length and Route

The length of the river depends on how one defines length: a boater would cover nearly 350 miles in the Flint's meandering channel within a basin measuring only 212 miles in length. The river passes through two power-generating lakes—Lake Blackshear near Cordele and Lake Chehaw near Albany—before it meets the Chattahoochee River 265 miles downstream from its headwaters at the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam and creates Lake Seminole in the southwest corner of the state. The single river that leaves Lake Seminole is known as the Apalachicola, which flows through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico.


Lower Flint

The Flint River has an unusual source. It begins as groundwater seepage in west central Georgia at what is today the mouth of a concrete culvert on the south side of Virginia Avenue in Hapeville, an Atlanta suburb. The water that collects there quickly disappears under the runways of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as it flows southward through the culvert.





Headwaters of Flint River.



It is joined by water from such tributaries as Sullivan, Mud, and Camp creeks. Fifty miles downstream, this water has transformed itself into one of Georgia's most scenic and diverse rivers. Near Culloden, the Flint crosses the fall line, dropping 400 feet over the next fifty miles as it journeys down the Coastal Plain.



Between the Flint's urban beginning and its reservoir ending, its watershed - which includes the cities of Jonesboro, Thomaston, Montezuma, Marshallville, Cordele, Americus, Albany, and Bainbridge - drains some 8,460 square miles. This watershed can be divided into three distinct regions, the Upper, Middle, and Lower Flint, based on landscape, channel characteristics, flora, and fauna.

Flora and Fauna

Though the Flint begins in metropolitan Atlanta, self-purification occurs from the river's unimpeded flow and its abundant wetlands, which filter pollutants. The Flint's northernmost swamp occurs in the Jonesboro area.



Downstream, Magnolia Swamp lies just north of the fall line, Beechwood Swamp just south of it. Together these two swamps make up what is locally called the Great Swamp.



The Flint's largest wetland, the Chickasawhatchee Swamp, lies farthest south and is Georgia's second-largest deepwater swamp.



The river is thus home to an abundance of unusual animals and plants. Unique to the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint system are the shoal bass, which is highly prized among fishermen, and the Halloween darter. The Halloween darter was discovered in the early 1990s by researchers at the University of Georgia's Institute of Ecology (later Odum School of Ecology), who in 2009 gave the small fish its scientific name of Percina crypta.


Halloween Darter

The Flint is also home to more than twenty species of freshwater mussels. The Lower Flint contains springs and caves, which are home to the Georgia blind cave salamander and the Dougherty Plain cave crayfish. The shoals spider lily, discovered in the 1770s by naturalist William Bartram, can be found on the Flint, along with greenfly orchids, corkwood, needle palm, and the very rare relict trillium.


Shoals spider lily

The Flint River's Atlantic white cedar swamps are the most distant from the coast to be found; these trees are usually encountered in such locations as the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina or peat bogs in New England.



Historic Development

White settlers poured into western Georgia to farm the land between the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers in the early nineteenth century, often setting up large cotton plantations. In 1828 the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system began supporting steamboat travel. By 1860 more than twenty-six steamboat landings dotted the Flint between Bainbridge and the river's junction with the Chattahoochee.



Steamboats traveled upriver as far as Montezuma until the sandy, shifting riverbed of the Middle Flint proved too treacherous. Steamboats below Bainbridge continued to thrive and remained in operation until about 1928, mostly to ship cotton to the port of Apalachicola. Smaller boats and barges traveled from Bainbridge to Albany. While steamboats navigated the Flint lengthwise, numerous ferries traversed the river. The last ferry across the Flint, near Marshallville, closed in 1988.



The combined effects of the Civil War (1861-65), soil erosion, the boll weevil, and the Great Depression of the 1930s devastated Flint region farmers, who gradually diversified their crops to include peanuts, soybeans, vegetables, and wheat. Dairying and the raising of cattle and hogs also became important to the area's agricultural economy. Agriculture remains important to this region, and use of the Flint's watershed for irrigation is a topic of keen interest and hot debate. Early industry consisted mostly of gristmills, using waterpower from the Flint's tributaries.


