Georgia Natural Wonder #133 - Kennesaw Mountain - Marietta (Part 1). 797

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #133 - Kennesaw Mountain - Marietta (Part 1)

We already covered Pigeon Hill and Little Kennesaw Mountain with Georgia Natural Wonder #131. Today we cover the main Summit. Kennesaw Mountain was originally a home to the mound builders in the years 900 to 1700 AD. Their descendants, the Creek people, were pushed out of Georgia by the Cherokee, who were then exiled by the United States and the state of Georgia on the Trail of Tears to the Oklahoma Territory during the Georgia Gold Rush.



In December 1832, Cobb County, where Kennesaw Mountain is located, was created. This was just short of a year of being in Cherokee "county", a territory that included all of northwest Georgia.


I visited the mountain this last weekend to finally get some images for this long overdue post.

Kennesaw Mountain was the site of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War, in which the Union forces of General William Tecumseh Sherman launched a bloody frontal attack on the Confederate Army of Tennessee, which was commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston.



The park’s now-beautiful landscape was once the site of a bloody, muddy Civil War battle.



One long trench all the way up the hiking trail from visitor center. I had never hiked this trail, always took the road up.



Entrenched Confederate soldiers fought approaching Union troops on the mountain during the war’s Atlanta campaign.



Thousands lost their lives on Kennesaw’s mountains, hills, and fields during a grueling, 14-day battle.



Today, the mountain’s somber history cannons, earthen fortifications, trenches, and monuments are the few reminders of the mountain’s place in history.



The mountain offers a lesson in history, as well as a great outdoor escape.



The Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park was created on June 26, 1935. It was formerly a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.



From 1938 to early 1942, CCC camp NP4 Company 431, also known as Camp T.M. Brumby, was located at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, housing approximately 200 men. The camp consisted of several buildings and the entrance was off of present day Kennesaw Avenue.


A Civilian Conservation Corps camp is pictured in 1939 from the top of Kennesaw Mountain, in Cobb County. The CCC performed historic preservation work at both the Kennesaw Mountain and Chickamauga battlefields during the 1930s.

There were four barracks buildings with each designed to house approximately 50 men. All buildings were temporary and could be dismantled and moved to another location to be quickly rebuilt. Camp Brumby’s buildings were brought here from a disbanded CCC camp in Rutledge, Georgia.



Not much of the original camp still exists, only the foundations of the headquarters, bath house, and a portion of the mess hall foundation. A portion of the entrance to the education building is still visible as well.



At the base of the mountain, the park entrance hosts a new interpretive center, museum, and numerous self-guided tour trails that document Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's "March to the Sea" during the Civil War.





The road to the top is open weekdays to cars, and on weekends only to park buses, which offer transportation to visitors. I took the shuttle bus.



The road is closed during and after winter weather, as there is no snow removal.



Kennesaw Mountain is also a major stopover location for several species of migrating songbirds. There are more than 25 species of warblers, including the rare cerulean warbler.


No birds January.

Kennesaw Mountain rises from the rolling landscape just north of Atlanta, towering over the surrounding forest and suburban sprawl that surround it and its smaller, neighboring peak, Little Kennesaw.


Looking across to Little Kennesaw Mountain.

The mountains and their surrounding National Battlefield Park offer over twenty miles of trails that weave through forests, over mountaintops, and through grassy meadows, and make for a great run, hike or outdoor adventure near town.



The park’s many miles of trails explore mountain summits, grassy meadows, shady forests and meandering creeks, offering a great trail run, hike, or walk through beautiful, scenic terrain.



The Kennesaw Mountain Trail departs the park’s Visitor Center (view maps and driving directions), crossing a paved road to the south before diving into the forest on a dirt trail.



The trail quickly begins to rise in elevation, climbing the lower base of Kennesaw Mountain under a deciduous forest canopy.


Confederate trench all along trail.

The landscape is rocky, filled with weathered rock fragments and craggy rock outcrops.



There is the first overlook.



Everbody hanging at first overlook.



The trail meanders through a series of switchbacks as it climbs.



Your never above the tree line but the winter gives some magnificent views climbing up.



The hike meets pavement at .85 mile, nearing the mountain’s summit.



Rhododendron growing at top below parking lot.



At the parking lot is a long view of Atlanta to the South.



Atlanta - Midtown - Buckhead - Vinings all line up in this image.



You can see Stone Mountain to the East of city.



After grabbing stunning, long-range views from the parking area, the Kennesaw Mountain Trail climbs a staircase and begins following a paved trail.



A line of cannons line the trail’s right side, nestled within crescent-shaped, mounded earthworks.



The large cannons aim to the northeast, pointed in the direction of the encroaching Union army during the battle of Kennesaw Mountain.





The Kennesaw Mountain Trail continues to climb elevation before cresting the mountain’s summit at just over 1 mile.



Expansive, grooved, exposed rock covers the mountain, offering a resting spot and vantage point for the incredible long-range views.



Stunning views extend to the north and south from the summit.



Departing the summit, the hike retraces its outbound steps on the Kennesaw Mountain Trail to the visitors center trailhead. It’s a nearly all downhill return route, a reward for the workout on the climb to the summit. The trail meets the Kennesaw Mountain Visitor Center trailhead at 2.1 miles, completing the hike. I chose to continue the hike along the ridge.





The trail continues down to the road and Little Kennesaw Mountain.



Rough terrain going straight back to summit.



This is a pretty rugged little section.



Rocks on top of rocks and then there is a pretty Cedar Tree above road.





Little bench off road gives resting place for drive or hike.



I did the lazy way back to top parking lot up the road.


Still some pretty views up and down to rock formations.





Federal judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, the first commissioner of Major League Baseball, was named after the battle, in which his father nearly lost his left leg.


Throwing out first pitch 1924 and hugging Georgia Peach.

The nearby city of Kennesaw, founded as Big Shanty, was renamed for the mountain after the war, although the mountain lies outside city limits. Kennesaw Mountain High School is another namesake. A stylized representation of Kennesaw Mountain's distinctive twin peaks is part of the logo for nearby Kennesaw State University.



Marietta's Kennestone Hospital takes its name from the nearby Kennesaw Mountain and the more distant Stone Mountain.



Now I was going to do a multiple tangent on Cobb County but it is too large and has multiple possible Natural Wonders I want to include on my Forum eventually ...

Lost Mountain
Pine Mountain
Black Jack Mountain
Sweat Mountain
Nickajack Gorge / Covered Bridge
Seven Springs of Powder Springs
Soap Creek

There is an enormous Civil War tangent as it took Sherman a month to fight through Cobb County. The fathers of

Mississippi State
Texas A&M
Sewanee University 

all fought in Cobb County.



So today we covered the main Mountain and I am only going to do a tangent on Marietta with this post, that is quite enough. Our Georgia Natural Wonder Girls are Models of Kennesaw.