Georgia Natural Wonder #81 - Zahnd Tract – Chattooga County - Paradise Garden. 1,006

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #81 - Zahnd Tract – Chattooga County - Paradise Garden

The Zahnd Natural Area in Walker County covers some 1,380 acres of the Cumberland Plateau physiographic region. Zahnd sits on the eastern edge of Lookout Mountain and across McLemore Cove from Pigeon Mountain.


Almost all the pictures today come from my personal photos of my visits.

This site is in a Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs). To be in a WMA legally, you will need a pass or license (GORP no longer exists), of which the least expensive option is a one-day hunting/fishing license for $5 + $2.50 online transaction fee, available at this link.


This little note on a post is all you will see from road. I passed place two or three times to find proper pull off.

The Cumberland Plateau begins near Birmingham, Alabama, and crosses the extreme northwest corner of Georgia before entering Tennessee just to the west of Chattanooga.

Hendrix explores the Zahand Tract.

Northwest of Knoxville, the plateau becomes highly dissected due to erosion, and the region—although geologically still a plateau—is called the Cumberland Mountains.



The two principal features of the Cumberland Plateau in Georgia are Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain, which are separated by 2-mile-wide Lookout Valley, in which the towns of Trenton and Rising Fawn are located.



From a physiographic standpoint, the flat-topped mountains of the Cumberland Plateau are quite different from the narrow Armuchee Ridges beyond the Chickamauga Valley to the east.



Geologically, the Cumberland Plateau is transitional between the flat-lying sedimentary beds of central Tennessee and the ridges and valleys to the east in Georgia, which show more intensive folding and faulting.



The flat top of the Cumberland Plateau is sandstone which, while harder than limestone or shale, has nevertheless been carved and sculpted for millions of years by wind and water.



Because of a tendency to fracture into squarish blocks, the sandstone has weathered into fantastic boulder formations in places like Rocktown and the Zahnd Tract, commercially called "rock cities."



In addition, thick layers of soft, water-soluble limestone undergird the Cumberland Plateau.

Hendrix leading way.

Because the top is actually slightly concave, surface water accumulates and seeps downward through cracks and crevices, where it dissolves the limestone and creates miles of underground passages or caves, issuing forth at numerous springs around the base of the mountain.



The great gulfs, or canyons, eroded in the sides of the Cumberland Plateau are spectacular in a geologic, biotic, and scenic sense.



Two on Lookout Mountain are notable—a wide canyon known as Johnson's Crook, and a narrow one called Sitton's Gulch and renamed Cloudland Canyon GNW #10.


TRD and son in Cloudland Canyon back in 1990.

Pigeon Mountain GNW #11, a thumblike protrusion from Lookout Mountain, deserves special mention. It is a geological, botanical, and zoological treasure house. Happily, most of it was purchased by Heritage Trust funds under the farsighted Carter administration.


Rocktown Pigeon Mountain

The Zahnd family donated the original 163 acres to the state in 1940.



Another 1,208 acres were bought in 2003 from the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia using money from the state's Nongame Wildlife Conservation Fund and the State Wildlife Grants Program.



The original tract contains a number of spectacular sandstone rock formations similar to those found in the better-known Rock Town at Pigeon Mountain.


Not my photo, won’t see me climbing up here.

The conglomerate and sandstone contain classic crossbedding, evidence of rivers that drained a Himalaya-sized mountain range about 300 million years ago, and have been eroded into building-sized blocks, turtlebacks, and mushroom rocks.


Damn I missed this Natural Bridge.

The newer tract has large sandstone bluffs on the brow of Lookout Mountain, several waterfalls (except during dry periods) and three caves.


Damn, I missed this overlook.

Zahnd is dominated by the oak-hickory forests typical of the Cumberland Plateau, but it also has drier pine stands and more moist hardwoods.


Damn, I missed Zahnd Falls. If you’re looking for rainy day trips, the waterfalls on these plateaus in Georgia are fantastic.

Rare species known from Zahnd include the Ozark bunchflower and green salamander, both state-listed as rare; the mountain witch-alder, which is state-listed as threatened; and granite gooseberry.


Mountain Witch Alder

Popular activities at the natural area include hiking, hunting, rock climbing, bird watching and nature study. Camping, horseback riding and use of ATVs or mountain bikes is not permitted.



Sherpa Guide describes the Zahand Tract site as an area of large, unusual rock formations characteristic of this region.