Here in today's Fayette County, Hananiah Gilcoat (Jill-cote) built Starr’s Mill the first grist mill along Whitewater Creek in 1825.

Recent Developments

In the 1960s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigated the feasibility of building a dam at Sprewell Bluff near Thomaston. At the time, dams were proliferating nationwide, so there was surprise and even anger when Governor Jimmy Carter, after conducting extensive interviews with some fifty interested parties, vetoed the dam in 1974.



This decision proved wise for the health of the river; Sprewell Bluff remains today a unique botanical melting pot of Coastal Plains flora growing in proximity to plants and trees usually found in Georgia's mountainous areas.



I have added some images of the Sprewell Bluff, this is really a separate Georgia Natural Wonder.



Scramble up the Bluff.



Not North Georgia mountains but 80 miles south of Atlanta.





Then you got the Flint River trying to circumvent this bluff.





Wonderful day splashing about.





Sprewell Bluff State Park.







The Flint River has also figured prominently in the lengthy tristate "water war." Since 1992 Alabama, Florida, and Georgia have struggled to allocate fairly the states' shared water resources. In question are the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa river basins, both originating in Georgia. A key issue is Atlanta's future growth—the Chattahoochee flows through Atlanta, and the Flint originates just south of the city. A final agreement has yet to be reached.



Natural disasters have also thrust the Flint River into the headlines. In early July 1994, the tropical storm Alberto stalled over western Georgia. Not only did runoff from the city of Atlanta dump millions of gallons of water into the Upper Flint, but the storm dropped enough rain on southwest Georgia to submerge some cities, including Montezuma and Newton, and to cause the worst flood in Albany's recorded history.



In 1994, due to tropical storm Alberto, the Flint River overflowed its banks and flooded Montezuma. The water rose as high as the rooftops, and whole buildings were engulfed in the flood.

Numerous counties in the Flint basin were declared federal disaster areas; at least thirty-one people died, including fifteen in Americus and four in Albany. A second flood in Albany in March 1998 prompted plans for a levee, which are still being argued.


Two men attempt to rescue a cow in high water near Albany during the Flint River flood of 1925. The Flint River has overrun its banks several times in Albany's history.

Paradoxically, from the summer of 1998 to the end of 2003, Georgia experienced a severe drought. The Lower Flint, because of its shallow aquifer discharge, was especially threatened. In 2000 the General Assembly passed the controversial Flint River Drought Protection Act, which aims to preserve a minimum flow in the river by paying farmers in southwest Georgia not to irrigate their land from area streams during severe drought years.



Another problem arose during a January 2002 snowstorm, when a drainpipe became clogged at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, allowing de-icing fluids to overflow into the Flint. The result was the detection of trace amounts of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol in drinking water drawn from as far downstream as Fayette County. The pipe was repaired, and people were assured that the amounts were not harmful to them, but the fragile relationship between the Flint's ecosystem and the people who inhabit it was once again dramatically highlighted.



The Future of the Flint

The city of Albany uses tourism and leisure to educate people about the importance of the Flint River's unique ecosystem. In September 2004 the city opened the Flint River Aquarium, a $30 million complex whose centerpiece is a 175,000-gallon, 22-foot-deep, open-air constructed "blue hole" filled with the flora and fauna found in the Flint's ecosystem. "Blue holes" are the natural springs that rise from deep underground caverns in southwest Georgia. The water remains at a constant 68 degrees, which inhibits bacterial growth and allows the clear water to reflect the color of the sky.


Fish swim in the constructed "blue hole" at the Flint River Aquarium.

Another promising sign for the Flint's future lies on one of the many old cotton plantations along the Lower Flint. Ichauway, located near the town of Newton, was owned by Coca-Cola magnate Robert Woodruff until his death in 1985. In 1991 the Woodruff Foundation established the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, named for the chairman emeritus of the Woodruff Foundation, at Ichauway. The center's mission is to be a 29,000-acre outdoor laboratory devoted to the study of longleaf pine, aquatic ecology, and water resources. A staff of 100 scientists and other researchers work there, exploring ways to protect the resources of the Flint River watershed.



