Georgia Natural Wonder #136 - Brushy Mountain - Kennesaw. 1,881

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Georgia Natural Wonder #136 - Brushy Mountain - Kennesaw

We continue our Mountains to Classic South theme with some more Cobb County. This was intended to piggyback on Pine Mountain as our Natural Wonder, but we got involved with 124 images for just Pine Mountain and Smith Gilbert Gardens. We still wanted to do a tangent on the town of Kennesaw. We found another part to explore recently as the gate was up on an apartment complex so as a separate Natural Wonder we present Brushy Mountain.


Brushy Mountain is this low ridge that off shoots from Kennesaw and Little Kennesaw Mountains.

It is just south of Barrett Parkway. This is the view coming up I-75. These are some tricky photos while driving.



This is a whole subdivision up here but the ridge and the Civil War trenches are preserved.



A Georgia state historical marker is located on the road shoulder of U.S. 41 northbound, just south of Greer's Chapel and Barrett Parkway.



The Brushy Mountain Line or Lost Mountain Line was a military fortification line protecting Atlanta during the American Civil War. The first opportunity to reach the peak of Brushy Mountain comes with visit to the Heights of Kennesaw Apartments off Barrett Lakes Parkway just south of Barrett Parkway just west of I-75.



The Brushy Mountain Line was built in the first days of June 1864, by the Confederate army in Cobb County early in the Atlanta Campaign to defend the city from an invasion by Union troops. You go left inside the apartments and wind your way to the high point. I was able to come in here because the gate arm was up on Sunday.



Its eastern end was at Brushy Mountain north of Marietta and southeast of Big Shanty. Up on the left mountain peak, the apartments were built around the trenches still visible.



To the right in the apartments, over by the Apartment Leasing office and pool, is a great paved path to the top of Brushy Mountain where there was some action June 15th 1864. 



Each step you take represents a day in the war and you pass marked moments. It was about 1000 steps to the top.

Fort Sumter - April 12, 1861
Shiloh - April 6–7, 1862
Antietam - September 17, 1862
Gettysburg - July 1–3, 1863
Chickamauga - September 18 – 20, 1863
Brushy Mountain - June 15, 1864



Brushy Mountain Line

The Brushy Mountain Line ran from Brushy Mountain a mile or so northeast of Kennesaw Mountain due west about 11 miles to Lost Mountain and was occupied by Confederate Gen. Joe Johnston's Army of Tennessee from June 9-18, 1864.



The line also was anchored on Pine Mountain, atop which Gen. Leonidas Polk was killed on June 14.



Johnston ultimately decided the line was too long to be held by his army and withdrew the western half of the line to a shorter line anchored along Mud Creek. We covered all that with GNW #133 (Part 3).



On June 15 there was the Battle of Gilgal Church/Pine Knob. The purpose of this attack was to probe and possibly break the overextended Confederate battle line, forcing a precipitous retreat.  Sherman’s casualties in this failed effort are estimated to have been just fewer than 1,000 men. We covered that in the above link. That same day a diversionary attack by McPherson at the foot of Brushy Mountain was more successful.



It ended up netting the capture of some 300 Alabama infantry.



Tactically, it was the one bright spot in Sherman’s otherwise rather dismal day.

From the history of the 40th Alabama, we found this……

June 14th…….All day enemy massed troops in front. At 2:00 p. m. assaulted picket line with line of skirmishers and two lines of battle. 40th had orders to hold position at all hazards, and were 1 ½ miles from support. The fight was severe. Redoubts taken. 40th lost 116 men and nine officers. Capts. Moore and Gantt, Lieuts, Hicks, Sanders, Bingham, Guin, Ward, Moore and Shaver, all of Companies K, H, I and K on picket, and most of A, G and D were captured. Most of Companies C and F escaped. Company "B" in reserve under orders. Company "B" held position. Enemy's line came within twenty-five yards in open field and commenced a murderous tire upon them. Col. Higley ordered retreat and fell back through open field under galling tire. W. V. Vance Company "B" was shot in thigh. Soon after shot in body and killed. Abram D. Jones shot in left arm. It was broken. He was brought off the field and had arm amputated. Vance left on field in hands of enemy. One in Company "I" who had tools killed. Tom Williams, John Goodwin and others slightly wounded. We were under a severe concentrated fire of a whole line until we passed through the open field 300 yards. Lost half of Regiment. Have no account of them. At the redoubts it was a hand to hand fight. Company '"B" fell back one mile to Division at right. Division fell back one half mile farther and bivouaced.


