Georgia Natural Wonder #144 - Vickery Creek – Roswell Mill (Part 1). 2,791

[Top Row Dawg]

Georgia Natural Wonder #144 - Vickery Creek – Roswell Mill (Part 1)

Vickery Creek or Big Creek is a 26.5-mile-long stream in Forsyth and Fulton counties in Georgia. The creek mouth into the Chattahoochee River is located at the southern border of Roswell where State Route 9 crosses the river. Its source is located just north of the intersection of Georgia State Route 9 and Georgia State Route 20, in Forsyth County, about 1 mile directly south of downtown Cumming. 



Vickery Creek is named after a Cherokee woman named Sharlot Vickery who lived in present-day Roswell and owned much of the land around the creek. The creek was originally called Cedar Creek; however, the name was changed to Vickery some time after the arrival of Roswell King and family in 1834. 


The creek also became known as Big Creek at some point after the American Civil War. 

Much of the land east of the creek and west of Grimes Bridge Road in Roswell forms the Vickery Creek unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Upstream of the covered bridge and Ivy Mill is a man-made waterfall. Big Creek Greenway is an under construction multi-use trail with two completed sections along Big Creek (formerly known as Vickery Creek).


The creek has a history of flooding along the local bike path: the Greenway along Big Creek in Alpharetta near Mansell Road. 


Hog Wallow Creek is a major tributary that enters in Roswell, just north of the Chattahoochee River. 

American Whitewater

From Grimes Bridge Big Creek is impounded for nearly half a mile by a low-head dam that requires a mandatory portage.



The only hazard to note is in the pool just below the dam, the rocks on river left are undercut and the current is strong.



From the dam Big Creek enters the Vickery Creek Gorge with bluffs towering over the creek on both sides. To the right are the remains of the old Roswell Manufacturing Company, with the larger Roswell Mill (a textile warehouse further up the bluff). From the base of the dam the creek begins a quick descent, with a third of a mile of continuous Class 2 whitewater. Throughout this section are numerous eddies and surfing waves.



Punctuating the ledges are three drops of note; the two highest are at the end of this section.



One below the newly constructed Covered Bridge.



The third immediately below the last sewer line crossing. Here is one of the best surfing waves on the river just underneath the sewer pipe.



The river turns sharply to the left for its descent to the Chattahoochee. For little more than a third of a mile this section of Class 1-2 whitewater works through a gorge-like setting, with cliffs first on river right, just below the Allenbrook House and then with cliffs to on river left. Soon the descent ends and the river slows for another third of a mile. The recommended take-out is at the Vickery Creek Unit of the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area, on river right above passing underneath Riverside Drive (mile 2.6).



If you decide to continue downstream to the Chattahoochee, there is another low sewer line that requires portage, just below the bridge.

Hiking Vickery Creek

Hike the Vickery Creek trail network at Roswell Mill to two historic mills, a covered bridge, and a spillway waterfall in Atlanta’s Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. 



A covered bridge. Civil war mill ruins. A towering waterfall that pours from a historic spillway dam. There’s just a lot to love about the Vickery Creek Trail at Roswell Mill: it’s scenic, shady, and makes a great in-town hike or moderate trail run.



This five-mile adventure explores the historic Roswell Mill and the surrounding rolling forest in Roswell, Georgia. It’s one of the best hikes in the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area parks near Atlanta, though its trails don’t follow the actual banks of the Chattahoochee River. Instead, this hike explores the historic remains of Roswell Mill and visits the mill’s spillway dam waterfall on a Chattahoochee River tributary. The 5+ mile trail network hikes through beautiful, rolling forest and catches views of the rushing dam waterfall from a steep rock bluff.



It’s one of our favorite trails in metro Atlanta: its rolling trails make for a great trail run, Roswell Mill’s historic mill ruins are a must-see for Southern history buffs, and the park’s wooden covered bridge and spillway waterfall are fully photo-worthy.



Vickery Creek Trail at Roswell Mill: the hike

The trail departs a trailhead on Riverside Road in Roswell, hiking upstream along Vickery Creek and hanging a right at the first trail intersection. The trail switches back, passing through a series well-marked intersections and following the outer loop trail at each intersection.