Floods, droughts, and man-made occurrences, with their instantaneous and widespread coverage by the press, have called attention to the Flint River in ways previously unimagined. People of the Flint basin know that the days have long passed when its water can be taken for granted. They recognize the need to balance the use of the river's many rich resources with the protection of its delicate and unique ecosystems. Until the twentieth century, the Flint River was important to southwest Georgians. In today's interconnected world, it is important not only to all Georgians but also to people in surrounding states.

From the Sherpa Guide - The Flint River at the Fall Line

Some states are famous for dramatic mountain ranges. Others are distinguished for glittering lakes. And still others are known for sublime coastlines. While Georgia's mountains, lakes, and coastline are worth celebrating, I would argue that Georgia should be acclaimed for its beautiful rivers.



In rivers, Georgia has great diversity. The primary reason is that our streams must flow over a diverse landscape as they make their way to the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. In the highlands, piedmont, coastal plain, and marshlands, our state's terrain shapes and influences a river's character in ways obvious (are there rapids? is the water cold or warm?) and less obvious (does the stream carry a high nutrient load? can I catch trout?). Georgia's most interesting rivers make the longest trips through the greatest variety of terrain. The Flint River is one of these.



To really experience the Flint-or any river-I prefer to use a canoe or kayak. But traveling down a river in a canoe comes with certain inconveniences: How do you get back to your vehicle? Are you and your boat mate forced to drive two cars? These issues are best solved by a shuttle service. That leads me to Jim McDaniel at the Flint River Center, located approximately 5 miles southwest of Thomaston on the downstream side of the GA 36 bridge on the southern bank of the Flint. Start your exploration of the river with him. He makes it easy.



My brother John and I picked a sunny July morning for our adventure. When we arrived at McDaniel's sprawling settlement, we had to decide where we were going and for how long. The most challenging rapids on the entire river-Yellow Jacket Shoals-were a mile downstream. Famous for eating canoes, the shoals are Class III during low water and Class IV during high water. Neither of us felt like destroying one of Jim's canoes that day, so we chose to take a shuttle upstream to Sprewell Bluff State Park and paddle the 5.1 miles downstream to the Flint River Center.



Bill Fennell loaded a canoe into the back of a well-used pickup truck and we climbed into the cab for an 8-mile ride to the park. In the dictionary under "river rat," there should be a photo of Bill. He wears cut-off jean shorts and a deep tan. He lives near Macon but when he gets free time, he keeps "coming back to the river." Today, he was helping Jim out. "The river's at 7 feet at the bridge, so it'll be a good day. Shallow in spots, but not too bad," he said. "When it's higher, 8 and 9 feet, it's a better run." At the park, he backed the truck down the boat ramp. We lifted the canoe off the bed and slid it into the shallow, rocky water. We shook hands with Bill, and John climbed into the front, and I pushed off and jumped in.



Looking across the river from the boat ramp, I beheld Sprewell Bluff, a vegetated, rocky slope of gneiss, schist, and quartzite reaching 900 feet in elevation. It was near here that a 211-foot dam was proposed that would have flooded 28 miles of river and 24,500 acres of scenery that gave the Flint its ranking as "Georgia's Number One Scenic River" by the Georgia Natural Areas Council in the 1970s. I thought about the dam controversy most of the time I was on the river and wondered what we had lost-and for what gains-with other impoundment lakes named Lanier, Hartwell, Allatoona, Oconee, Seminole, Russell, Jackson, Clarks Hill, West Point, Carter, Burton, Rabun, Seed, Blue Ridge, etc. We will never know.



Paddling downstream, I heard the rush of approaching rapids. While I imagined us to be Lewis and Clark, our skills were more like Abbott and Costello as I steered us into a shallow area where we ground to a halt on some rocks. "Well, at least we can get out and scout the rapids," I said, stepping into the current that licked the top of my socks. To our left, the water went through a small chute with a few curlers. "Let's try bouncing through there."