Tangent ……. This flag was apparently issued to the 40th Alabama Infantry at Dalton, Georgia in May, 1864.

In his account of the flag's history former Lt. Colonel Ezekiel S. Gulley stated that ......

It was carried from the time it was issued until the end of the war. At the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, March 22-23, 1865 three flag bearers were shot down carrying the flag. Following the battle, a small group of men became separated from the rest of the regiment for several days narrowly avoiding capture on a number of occasions. To avoid losing the colors, flag bearer Hilliard O'Neal removed the flag from its staff and wrapped it around his body, wearing it underneath his clothing. In his diary, Sgt. John H. Curry of Co. B, provided additional details concerning the incident, "our flag with 40 men were cut off from our Regulars, and got behind Federal Lines and had to make their way Raleigh and return by rail. The flag-bearer tore it from the staff, took down his pants, tied it around his leg, and brought it out all ok except the staff. Several days after the battle they came into camp with it flying on a staff cut for the occasion, men shouted - cried, kissed it, hugged it - &c. such a sensation was never produced in our command before."



When you get to the end of this trail, you can walk over to the boulders where the power lines cross Brushy Mountain. This is view south with zoom in to show we are overlooking Kennestone Hospital with Atlanta in far distance.



This is view to north from boulders at power lines.



You can look over and see our last two Georgia Natural Wonders - Lost Mountain (left) - Pine Mountain (right).



There was this little spot up in the Shiloh Valley Overlook Apartment Homes. It is not a gated community.



You come up Greer's Chapel and go south on Shiloh Valley Drive.



When you get to the top of the hill, turn right on the connecting street and then left on General Wheeler Drive.



You turn right on Hood's Fort Circle and at the point where McAfee Court goes to the right, there is a spot where stairs go up each way.



There is no place to park but I illegally pulled into a spot and the view just there was fantastic back north.



These are the Allatoona Mountains back north.



They made sure to preserve the trench line all through here. Hood went from far east of Brushy Mountain Line here to the far west Battle of Kolb's Farm the next day to stop Union forces from flanking far left of Confederate earthworks..



Union troops never attacked here in this subdivision as it was too formidable. But what views from atop Brushy Mountain.



Georgia Natural Wonder #136 - Civil War trenches with an affordable view, and big Mall right downhill.



A short Natural Wonder post always calls for a big old History tangent.

Kennesaw (Big Shanty)

Kennesaw is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, located in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Known from its original settlement in the 1830s until 1887 as Big Shanty, it became Kennesaw under its 1887 charter. It had a population of 29,783 according to the 2010 census. Kennesaw has an important place in railroad history. During the Civil War, Kennesaw was the staging ground for the Great Locomotive Chase on April 12, 1862. The city is perhaps best known nationally today for its mandatory gun-possession ordinance.



Etymology

The name "Kennesaw" is derived from the Cherokee word gah-nee-sah, meaning cemetery or burial ground.



History

As the Western and Atlantic Railroad were being built in the late 1830s, shanties arose to house the workers. These were near a big spring. A grade up from the Etowah River became known as "the big grade to the shanties", then "Big Shanty Grade", and finally "Big Shanty".



Civil War

The Civil War first came to Kennesaw when Camp MacDonald, a training camp, was located there from 1861 to 1863.



