Georgia Natural Wonder #150 - More Caves Of Fox Mountain Preserve - Dade Co. 1,986

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Georgia Natural Wonder #150 - More Caves Of Fox Mountain Preserve - Dade County

We are six post in on the top ten caves of Georgia. We covered three caves on Pigeon Mountain. Then we went back to explore several others. We covered a few of the many caves on Lookout Mountain. Then we covered the two big caves in Cloudland Canyon. Our last post we went west across the Lookout Valley to Fox Mountain.


My goodness - Carlsbad Caverns right here in Georgia, this is Byers Cave.

The Fox Mountain preserve is one of SCCi’s richest cave and karst preserves. This preserve spans 448.6 acres of property. The area has a long history with cavers, and contains several of the finest caves in TAG. In our last post, we explored Cemetery Pit which has long been a favorite of vertical cavers, due to its 153′ entrance pit, large rooms, and almost 3 miles of passages. We dropped in on Rusty’s Cave which is one of the deepest caves in the state, in spite of the fact that its 45′ entrance pit is the only rope-work required in the cave.  Howard's Waterfall Cave is also a local favorite, with over a mile of passage. You saw those fabulous images and heard the sad story of tragedy back in 1966. Closed for decades, Byers Cave was added to the preserve in 2006 and that is the cave we enter today. Several smaller caves are also known on the property such as Hurricane Cave, and new caves will undoubtedly be discovered in the more remote northern section of the preserve. Today's post is to wrap up the Fox Mountain Preserve and conduct a tangent on Dade County.



Weird things and prehistoric fossils.



Let me again post these super important links about spelunking in Georgia as I want these Forum Post to stand alone, so as a continued disclaimer list .....

Safety Rules of Caving
Nine listed Grotto's in Georgia (Scroll Down)
The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc.
White Nose Fungus
National Speleological Society.

Again, there is very little Internet information on Georgia caves because cavers like to keep the locations secret, in order to preserve and protect the caves and the life they contain.The sport remains tight-lipped about cave entrances and maps. Still pretty exciting what I did find.

Byers Cave

The Byers Cave system in Dade County has passages totaling five and a half miles.



Byers Cave is supposed to be a great cave for adventurous cavers.



Its long horizontal passages (up to 5 miles) are challenging enough, even for experienced cavers.



If you find yourself in the area, or plan on going there, you should definitely visit this system.



This popular cave has passages in the TAG region (the region where TN, AL, and GA meet).



Byers Cave is considered one of the world's most exciting caves to explore.



The formations are well developed and make it a thrilling cave to explore.



It’s located in the Fox Mountain Preserve in Dade County and is owned by SCCI. Lot of repetition this paste and cut only snippets I can find on Cave.


Formation Room, Byers Cave

It is more of a horizontal cave than a vertical one, but it’s still very challenging for adventurers.



You do have some vertical challenges at the entrance.


Chicken Pit Byers Cave.

This cave used to be closed off to the public, but was added to the Fox Mountain Preserve in 2006.



You have this weather worn anchor at the entrance.



Outside By Nature posted this about a trip in 2017

On February 4, 2017, I went to Byers Cave in Georgia with the Huntsville Grotto. 


Formation Room, Byers Cave

The hike to the cave is a fairly steep climb up the ridge, but it’s not too bad.  (This must have been before the tornado damage)



The temperature at the entrance was very warm, which was nice for an early February day. 


This was a very fun cave. 



It had some cool canyons and lots of interesting passages with different levels.



We spent all day in the cave and only explored a small portion. 



As always, this cave just made me want to come back and explore more of it.

Florida Caving 2006

Byers is a TAG classic and it’s been called a “cavers cave.” It has a little bit of everything – big booming horizontal, vertical, formations, waterfalls, streams, and very tricky and dangerous climbs. This was our Georgia cave.



Byer's is quite challenging and is one of the most advanced horizontal caves in the region.

Atlanta Hiking Club

Be prepared for this one. There is a lot of chimneys, heights, climb downs, traverses, and general climbing in this cave.


Let there be light, good photo just needs more light.

Also, there is a 2 mile hike to the cave. 



This difficulty could be elevated by the storm damage earlier this year. 



It might take more than two miles of hiking to navigate through the storm damage. 

Hurricane Cave

Before we leave Fox Mountain, we also want to mention Hurricane Cave.


Hurricane Cave breakdown Room.

It is also a local favorite, with over a mile of passage.