As the day went on, we worked the kinks out of our strokes and got better at reading the shoals and navigating into the deeper channels. Struck dumb by beautiful surroundings, we would stop paddling almost on cue and drift quietly in the current. Occasionally, a hungry shoal bass broke the silence as it struck at the surface. Our presence disturbed the sun-soaked happiness of a clan of turtles, who splashed into the river like stones toppling off a log.



We rode the river through a forest buffer comprised of trees and plants found in Georgia's mountains, piedmont, and coastal plain. Beech, black gum, sweet bay, hickory, white oak, and tulip poplar grew on the bluffs and slopes. Tupelo gum, black willow, and palmetto thrived closer to the river. Spanish moss hung from rhododendron and holly.



At the former site of the DuBignon Ferry, we took a break to explore the floodplain forest on foot. I threaded through the brush with spider webs breaking across my face. My shoes slipped on the muddy bottomland. I noticed droppings and tracks from raccoons and deer, and a rock-solid beaver dam across a small stream. Behind it, frogs used the murky pond to breed, raise young, and hide.


Paddling the Flint looking for Shoal bass.

From our canoe, we contemplated the river communities that we saw. In the more remote areas, we surveyed makeshift assemblages of warped plywood and shingles teetering out over the river like they were drunk. As we approached the GA 36 bridge, we observed more expensive homes that sat cautiously back from the riverbank, fronted with smartly trimmed green lawns, quarry stone river embankments, and odious "Keep Out!" signs. Part of me was jealous; another part of me wished they weren't there.



However, the homesteaders and their detritus did not destroy our happiness with our day. Too soon, we ran a final small rapid and passed under the bridge and approached the take out ramp. Jim McDaniel stood there, waving, almost as if he had been waiting for the last four hours.



Sore and sunburned, we were still in the canoe when John started talking about how we'd come back, but next time go even farther, maybe canoe for a whole day or maybe two whole days. And camp out. And see more of the Flint River.



I found this other desription of the Flint below here. This is where the Yellow jacket Shoals are. Ran the Flint River, GA 36 Bridge to Lazar Creek take-out, twice on Saturday, 1/31, with Sean McKinnon and Adam Gordon. First run we put on at about 11:20 AM, second run at about 1:40 PM EST. First run was 8'2" and the second run was 8'1.5" on the GA Hwy 36 Bridge. The river was dropping.



Impression, we could have used a little more water. There was a little bit of play out there, but another half a foot more and there would have been much more play and I am sure our river trips would have taken longer with the extra play. All rapids at this level, except Yellow Jacket Shoals, were class II. Yellow Jacket at this level was class III-. At higher water levels the Yellow Jacket Shoals section transforms into class IV and even before flood stage it becomes class V.



If my memory serves me right, it is class IV at 10' on the GA 36 Bridge and class V at 11', but I want to get more runs to confirm this and get a better idea where the transition points are. 7.5' at the GA 36 Bridge is getting pretty close to a minimum run, but all rapids are still passable. This run gets fairly wide in places where you can not see all the possible routes from upstream without doing some paddling back and forth across the river.



Depending on road conditions and how much water is in the mud holes when you get down closer to the Flint River, taking out at the Lazar Creek take-out may require 4 wheel drive, but it does save 2.5 miles of flatwater paddling that you get if you take-out at Pobiddy Rd instead. This wildlife management road comes down along the Flint River south of Lazar Creek on the river right side. The road was completely washed out and impassable about a 1/4 mile south of Lazar Creek, but this road is following the Flint River there and you can just make your own take-out along through there with a little extra effort.



OK - that was a little disapointing but I redeemed myself with this addendum to the first post and this You Tube of a float through all three sections of yellow Jacket Shoals at medium water. You can see the flowers and it speeds up during flat water stretches. The third shoal of the Yellow Jacket is the one that trys to sting you, it looked like it had four or five significant drops. Very well videoed



American Whitewater tells us there is some good rafting on a tributary of the Flint on Potato Creek. It is located west of Thomaston, GA. There are the four big drops below GA Hwy 36. I once put on one bridge upstream at really high water/flood stage on Hannahs Mill Rd. for some class II+ fun with big waves to play, but it would be a very rare occasion that anyone would find those conditions, and most of the time it would be just a boring class II that some people could use as a warm up because the first rapid below the GA Hwy 74 bridge depending on water level is class III-IV (V or higher at high because of a keeper on the left of the island and unbelievable conditions on the right of the island). I have put on as high as US 19, but there is nothing but flat water and strainers between US 19 and Hannahs Mill Rd.