The largest Civil War military training camp in Georgia, Camp McDonald, served as home for several thousand soldiers at various times during the first three years of the conflict. Located in Big Shanty (modern-day Kennesaw), the installation opened on June 11, 1861, when troops stationed at Camp Brown in nearby Smyrna relocated to the new 60-acre installation. Brigadier General William Phillips, founder of the Phillips Legion, named the camp in honor of his former law mentor and twenty-ninth governor of Georgia – Charles J. McDonald.



Georgia’s wartime governor, Joe Brown, spent a great deal of time at the camp, as he eagerly sought to answer Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s request for troops. The location of the camp, near an abundance of water, and adjacent to the Western & Atlantic Railroad, assisted in the training exercises and eventual transport of the initial groups of soldiers to Virginia. The citizen turned soldier, faced a 60-day training schedule, with military drill the order of each day. Eager volunteers spent four hours learning maneuver tactics, as cadets from nearby Georgia Military Institute in Marietta served as their instructors. The men observed the Sabbath with a rest from training, while preachers espoused the gospel and the tune of familiar hymns echoed across the parade ground.



Big Shanty residents witnessed a significant event in April 1862, when members of Andrews’s Raiders stole the locomotive General, setting-off a dramatic chase through the north Georgia countryside. One of the companies in-training at Camp McDonald at the time of the ‘Great Locomotive Chase’ later decided to name their unit after William Fuller, the engineer who pursued, and eventually reclaimed the General. Thus, the ‘Fuller Guards’ honored the heroic railroad man, as the soldiers believed, “It is a fitting testimonial of our appreciation of the vast importance of that service, and the untold amount of mischief to the Confederate States, which was thereby prevented.”



Many people traveled from near and far to watch the troops go through their daily training exercises, especially encouraged from reports in various newspapers across the state, like the one from the Southern Confederacy, as reported in their July 2, 1861 edition. “A few hours spent at the encampment is very well ‘put in,’ and we advise every citizen, who can spare the time, to lay over one train at Big Shanty and see the soldiers.” One young lady who visited the camp later described the Irish Volunteer soldiers she saw as “…beautifully uniformed in dark green with gold trimmings and large dark hats with drooping white plums…an exceedingly fine-looking body of men.” Among the more colorful names of the companies calling Camp McDonald home - Newton Rifles, Davis Invincibles, Cotton Guards, Gold Diggers, Governor’s Horse Guards, and the Cherokee Dragoons.


In addition, “The Big Spring of Water” a small creek-named to the National Register of Historic Places–where in the Confederate soldiers drilled for water.

Governor Brown, in a November 1861 message to the state legislature, eloquently described the men who trained at Camp McDonald as a “…noble, patriotic, chivalrous band of Georgians, and I hazard nothing in saying, military men being the judges, that no brigade in the Confederate service was composed of better material, or was better trained at that time for active service in the field.”


It is located in a small wooded park behind City Hall.

In 1980, Dr. Philip Secrist, a local educator and historian, submitted an application detailing the site’s historical significance, thereby earning Camp McDonald a designation with the National Register of Historic Places. The low laying area around the springs and streams made the area difficult to develop while Kennesaw’s downtown grew around this portion of the original camp. However, the property continued to dodge development attempts, until 2009, when Cobb County purchased 3.85 acres, with another 3.65 acres donated for green space and use as a passive park.



As we forge ahead in the twenty-first century, the City of Kennesaw, Cobb County, along with the Friends of Camp McDonald Park, remain committed to preserving the site and its history for the benefit of current citizens and future generations. We need your support, to continue our mission of protecting, preserving, and interpreting Camp McDonald, all the while remembering the brave young men who trained here, and later died on some distant field of battle.

Andrews Raid - The Great Locomotive Chase

The Andrews Raid of April 12, 1862, brought the first Union soldiers into north Georgia and led to an exciting locomotive chase, the only one of the Civil War (1861-65). The adventure lasted just seven hours, involved about two dozen men, and as a military operation, ended in failure. In early spring 1862 Northern forces advanced on Huntsville, Alabama, heading for Chattanooga, Tennessee.