Also present is a mixture of mesic (liking moist conditions), xeric (liking dry conditions), and Coastal Plain plants. Most visible from the road is the mountain laurel, which is especially abundant and blooms in May. The plot is owned by the state of Georgia. The rocks are about 200 feet off the road, east of GA 157.



If you are coming from Lafayette, stay on HWY 136 West and follow it up Lookout Mtn. Just as you reach the top a blinking traffic light will mark a four-way intersection. Turn left at the blinking light onto GA HWY 157. Follow this road the rest of the way. The pull off is unnmarked but has a small paved portion that leads into a neatly kept gravel parking lot.



Directions: From the intersection of GA 48 and GA 157 in Cloudland, go north 12.9 miles on GA 157; or from GA 136 go 9.7 miles south on GA 157.



As you head back down to Menlo and Summerville on HWY 48. Just before the brow of the mountain, a thinly bedded seam of coal is visible under massive sandstone and over shale. During the millions of years of the Carboniferous period, huge tree ferns and giant horsetails which were 1 to 2 feet in diameter and 60 or more feet high lived in the great swamps and river deltas that circled the northern hemisphere. As these plants died and fell to the earth, the swamp water prevented them from losing their carbon by oxidation. After eons of peat formation, these carbonized remains were compressed into layers of coal, which has powered mankind ever since. To split a piece of coal and find the imprint of the leaves of these ancient forests is one of the most significant experiences in the study of natural history. Birmingham, Alabama, became a great metallurgical center because of its combination of coal and iron deposits somewhat similar to those around Lookout Mountain.

Directions: 2 miles west of Menlo on the south side of GA 48. One must climb the bank to see it.



Now this boulder field is only 20% of Rocktown. Hence that Georgia natural Wonder is #11 as opposed to #91. I would not send you this far on this wonder if it were not for one other attraction in the area. There is a special place that while not a natural wonder, is a Georgia treasure. I’m talking about Paradise Gardens in Summerville.



But first let’s explore Chattooga County, in northwest Georgia, is the state's ninety-third county. The 314-square-mile county borders Alabama and was established from parts of Walker and Floyd counties in December 1838 by the state legislature. The county is named for the Chattooga River, which flows through the area and is the smaller of two Georgia Rivers bearing that name. (The larger Chattooga River forms part of the state's northeast border between Georgia and South Carolina.) The county may be best known as the longtime home of folk artist and country philosopher Howard Finster and as the place where Sequoyah developed a written alphabet for the Cherokee language.



The county was originally inhabited by Creek Indians and then Cherokees; the first white men in the area were fur traders, hunters, and traveling missionaries, followed by Revolutionary War (1775-83) soldiers. The whites lived in fairly peaceful coexistence with the Indian population until 1829, when gold was discovered in north Georgia. In one of the saddest chapters in America's history, the newcomers, backed by federal and state authorities, used force to dispossess the Cherokees of their land and then distribute it to white settlers in the 1832 Cherokee land lottery.

Chattooga's Cities

There are four incorporated cities in the county: Lyerly, Menlo, Summerville (the county seat), and Trion. As you come off Lookout Mountain, there is this tremendous overlook of Chattooga County.



Then you pass trough the little town of Menlo.


Downtown abandoned.


Confederate Memorial Lawrence Park Menlo.

Menlo was incorporated in 1903, although it had existed since 1883. Its founder, Captain Andrew J. Lawrence, named the town in honor of inventor Thomas Edison, whose workshop was located in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Lawrence formed the Edison Land Company to sell lots in town. In 1951 Menlo was awarded second prize in the Georgia Power Company's Better Hometown contest.


Funky Menlo home.

The county's largest landowner and major promoter in the nineteenth century, John Fluker Beavers, sold ninety acres for the establishment of the county seat in March 1839. Originally called Selma, the seat was renamed Summerville in 1840 in recognition of its mild climate and from the fact it was a popular summer resort.. The town was slow to develop, showing active growth only after the long-awaited arrival of railroad service to the county in the late 1880s. The city thrived in the late 1880s with the construction of the Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Railroad (later part of the Central of Georgia system). The Summerville Depot, completed by the Central of Georgia in 1918, is also listed on the National Register, and is home to several annual festivals.



The Chattooga County Courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was completed in 1909.



Lyerly was incorporated in 1891 and named after Tennessee bank president Charles Abner Lyerly, who had invested in real estate in the county. Lyerly was the first town in northwest Georgia to ship poultry to markets in other states.