The trail rolls elevation through a young, ferny forest, crossing several small creeks. The trail crosses through a number of intersections, marked by maps and numbered waypoints. For simplicity, follow the outer loop at every intersection, hiking the waypoints to the waterfall and mill: 



The hike crosses a wooden bridge at 2.5 miles. The sound of falling water echoes through the forest as the trail rises high above the creek. At waypoint 16, the hike hangs a right to visit the southern bank of the Roswell Mill waterfall from a tall, rocky bluff. This spillway dam was a valuable asset to the South during the Civil War, powering Roswell Mill on the opposite creek bank.



Departing the waterfall, the hike treks to waypoint 11, reaching the covered bridge at 3 miles. The view from the bridge upstream is beautiful, as Vickery Creek cascades over a rocky creek bed.



Reaching the end of the covered bridge, the hike hangs a right, following the trail eastbound and passing a historic brick machine shop. The trail reaches the ruins of the old Roswell Mill, looping around the mill, the old rusted mill chase, and catching an up-close view of the dam waterfall and spillway waterfall from the creek’s northern bank.


TRD images from years ago.

Vickery Creek flows over a rocky, grassy creek bed downstream from the waterfall. The creek’s north bank is a perfect place to relax, soak up the beauty of the falls, and watch for wildlife, including heron and geese.



Departing the mill ruins and waterfall, the hike backtracks to the covered bridge and crosses the creek. On the opposite bank, the hike follows the trail back to the trailhead, hanging a left at waypoint 11, hanging a right at waypoint 18, and turning right at waypoint 4. The hike reaches the trailhead at 4.7 miles, completing the adventure.

Roswell Mills

Roswell Mill refers to a cluster of mills located in Fulton County near Vickery Creek in Roswell, GA. The mills were best known for producing finished textiles from raw materials grown on nearby plantations, and the group was "the largest cotton mill in north Georgia" at its height. 



The mill grew steadily, at one point producing wool and flour, in addition to cotton textiles. This diversification progressed through several phases of ownership well into the 20th century, and the mill continued producing textiles until its eventual shutdown of operations in 1975.

Establishment


The old mill on Vickery Creek.



Founders

The first mill was founded by Roswell King, a wealthy Connecticut businessman who had previously settled in Darien, Georgia, a small town on the state's Atlantic coast (GNW #28 (Part 1). He spent time as a construction manager, local militia officer (his father, Timothy King was a Revolutionary War veteran), and as a Representative in the Georgia State Legislature. He had also worked as the supervisor of Major Pierce Butler's two large plantations, in which office King was noted for his meticulous attention to detail in the day-to-day operations of the plantations. It was this strict record keeping that made King especially suited for factory management.


Roswell King and Barrington King.

Construction of the original mill started in 1836. Roswell King owned slaves, many of whom helped to build his home and the original mill; however, the number of slaves his family owned decreased once the mill was operating. Barrington King and Ralph King, two of Roswell’s sons, moved to the area to help run the fledgling business. Five families from the Atlantic city of Darien would later move to Roswell, which was incorporated into Fulton County in 1854, eighteen years after the mill’s first opening. An outbreak of the mumps and measles in 1847-8 left "over half the workers stricken and three slaves dead," likely due to the fact that the workers were living in close quarters and dark, cramped conditions.


Slave Graves in Founders Cemetery where Roswell King is buried.

Structure of building

Hydropower from Vickery Creek powered the mill, and nearby plantations supplied the raw cotton for processing. The first building was four stories high, eighty-eight feet long and forty-eight feet wide, though it was later expanded to 140 by fifty-three feet. The Roswell Mill was incorporated in 1839 by the Georgia General Assembly.



The King family built two buildings, known as The Bricks, in which mill employees lived.



The first apartments in American as claimed by the historical marker. We will cover this better in post 2 about antebellum Roswell.



A second mill was added in 1853, and in the Antebellum period the mill complex expanded to include six different structures. 