Union general Ormsby Mitchel accepted the offer of a civilian spy, James J. Andrews, a contraband merchant and trader between the lines, to lead a raiding party behind Confederate lines to Atlanta, steal a locomotive, and race northward, destroying track, telegraph lines, and maybe bridges toward Chattanooga.


Andrews.

The raid thus aimed to knock out the Western and Atlantic Railroad, which supplied Confederate forces at Chattanooga, just as Mitchel's army advanced.


There is this big General monument in downtown Kennesaw.


The General is back at Big Shanty in the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History.

On April 7 Andrews chose twenty-two volunteers from three Ohio infantry regiments, plus one civilian. In plain clothes they slipped through the lines to Chattanooga and entrained to Marietta; two men were caught on the way. We talked about the men staying at the Kennesaw House with GNW #133 (Part 2).


Andrews still peeking out window of room in Marietta.

Two more overslept on the morning of April 12, when Andrews's party boarded the northbound train. They traveled eight miles to Big Shanty (present-day Kennesaw), chosen for the train jacking because it had no telegraph. And the stop would also be used to refuel and take on water for the steep grade further north. While crew and passengers ate breakfast, the raiders uncoupled most of the cars. At about 6 a.m. they steamed out of Big Shanty aboard the locomotive General, a tender, and three empty boxcars.


Then as seen in Harper's Weekly.


Today.

Pursuit began immediately, when three railroad men ran after the locomotive, eventually commandeering a hand car.



Two of them, Anthony Murphy and William Fuller, persisted in their chase for the next seven hours and more than eighty-seven miles. First suspecting the train thieves to be Confederate deserters, the pursuers acquired a locomotive at Etowah Station.


Marker downtown Kennesaw.

At Etowah, the raiders passed the older and smaller locomotive Yonah which was on a siding that led to the nearby Cooper Iron Works. Andrews considered stopping to attack and destroy that locomotive so it could not be used by pursuers, but given the size of its work party (even though unarmed) relative to the size of the raiding party, he judged that any firefight would be too long and too involved, and would alert nearby troops and civilians.


Fuller.

Fuller had spotted the locomotive Yonah at Etowah and commandeered it, chasing the raiders north all the way to Kingston. There, Fuller switched to the locomotive William R. Smith, which was on a sidetrack leading west to the town of Rome, Georgia. and continued north towards Adairsville. Two miles south of Adairsville, however, the pursuers were stopped by the broken track, forcing Fuller and his party to continue the pursuit on foot. Beyond the damaged section, he took command of the southbound locomotive Texas south of Calhoun, where Andrews had passed it, running it backwards. The Texas train crew had been bluffed by Andrews at Calhoun into taking the station siding, thereby allowing the General to continue northward along the single-track main line. Fuller, when he met the Texas, took command of her, picked up eleven Confederate troops at Calhoun, and continued his pursuit, tender-first, northward.


Texas today at Cyclorama.

Aware they were being chased,Andrews's men cut the telegraph lines and pried up rails.



Murphy and Fuller switched locomotives—they used three that day—picked up more men, and kept up the chase. The raiders now never got far ahead of Fuller and never had enough time to stop and take up a rail to halt the Texas. Destroying the railway behind the hijacked train was a slow process. The raiders were too few in number and were too poorly equipped with the proper railway track tools and demolition equipment, and the rain that day made it difficult to burn the bridges.


Texas right behind them.

The train thieves tried to burn the bridge at the Oostanaula River near Resaca, but the pursuers were too close behind, so close that at Tilton the General could take on only a little water and wood. At about 1 p.m. it ran out of steam two miles north of Ringgold, with the Southerners, aboard the Texas, fast upon them.


Monument where General captured in Ringgold.


Andrews' men abandoned the General and scattered.