Trion, incorporated in 1869, was named after Trion Factory, the first cotton mill in northwest Georgia. Built in 1845-47, the mill was named by its three founders to commemorate their partnership. In 1858 it served the community as a hospital during an outbreak of typhoid fever. Unlike many other cotton mills, the factory was spared by Sherman's troops during the Civil War (1861-65), reputedly because one of its owners, Andrew Perry Allgood, was a Union sympathizer who hosted General Sherman overnight in October 1864.



Allgood received protection papers from Sherman in exchange for a promise to close the mill for the duration of the war. Ironically, in 1875 the mill did burn to the ground, raising questions about whether the fire had been set by people angered by Allgood's Union sympathies. The mill was rebuilt and eventually became Mt. Vernon Mills Incorporated, the world's largest indigo denim plant.



Economy and Population

During the nineteenth century, small farms occupied most of the area. By the end of that century, farmers had discovered that peaches grew well in Chattooga County, and by 1906 there were orchards in every part of the county. Unfortunately, although highly profitable for a number of years, the value of peaches as a cash crop dwindled to almost nothing by the mid-1920s.


Eat a Menlo Peach.

In the meantime, county farmers had started growing strawberries, shipping them to markets as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio, by a "Berry Special" daily train operated by the Chattanooga, Rome, and Southern Railroad. (The train picked up berries in several Chattooga County locations and took them to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to be connected with a train going north.)



Other agricultural products, including pecans, tobacco, and poultry, were mainstays of the county's economy, as well as the pulpwood that was sold to paper mills. Iron ore (discovered in the 1880s), coal, marble, and chert (used for paving) were extracted from the county's mines.



Highlights

Annual events include the Howard Finster Arts Festival in May, the Antique Car Show in June, and the Sum-Nelly Arts and Crafts Fair in October.



Recreational opportunities include the Georgia Pinhoti Trail, a ridgeline trail for hikers; mountain biking and equestrian activities;



And Camp Juliette Low, a summer camp in the Little River area for girls.



Notable residents have included Finster, Sequoyah, and the attorney Bobby Lee Cook, who has worked on several famous trials, including that of Wayne Williams, who was convicted for the Atlanta child murders in the 1980s. In addition to practicing law, Cook has served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives (1949-50), a state senator (1957-58), and a judge. He is also a member emeritus of the board of directors for the Georgia Innocence Project, which aims to free wrongly convicted inmates from correctional institutions.


Bobby Lee

Paradise Gardens

But the Main Attraction this part of state is Paradise Garden in Summerville, Georgia, was the home and workplace of Baptist minister and folk artist Howard Finster and is now a public park dedicated to his life and art. Paradise Garden, located at 200 North Lewis Street, is open to the public. It encompasses two and half acres densely filled with buildings, constructions, sculptures, and thousands of objects.


These are my photos again.

Finster's former studio, a yellow, plank-sided bungalow, is now a visitors' center. From it, a path leads to a multi-layered, multi-sided building, the World Folk Art Chapel.

History

In 1961 Finster purchased four acres of land in Summerville, Georgia, and a few years later retired from his pastoral duties and devoted his time to working this land. It was always a work-in-progress, originally called Plant Farm Museum, but later known as Paradise Garden.

Wife joined me for day of exploring.
Finster left some big shoes to fill.

Much of the land was swampy, which Finster drained himself. He laid out his collections of found objects which he had spent years accumulating.

Glass bottle bottoms.

He built numerous sculptures, one made from castoff bicycle parts and another from old hubcaps.



He built a structure lined inside and out with pieces of mirrors.



As an extension of his preaching duties, he erected signs covered with Biblical verses or simple exhortations, such as "Yo Jesus."



In 1976, at the age of sixty-one, Finster began a new chapter of his life. While repairing a bicycle in his workshop at Paradise Garden, Finster had another vision. A smear of white paint on his finger tip looked to him like a human face and he heard a voice command that he "paint sacred art." This he did with boundless energy until his death.



These objects, largely based in the Bible, American history, and popular culture, filled Paradise Garden.



Mostly painted on rough wood, they combined flat, two-dimensional images with dense writing. Roberta Smith, a critic for the New York Times, described Finster's work as "apocalyptic text-image paintings, which he seemed to produce at assembly-line rates.



Their lush, extravagantly crowded surfaces form later-day illuminated manuscripts and cover subjects that included heaven and hell, tales from the Bible and American history and popular culture."