Only information or images I can find of Hurricane Cave.

Dade County will soon be home to the largest cave preserve in Georgia. The Southeastern Cave Conservancy plans to preserve 13 hundred acres in Rising Fawn. It’s the site of a failed real estate development that landed two men in jail for money laundering. The land includes 34 caverns including Johnson’s Crook Cave, Lost Canyon Cave and Gypsy Cave. It will be called the Charles B. Henson Cave Preserve.



The property was at one time slated to be a development touted as the next Pigeon Forge.


Johnson's Crook.

Cave Protection Act of 1977

Caves and their wildlife enjoy some legal protection in Georgia, although implementation is largely at the discretion of landowners. The Cave Protection Act of 1977 makes breakage, burning, defacement, or destruction of a cave surface, artifact, or speleothem (cave formations, such as stalactites) without consent of the cave owner a misdemeanor in Georgia. The sale or export of a speleothem without consent of the cave owner is likewise a misdemeanor.


SCCI Save Your caves.

Littering / Damage to Caves & Wildlife

Storing or dumping hazardous chemicals, garbage, or animal remains in a cave is a misdemeanor, as is killing, disturbing, or removing wildlife from a cave. Because landowners determine the fate of caves under this law, caves can be stripped or even completely destroyed by quarrying at the discretion of the owner of the land or the owner of the mineral rights to that land.


SCCI Save Your caves.


Caves baby.



SCCI - Georgia and Alabama together in cooperation and preservation.



Tangent Dade County

We have been to Natural Wonders in Dade County six times now but I'm not sure when we will be back, so let's do a history tangent on .....

Dade County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia. It occupies the northwest corner of Georgia, and the county's own northwest corner is the westernmost point in the state.



As of the 2010 census, the population is 16,633. The county seat and only incorporated municipality is Trenton. Dade County is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1860, residents of Dade County voted to secede from the state of Georgia and from the United States, but no government outside the county ever recognized this gesture as legal. In 1945, the county symbolically "rejoined" Georgia and the United States.

History

Dade County is the state's ninety-first county. The 174-square-mile county was created from western Walker County by the state legislature in 1837 and was named for Major Francis Langhorne Dade, a Brevet Major in the U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, during the Second Seminole War. Dade was killed in a battle with Seminole Indians that came to be known as the "Dade Massacre" in December 1835.



Two U.S. Army companies under the command of Major Francis L. Dade, consisting in total of 110 soldiers, were ambushed by Seminole warriors during a march. Only three U.S. soldiers survived, and one died of his wounds the following day.



Major Dade, who was on horseback, was killed in the Seminoles' very first shot fired personally by Chief Micanopy, which by pre-arranged plan began the attack. Chief Micanopy was with Osceola in the battle.


Micanopy and Osceola.

Following Dade's death, command passed to Captain George W. Gardiner. Many of the soldiers, in two single file lines, were also quickly killed. Only a few managed to get their flintlock muskets from underneath their heavy winter coats.



The impact of the Florida hostilities dominated the national news until later events that year at the Alamo.



General Edmund P. Gaines and 1100 men reached the Dade Massacre battlefield two months later on February 20, 1836 - the first U.S. soldiers to do so. There they performed the duty of identifying the bodies for burial, they were still laying where they died.



The dead soldiers were first buried at the site by General Gaines. After the cessation of hostilities in 1842, the remains were disinterred and buried in St. Augustine National Cemetery. The remains rest under 3 coquina stone pyramids along with the remains of over 1,300 other U.S. soldiers who died in the Second Seminole War.



Miami-Dade County, Florida (Dade County, until 1997); Dade County, Georgia; Dade County, Missouri; Dadeville, Alabama; and Dade City, Florida are all named after Major Dade.



The first Europeans to enter Lookout Valley were probably the Spaniards in the mid-1540s led by the Spanish Conquistador, Hornando De Soto. The next group of Europeans would be in 1783, with the Continental Army led by Tennessee ’s Future first Governor Colonel John Sevier who entered Lookout Valley during the American Revolution. Colonel John Sevier attacked a Native American Village in Lookout Valley in a skirmish with the Cherokees.


Sevier also led a big battle against Indians in Downtown Rome Georgia, GNW#54

The first settlers of Dade County won the land in the Georgia Land Lotteries, held to encourage settlement after the Cherokee people were forced off the land. Cherokee Indians, who made up the area's original population, were forcibly removed from their land in 1838, soon after the formation of the county. Chief Wauhatchie, their leader, had given the U.S. government permission to determine the northern boundary of Georgia in 1817. Twenty-one years later, despite his cooperation, he and his people were forcibly removed in the infamous Trail of Tears.