The Confederates rounded up all the raiders. Confederate forces charged all the raiders with "acts of unlawful belligerency"; the civilians were charged as unlawful combatants and spies. All the prisoners were tried in military courts, or courts-martial. Tried in Chattanooga, Andrews was found guilty. He was executed by hanging on June 7 in Atlanta.


Juniper Street just north of Ponce De Leon.

On June 18, seven others who had been transported to Knoxville and convicted as spies were returned to Atlanta and also hanged; their bodies were buried unceremoniously in an unmarked grave in Oakland Cemetery.



They were later reburied in Chattanooga National Cemetery.



The remaining captured raiders worried about also being executed. They attempted to escape and eight succeeded. Traveling for hundreds of miles in pairs, they all made it back safely to Union lines, including two who were aided by slaves and Union sympathizers and two who floated down the Chattahoochee River until they were rescued by the Union blockade vessel USS Somerset in the Gulf of Mexico. The remaining six were held as prisoners of war and exchanged for Confederate prisoners on March 17, 1863. Though it created a sensation at the time, the Andrews Raid had no military effect.


Jacob Parrott.

General Mitchel's forces captured Huntsville on April 11 but did not move on to Chattanooga. The cut telegraph lines and pried rails were quickly repaired. Nevertheless, the train thieves were hailed in the North as heroes. The first Medal of Honor was awarded by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to some of the Andrews Raiders. Private Jacob Parrott, who had been physically abused as a prisoner, was awarded the first. Later, all but two of the other soldiers who had participated in the raid also received the medal, with posthumous awards to families for those who had been executed. As civilians, Andrews and Campbell were not eligible.



In the postwar years several raiders, notably William Pittenger, published thrilling recollections of their adventures. In Atlanta, William Fuller testily challenged Anthony Murphy over who was in charge of the train pursuit.


Murphy.

The escapade made its way into film with Buster Keaton's silent comedy The General (1927) and Walt Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956).



That a failed historical footnote should kindle such drama fairly attests to the Civil War's emotional spark.



When Sherman's troops arrived in June of 1864, Big Shanty was the site of major fighting. Big Shanty fell to Sherman's troops on June 7, 1864, after which it served as a supply base, hospital and headquarters for the Union forces.



Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, located southeast of the city limits, now contains many of these historic areas, though much of the surrounding land has been developed, and some buried artifacts have been taken by people with metal detectors.



A visit to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History is $10 and is well worth the time.



The Southern Museum opened in 1972 as the Big Shanty Museum in Kennesaw, Georgia. It showcased the famous General locomotive and was dedicated to telling the story of the Great Locomotive Chase.



it was the singular event that elevated the engine and Big Shanty (today the City of Kennesaw) to prominence during the Civil War.



The actual General Locomotive.



While the General remained the main attraction, the Museum began to collect and interpret other artifacts from the Civil War, eventually changing its name to the Kennesaw Civil War Museum.



In the mid-1990s, the Museum curated an impressive locomotive-building collection from the Glover Machine Works of Marietta, Georgia.



It formed the foundation of what the Museum has become today. We did a tangent on Glover Machine Works with GNW #133 (Part 4)



Beginning in 2001, a two-year renovation and enlargement of the facility culminated into a nearly 50,000 square foot facility housing three permanent exhibits:

Railroads: Lifelines of the Civil War



Glover Machine Works: Casting a New South



The Great Locomotive Chase featuring the General locomotive.



The Museum expanded again in 2007 with the opening of the Jolley Education Center. The newest addition to the Southern Museum came in 2016 with the opening of a new Railroad Education Center Library & Archives. This 8,200 square foot structure houses the Museum’s large and ever-growing collection of archival material: documents that trace the growth and operations of some of the South’s largest railroads.



Right in downtown is the wonderful Wildman's Civil War Surplus. Dent "Wildman" Myers has maintained his awesome shop for over 46 years,



The BEST Little War House in Kennesaw!