There is about a mile and a half of whitewater below the GA Hwy 74 Bridge with play-spots down to about zero on the gauge, then a mile and a half of flat water with one small rapid that can have a couple play spots in it. There are four slides below GA Hwy 36 that drop a total of about 50' in a little over a 100 yards. The last of the four slides is the blindest and most technical to run and it always has by far the biggest holes. At high water the holes could be terminal.



There are some land issues on this section below the GA Hwy 36 Bridge. As a rule, never set foot on river right below the bridge as that is the side I have heard all the issues have come from. The river left side does have homes along it, but they seem to be a little friendlier, especially if you try and stay within the river's high water mark. I try and take as low a profile as I can when walking back up and give everyone a wave of the hand whenever I see someone as I don't want to loose the ability to be able use this option as the next bridge down river is way way downstream and I hear you have to paddle through swampy conditions to get there.


Potato Creek.

We normally park vehicles just west of the GA Hwy 74 Bridge right where a dirt road comes in from the north as there are no parking signs by the bridge there. We never park a vehicle on the southwest side of the GA Hwy 36 bridge, and park east of the bridge if we plan to run the slides below GA Hwy 36 and on the northwest side of the bridge if we are not running the slides because the take-out is easier there. Once when I was turning the vehicle around, I had a land/home owner that was located below the southwest side of the bridge ask me to park on the east side of the bridge which I did right away even though I knew I could park on the northwest side. I personally have had no problems at this bridge, I just have heard from a number of others that there has been issues with either a owner or owners on the river right below this bridge that date back as far back as 15-20 years ago.

Thomaston

OK - we floated the Flint as our #67 Natural Wonder of Georgia. Now we are going to tangent here on the city of Thomaston and Upson County. Selected for the 1986 edition of "The 100 Best Small Towns in America" and again in 1995, Thomaston offers slow-paced southern charm and hospitality. Located in west central Georgia, it is approximately sixty-five miles south of Atlanta, forty-five miles west of Macon, and sixty miles northeast of Columbus. With a population of 9,170, according to the 2010 U.S. census, this Georgia Main Street city and former mill town features an early-twentieth-century courthouse square and historic businesses and homes.



Upson County was established by an act of the state legislature on December 15, 1824. The Treaty of Indian Springs (1821) between the United States and the Creek Indians gave the government the land that extended from the Ocmulgee River to the Flint River through middle Georgia. Upson County was created from Pike and Crawford counties. Many settlers were drawn to the area by the lottery system used to settle the acquired lands. The state's fifty-ninth county was named in honor of the noted Georgia lawyer Stephen Upson (1784 -1824) just four months after his death.



Connecticut native Stephen Upson was called the “wisest man in Georgia” during his lifetime. He came to Lexington via Virginia to study law under William H. Crawford. He married Hannah Cummins after establishing a practice in Lexington and was a member of the Georgia legislature from 1820 until his death. He also served as the head of the Georgia bar. Shortly after his death, the legislature created and named Upson County in his memory.


His homes in Lexington and Athens still stand.

Thomaston was incorporated on June 11, 1825, and designated as the seat of Upson County. The town was named for General Jett Thomas, an Indian fighter in the War of 1812 (1812-15).


Thomas grave Milledgeville.

He is also credited with assisting in the construction of the state capitol at Milledgeville in 1805-7 and Franklin College on the campus of the University of Georgia in 1806.



The majority of the settlers to Upson County came from the eastern counties of Georgia, between the Oconee River and Augusta. Some were wealthy plantation owners who also owned many slaves. Farming the rich soil of the eastern section of Upson County, around the town of The Rock and along the Flint River, they primarily grew cotton. Other settlers came from North Carolina and South Carolina. The first cotton mill in Upson County, the Waymanville or Franklin Factory, was built on Tobler Creek in 1833, and in 1835 a group of New Englanders arrived to manufacture textiles.