Finster's interests were seemingly endless. He painted Jesus, Elvis, winged angels, George Washington, self-portraits, Marylyn Monroe wearing an American flag dress, demons, Coca-Cola bottles, Mona Lisa, Mickey Mouse, policemen, cowboys, Old Testament prophets, and other subjects in a torrent. Stylistically, they were all of a piece: singular, simple, and bold.

Wife in Chapel pew.

Interest grew over the years and in 1991 Howard and his wife, Pauline, moved from Paradise Garden in order to escape the crush of visitors. He continued to work until his death in 2001. In the twenty-five years after hearing a voice in his workshop he had created an astonishing 46,000 sacred objects.



After Finster's death Paradise Garden began to decay into the heat and humidity of rural Georgia. His family tried to maintain the site, with little success. The buildings' walls became water logged and decayed and their foundations crumbled. The paintings done on untreated lumber rotted. Kudzu and other vines engulfed what had been created. Finster's home and work began to sink into the rich mud of the Chattooga River valley.



Eventually, Chattooga County acquired the site. In 2012 a non-profit group, Paradise Garden Foundation, signed a fifty-year lease with the county and took possession of Finster's property. The cost was one dollar.



The foundation's director has characterized it's on-going work as a revival, "a way to restore the spirit of the place." Structures have been reinforced. Sunken paintings and objects have been dug out of the ground, cleaned, and put on display. Other objects remain where they were originally placed, degenerating with time. Rotten lumber has been replaced. Buildings have been adapted to different uses. A brook has been dredged and now freely meanders through the site.



Garden details

In 1982 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Finster had purchased a small church adjacent to his property. It was a simple ranch building which he went on to expand dramatically, Finster's vision of "heavenly mansions".



On top of the original structure, he built a four layer, twelve sided "wedding cake", ending with a spire shaped like an upside-down funnel. One level is a circular balcony, giving views of the entire site.



A large painting inside the church illustrates Finster's cosmos. It's a landscape full of whirling stars and erupting volcanoes. Written across it is "Visions of Other Worlds I took the pieces you threw away—put them together by night & day—washed by rain and dried by sun—a million pieces all in one."



Thousands of these pieces are used in a section called Mosaic Garden. Walls and pathways are embedded with shards of colored glass, shells, bits of mirrors, and broken pottery.



Gaudi-esque follies of concrete glisten in the sun.



The bicycle and hubcap sculptures remain. Finster's rusting objects fill sheds. There are two chapels decorated with his art. Trees are randomly hung with used bottles. Scattered through the site are colored glass domes from telephone poles. A fully illustrated and inscribed Cadillac sedan is parked.



Hoarder Art.



REM album by Finster



Talking Heads album



Different areas of the Paradise Garden are connected by a L-shaped gallery on raised stilts. It's corrugated metal roof and planked siding echo the area's traditional agricultural buildings. Large windows bring in light and air. Inside, benches line both sides of the narrow, long space. Finster's paintings and writings are hung on the white walls. The Foundation treats the gallery as a work in progress. Newspaper clippings and testimonials are posted. Visitors have added graffiti. Others have left their works of art and objects as gifts.



The current Paradise Garden is both a restoration and expansion of Howard Finster's vision. Art Place America and the Educational Foundation of America have been major benefactors.



The site is managed by the Paradise Garden Foundation and is staffed by hired professionals and a large body of volunteers. It is open to the public for self-guided tours. A guest cottage is available for over night stays. The Garden also may be rented for events with up to 250 people. An annual Finster Fest brings visitors, performers and artists from around the world.



Speaking of Howard Finster....Our own poster JohnnyBeeDawg wrote, produced, edited this little segment for Georgia Digest back in the early 80s. He tells us,

"I got old time Athens hero, Spencer Thornton to shoot it. R.I.P. - He did the B-52s first video waaaay back in the day before they had videos. Thank goodness I gave a copy to the REMs, because I cant find my copy. REM sangers put part of my segment up on the internets now, so modern people can see it.

I spent quite a bit of time with Howard in multiple visits. Loved that man."

Alright, now that was a fun Georgia Natural Wonder. All reading this should travel to the Garden. 

TRD ADDENDUM

I traveled back to the Garden a few weekends ago, March 2024. With my daughter and her friend and her friends kids. It now cost $15 to tour. $10 Seniors. Kids under 13 are free.



You can now walk through that long elevated hall.



There is a huge bicycle pile.



The Hall was really cool.



Some parts are still the same. 

 

Daughter at same shoe her mom was at years ago.



There are cabins you can stay at now. Paradise Gardens Summerville.


Today’s GNW Gals are rock climbing at the Zahnd Tract ……woah