Books, Relics & Memorabilia on the War Between the States with a smattering of WWI, WWII, Korean, and much more! I have been visiting the store off and on since 1984. A lot of interesting history and the stories are amazing. You should go at least once in your lifetime. You'll never forget it!



I loved his story about how General Longstreet's widow, Helen Dortch Longstreet, was at a social gathering back in 1958. She married the general  when she was just 34 and he was 76. During World War II, she was a Rosie the Riveter at the Bell Aircraft plant in Marietta. Anyway Dent always bragged about how he got to dance with Longstreet's widow. "She was a Big Ole lady."



Other customers on Trip Adviser were offended. "This place is scary and although there is a market for stuff on white supremacy literature I felt like I needed a shower when I left."


Scary Dent over 80. Come see him while you can. Also see over 80 Melvin Dishong to tour nearby Pine Mountain while able GNW #135

Later History

L.C. Chalker purchased a 1.25-acre tract of land adjacent to the Kennesaw Cemetery from J.W. Ellis in 1934, which was sold for burial purposes. Chalker purchased another 1 acre adjacent to the first parcel in 1948, which was also to be used for a cemetery. The Chalker family managed these portions of the cemetery until they were sold to the City of Kennesaw in the mid 1950s. The earliest known burial is the infant Lucius B. Summers, who was interred in 1863. Other grave markers date as far back as the 1860s to the 1890s. Civil War veterans are buried here. The cemetery is still in use.


The City Cemetery’s 8 acres of well-maintained grounds, including a bordering fern and butterfly garden, provide a beautiful and peaceful setting for visitors to remember loved ones.

Rich in Civil War era history and Southern tradition, Downtown Kennesaw is situated in bustling north central Cobb County, Georgia-about 35 minutes Northwest of Atlanta. Offering old town charm and southern hospitality, downtown Kennesaw is revitalizing and sustaining its position as a quaint portal to Cobb County’s cultural, historic and natural resources.



In March 2004, First Lady Laura Bush designated Kennesaw a Preserve America Community.



With its brick walkways, antique and specialty shops, restaurants, and small town allure, visitors will immediately sense downtown Kennesaw’s authenticity, uniqueness, and commitment to community pride and historical heritage.



Moreover, downtown Kennesaw’s walking-friendly size, new streetscapes, and added parking offer visitors and residents easy access to additional nearby attractions and city amenities, like Swift-Cantrell Park and Adams Park.


A better way to cross the tracks in downtown Kennesaw.

The Kennesaw Welcome Center is known as The Depot because the 1908 building is a restored Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway Station.


Depot in 1917.

Located in the heart of downtown Kennesaw, The Depot is a part of a walking tour that includes several antebellum structures tucked around new cluster home communities and revitalized turn-of-the-century office structures.



Visitors and residents to The Depot can view a series of historical storyboard exhibits, and a collection of artifacts and photographs, focusing on the history of Kennesaw and the Civil War-including stoneware, bullets, arrow heads, and Confederate and Union officer uniform buttons.



Fun little walk around Kennesaw.



Tourism

Several festivals are held annually. Every April the annual Big Shanty Festival displays over 200 arts and crafts booths along with 20 food booths downtown. Over 60,000 people from around North Georgia attend the festival.



A parade starts the festival.



Gun law

Kennesaw is noted for its unique firearms legislation in response to Morton Grove, Illinois' law mandating gun prohibition. In 1982 the city passed an ordinance:

    (a) In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore. (b) Exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who suffer a physical or mental disability which would prohibit them from using such a firearm. Further exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who are paupers or who conscientiously oppose maintaining firearms as a result of beliefs or religious doctrine, or persons convicted of a felony.



Local attractions

We've already featured these first two above and in earlier post.

Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History



Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park consists of around 18 miles of nature trails and historic Civil War battle sites.