The town was laid out with parallel streets running north and south, east and west, with the courthouse square in the center of town. The judges of the inferior court had the authority to sell lots to individuals on a one-third cash basis with two years to complete the payment. This money was used to build the first courthouse, which was completed in 1828.



The second courthouse was completed in 1852, and the present courthouse was erected in 1908.



In the southeast corner of the square is a cannonball mounted on a marble base, said to be the first fired at Fort Sumter, off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.    P. W. Alexander, a noted correspondent during the Civil War (1861-65) and a citizen of Upson County, retrieved it.



A few miles north of the square is one of the oldest houses in Thomaston, the Pettigrew-White-Stamps House. Built by John E. Pettigrew in 1833, it currently serves as the Upson Historical Society Museum.



The African American Museum is housed in a late 1920s three-room shotgun-style house.460 Cedar Row, Thomaston Georgia


Row Houses in Lincoln Heights.

The Civil War erupted on Thomaston's soil on April 18, 1865, nine days after Confederate general Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Virginia, when Union cavalry raiders moving from Columbus to Macon embarked on three days of devastation in Upson County. The raiders, led by Major General James Harrison Wilson, pillaged and burned homes, and they destroyed three of Upson's cotton mills, including the Waymanville cotton mill. They set fire to a steam locomotive.



The Old Alabama Stagecoach Road, a well-traveled stagecoach and wagon-freight line between Augusta and Columbus, ran from the northeastern section of Upson County, crossing the Flint River at Double Bridges.



Double Bridges is the site where two bridges spanned either side of Owen's Island in the middle of the Flint River; a brief Civil War cavalry skirmish took place there. On April 18, 1865, Union raiders began three days of devastation in Upson County. Major General James Harrison Wilson's cavalry was headed toward Macon; its task was to destroy the agricultural and industrial facilities in the South. Fifty men of the First Battalion Georgia Cavalry Reserves stood to defend the bridges. The defenders fired a few scattered shots at the larger Union forces before fleeing.



In 1866 Thomaston's African Americans held an emancipation celebration, which has continued every year since; celebrated in May, it is the country's longest-running commemoration of freedom from slavery. African American Museum Cedar Row - The museum was established in an authentic three room "shotgun" house moved from King Avenue, an area among the first established as African American. The house is approximately 80 years old. Mrs. Frances Walker lived in this house for 70 years and raised a son, grandson and great-grandchildren. Open on Saturday and Sunday at 1pm for free tours.



The Auchumpkee Covered Bridge, located in the southeastern part of Upson County, is an exact replica of the 1892 bridge that was destroyed when floods swept through the state in 1994. Federal disaster relief money paid for premier covered-bridge craftsman Arnold M. Graton to reconstruct the bridge in much the same manner as it was first built in 1892.


Auchumpkee Covered Bridge

In the 1920s the peach industry thrived in Upson County, but peaches all but vanished in the county with the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s, as orchard laborers found work in the mills. Peach orchards were cut down to make room for timber stands.

I fund some vintage images of Thomaston.


Bicycle Day.


Saturday nights at the Ritz.


Sunday Church.





During the twentieth century Thomaston's economy was primarily based on the manufacture of textiles and tire cord. Granted a charter in 1899, Thomaston Mills shipped textiles worldwide and served as a major source of economic stability and urban growth, along with B. F. Goodrich's tire cord mill, Martha Mills.


Thomaston Mills today.

East Thomaston (established by Thomaston Mills) and Silvertown (for workers at Martha Mills, later WesTek) were typical of southern mill towns of the time. Thomaston's mill-town era ended when its main employer, Thomaston Mills, declared bankruptcy in 2001.


Martha Mills today.