Civil War Era

The Roswell Mills are best known for their role in producing supplies for the Confederacy during the Civil War. They made "Roswell Gray" fabric to be sewed into Confederate military uniforms. Because it was of great importance to the South’s military supply chain, General Gerrard, a Union official working under the purview of General Sherman, seized the mill on July 5, 1864. Confederate forces burned down the bridge that spanned Vickery Creek before he could get to it. 


Rebuilt bridge today.

Two days after the taking of the mill, General William T. Sherman remarked, "I have ordered General Gerrard to arrest for treason all owners and employees, foreign and native, and send them under guard to Marietta, whence I will send them North...The women can find employment in Indiana." The reference to the foreigners were made because the mill owners, apparently in a ploy to safeguard the mills, planted a French flag on the mills and put a French mill hand in charge. 



Deportation of workers

The taking of the mill was not just a capture of infrastructure. The Union troops took about 400 mill workers, most of them women and children, to Marietta to be sent North on trains. The lack of adult male workers in the mill was a result of their fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War at the time the mill was captured. 



All of the mill workers were charged with treason. They spent a week in holding at the Georgia Military Institute before being sent North, many to Indiana, on trains. During the week while the women were held in Marietta, several Union soldiers allegedly committed acts of assault against their captives. They were then left to fend for themselves in Indiana, in towns already overcrowded with refugees. Many would die from starvation or exposure until a mill opened in 1865 that provided employment. The ultimate fates of many of these women are unknown, but the majority who survived settled in the North. Only a handful ever returned to Georgia.  We will cover this better in Post 2 - Civil War Roswell.


Lost Worker's Monument.

A sculpture of a crumbling column stands near the mill as a memorial to those who were deported, and its inscription reads as follows: 

The monument was made public in 2000, following a rise in interest in the tragedies that surrounded the deportation, which had been largely forgotten in the aftermath of the Civil War.

All around that monument are mill houses reconditioned today.



My coworker Pam photographing Lost Worker Monument in front of sample mill house.



Postbellum developments

After the war, Barrington King rebuilt the mills and resumed production. This is primarily what remains today.



Roswell Mill No. 2 was built in 1882, this structure is an adaptive reuse from former textile mill to current use as office space.



Lassiter Lacrosse had their team Awards Banquet here.



After the war one of the cotton mills and the woolen factory were rebuilt.



During the Reconstruction period and the beginning of the 20th century, the Roswell Manufacturing Company underwent several important changes. In 1897, the mills began using steam power, which improved productivity but kept the mill dependent on Vickery Creek. Easley Cotton Mills, a South Carolina company, bought the mill complex for $800,000 in 1920. At that time, the mill had 120 looms and 12,000 spindles. This infrastructure is a testament to the mill's large production capacity and value to the city of Roswell. 



The fact that the mill changed ownership frequently suggests its declining value in the increasingly competitive 20th-century market. In 1926, the mill was set on fire by a lightning strike, which caused about $400,000 in damage. The company was purchased by Southern Mills in 1947. 



In 1975, the mill halted operations as a result of outsourcing cotton production overseas. The mill's recent past is far less recorded in history than its pre-1950 history. There is no readily available record of the impact of the mill's closure on the surrounding area. It seems that the mill lost much of its money-making power when the age of King Cotton had passed. 

Current status

The historic Roswell Mills are now under the jurisdiction of the U.S. National Park Service. The mills are considered part of the Chattahoochee River Recreation Area, a popular local tourist attraction due to its nature trails, running paths, and rich history.


You hike down to the creek and dam via stairs. Looking back up to remains of mill and spillway.

Remnants of various buildings are still visible, and the covered bridge spanning Vickery Creek has been rebuilt. A private contractor was scheduled to clear away the effects of the elements from the mill site in the summer of 2008. The appearance of the mills suggest that the focus has been on conservation, not preservation.


Technically, this is all that is left from Civil War era mill.

Well mostly Internet images because City of Roswell has parks closed down. I am going to separate the antebellum tour and Civil War tour to our next history tangent post. For today, our GNW Gals are all at the Roswell Mill Dam.