The Kennesaw State University Museum of History and Holocaust Education

The Kennesaw State University Museum of History and Holocaust Education invites you to explore the lives and experiences of World War II and the Holocaust through interactive galleries, personal stories, and a theater playing movies focused on this compelling era. Admission, parking, and all programs are free and open to the public. Permanent exhibitions include "Parallel Journeys: World War II and the Holocaust through the Eyes of Teens," focusing on the various experiences of 40 young adults and teenagers during the war; "V for Victory: Georgia Remembers World War II," a panel exploration curated by the Atlanta History Center exploring the homefront and overseas experiences of Allied soldiers; and "The Butterfly Project," a creative memorial to the 1.5 million Jewish children killed during the Holocaust. The changing exhibits include "Local Heroes: Honoring the Greatest Generation," which features stories and artifacts from local World War II veterans. Seasonal programs include summer institutes, swing dance events, family days, and film/lecture series.


For more information, call 678.797.2083 or visit www.kennesaw.edu/historymuseum.

The Kennesaw State University Bentley Rare Book Room and Archives

It is one of only three certified, museum-grade rare book libraries in Georgia, the others located at the University of Georgia in Athens and Emory University in Atlanta. Named after Mr. Fred D. Bentley, Sr, one of its principal benefactors, and his wife Sarah Bentley, the library contains a diverse collection of works documenting the history of the written and printed word in English. The gallery is designed to resemble a "domestic library in a middle-class household during the reign of King George III. Other cited sources for the design were Agatha Christie's description of her ideal home in her autobiography,  The room’s woodwork was entirely hand crafted to evoke an authentic atmosphere. Behind these beautiful surroundings, modern technology and systems were utilized to make the space secure and environmentally controlled. The Gallery was completed with period pieces that highlight the rich cultural and social history of objects and complement their setting.



Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw State University (KSU), is the third largest university in the state, with a fall 2015 enrollment of roughly 32,000. In January 2015 Kennesaw merged with Southern Polytechnic State University, bringing together the schools’ campuses and students under KSU’s name.


That damn peace sign again.

In 1962 Carl Sanders won the governorship with a pledge to place a college within commuting distance of practically every Georgian. Between 1961 and 1968 the Board of Regents chartered nine new junior colleges, three of them (in Albany, Dalton, and Kennesaw) established in 1963 alone. In part to appease disappointed Bartow residents, the Board of Regents built the campus in north Cobb. In 1976 the State turned the school into a four-year college. In 1988 the school’s name was changed to Kennesaw State College.


Sweet Lou Hudson pours champagne on Governor Sanders (former UGA football player) in 1970, won the East.

In March 2014 KSU opened the privately funded Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art, which displays works from the university's permanent art collection and galleries program.



Bernard A. Zuckerman, an industry leader and supporter of the arts in Atlanta, began the initiative to build an art museum at the University with a pledge of $2 million in 2010.



KSU plays FCS football in the Big South Conference. The Fifth Third Bank Stadium has a seating capacity of 8,318.


Atlanta United sold out some games here.

It has a stage at one end to facilitate concerts, and can hold up to 16,316 for that purpose.



Sports

In 2016, the Atlanta Blaze of Major League Lacrosse played their first year of play as an expansion franchise with home games at Fifth Third Bank Stadium on the campus of Kennesaw State University.


The team relocated in 2019.

Notable people

Caroline Cossey, English model, James Bond Girl / Guy.



Jesse James Dupree, lead singer of rock band Jackyl.



Yan Kaminsky, NHL left winger.



Ron Lester, actor of Varsity Blues fame.



Justin Fields, college football quarterback.



Payne Lindsey, documentary filmmaker and podcast host of Up and Vanished and Atlanta Monster.



Sean O'Pry, model.



Dansby Swanson, infielder for the Atlanta Braves.



Lucas Till, actor.


New MacGyver.

Brian Voss, professional ten-pin bowler on the PBA Tour.



OK OK that about does it for Brushy Mountain with a fat tangent on Kennesaw. My GNW Gals for today may not be Brushy but they are obeying the Law in Kennesaw.