Even with the closing of Thomaston Mills, Thomaston's population has remained stable. Many of the mill's former employees enrolled in Thomaston's Flint River Technical College (later Southern Crescent Technical College) to acquire skills that would enable them to find other employment. Among other industries that have opened in the area are Yamaha, which manufactures pianos and audio speakers;



DUNI, which manufactures plastic containers;



And Quad Graphics, which prints such magazines as People and Sports Illustrated.



Thomaston today.









Yatesville was founded in 1888 when the railroad was extended to that point, and named after A.J. Yates, a first settler.



The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Yatesville as a town in 1896.The Chitlin Hoedown is a yearly celebration of the small city of Yatesville, Ga. with 2000 lbs of Chitterlings are sold at the event each year!



Mr. A. D. Williams was a peach farmer. We think he was the first peach farmer to ship peaches out of Georgia. He had no children and the people who worked for him were treated like family. He built a dance pavilion in the middle of the lake across from his home and once or twice a month would have picnics for the workers and they would dance until the wee hours. He enjoyed bowling and he had a two Lane bowling alley in his basement.



In the back of his home were formal gardens which was his life’s passion. There was an open fireplace there. There is a glass peach mounted on it. The city of Yatesville recently tried to buy the peach but the family would not sell it to them. On the side of his house he built a small pond where the lighthouse was built. It was on the side of a huge playground and a three hole golf course. The lighthouse was built as a novelty for people to enjoy. He provided entertainment for not only his guests but their children. When he died, the house and all the property was left to a nephew and they moved from Florida to Yatesville. His daughter, Lisa Williams, won the Georgia Junior Miss title. They sold the house to a family and the property and the house is in complete disrepair. Such a shame that this once grand place is in such a mess.


Yatesville has been passed by.

A post office called Atwater was established in 1901, and remained in operation until 1907.The community was incorporated in 1902.

A post office called The Rock was established in 1853. The community was named for a rock formation near the original town site.This community was so named because it is located upon a rock, out-croppings of which appear over the site. In early times, it was said that mail was deposited in a secret hole in the rock, which was covered  with  a  fiat  stone.  Stage  drivers  were instructed to "Leave the mail at The Rock," after which the post office adopted this name. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated The Rock as a town in 1877. The town's municipal charter was repealed in 1995.



Thomaston is home to the following list of folks. Since this is the permanent post, I did some links and images.

• Elia Goode Byington (1858–1936), journalist



• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers



• Mike Cavan - football player at Univ. of Ga. and former head coach at SMU



• Wayne Cochran - musician (Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders)


Train Wayne

• Ivylyn Girardeau - medical missionary in Pakistan



• John Brown Gordon - one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted Confederate generals during the American Civil War; governor of Georgia 1886



• Frank Gordy - founder of The Varsity restaurant chain



• William Guilford (1844–1909) - businessman and state legislator

• Bill Hartman - football running back for the Georgia Bulldogs and Washington Redskins before World War II





• John Holliman - broadcast journalist best known as one of CNN's "Boys of Baghdad" during the first Persian Gulf War



• Marion Montgomery - poet, novelist, educator, and critic; close friend and critic of Flannery O'Connor


UGA Professor too.

• Cedric Smith - African American painter



• Hunter Strickland - relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants



• Martha Hudson Pennyman - Olympic gold medalist


Gold in 4 X 100 - Hudson on right, Wilma Rudolph on left.

• Coy Bowles - Grammy award-winning country artist Zac Brown Band



• John David “J.D.” Stallings - Current and youngest Mayor



• Jerry Walker Jr. - Civil Rights Activist. Can't find anything on this fellow.

• Chris Teal - West Georgia University Hall of Fame. Can't find anything on this fellow either.

OK we explored the Fall Line of Georgia with visits to Augusta, Columbus, Milledgeville, Macon, and now Thomaston. We have seen the rapids on the Savannah, Chattahoochee, Oconee, Ocmulgee, and now the Flint Rivers.



This is an amazing part of the State, the whitewater beauty topped off by the intriguing history that required 6 tangent post for 5 cities on the Fall Line. AU weekend, gotta get focused, next post back to mountains Monday. Today's GNW gal enjoys a barefoot photo shoot along the Flint.