Marker's in Georgia and Tennessee.

Many early settlers are detailed in this history link on Lookout Valley.


Cherokee War Chief Oconostota did not approve of Wauhatchie going on the War Path.

John Brown was a man, who has become a legend in Lookout Valley . There is not much known about the early life of this half Caucasian and half Cherokee. What is known is that he is listed as one of the first settlers of the city of Chattanooga. He established a tavern off the Tennessee River and later the tavern was moved to the Old-Post Road present day Brown’s Ferry Road that was built in 1803, by Caspar Vaught. The tavern was built on a knoll along an ancient trading path where cattle an other supplies were brought up to the hinterland from the coast of Augusta, Savannah, and Charleston The tavern was called either the Brown’s House or Brown’s Tavern. According to legend John Brown robbed and killed many of the people who stayed in the tavern and their bodies were dumped in the Tennessee River or buried around the tavern.



According to legend Chief John Ross and his wife Quatie who was a relative of John Brown spent their honeymoon at the Tavern. Brown’s Tavern was an important place because many Cherokee were placed here and it was a location where many Cherokees last place they stayed before the march began.


Racoon Mountain Mine.

Most early settlers worked in regional coke and coal mines that contributed to development of the Chattanooga, Tennessee area. They were set up by northeastern developers before the Civil War. One of these was Vulcan Works.


Vulcan Quarry Norcross, Indian Trail Road.

Dade County had a short-lived state secessionist movement before the American Civil War. In 1860, county residents wanted to secede from the Union, but lawmakers for the state of Georgia were cautious. Legend has it that in 1860, the people of Dade County were so impatient that they announced their own secession from both Georgia and the United States. On July 4, 1945, a telegram from President Harry S. Truman was read at a celebration marking the county's "rejoining" the Union. Historians say Dade's individual secession and readmission were symbolic and had no legal effect. They say that officially, Dade County seceded along with the state of Georgia in 1861 and re-entered the Union with the state in 1870.



During the Civil War more than 40,000 soldiers traveled through the area on their way to Chickamauga, building themselves a road to carry their equipment and munitions. Dade sent its own Raccoon Roughs to fight for the South, and the Battle of Chattanooga resulted in some minor skirmishes in the county. General John B. Gordon led the Racoon Roughs.



The Davy Crockett's of the South.




Alabama Racoon Rough hat.

The American Civil War came to Lookout Valley for the first time in 1862 with a minor skirmish on Patten Chapel Road or Smith Hill as it was called in those days. However, the major battle that was fought in Lookout Valley was in the fall of 1863.



The Battle of Chickamauga took place in Catoosa and Walker counties. We will cover that in a later GNW. The major battle that took place in Lookout Valley was after the Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga; many Union Regiments went into the surrounding areas of Chattanooga and engaged many Confederate Regiments. These skirmishes also occurred in the areas around the Lookout Valley Community. They include the areas of the Wauhatchie Railroad Tunnel, Wauhatchie Station, and Browns Ferry.



On the 26th of October 1863 , Union General Ulysses S. Grant who later became the Eighteenth President of the United States telegraphed Lincoln about occupying the city of Chattanooga , “We will hold it till we starve.” That day in October Grant opened the famous “Cracker Line Operation” across the Tennessee River into Lookout Valley . Meanwhile, Union General Joseph Hooker with three of his divisions marched up from Bridgeport Alabama through Lookout Valley onto present day Brown’s Ferry Road .


Hooker's men fought their way up Lookout Mountain few day's later.

At 3:00 A.M. on October 27th a Union Division crossed the Tennessee River on pontoons around Moccasin Bend in the direction towards the Old Post Road (Brown’s Ferry). Union General John White Geary’s Division at the Wauhatchie Station halted on the railroad tracks to protect the line of communications from the South as well as Kelley’s Ferry Road.


Geary and his son. His son died at this battle. Geary had a big day at the battle of Peachtree Creek.

Observing the Union movements on the days of the 27th and 28th Confederate General James Longstreet and Braxton Bragg they to tried their luck by having a surprise night attack on Wauhatchie Station. Although the attack was scheduled for a 10:00 P.M. start on the night of the 28th chaos and confusion delayed the attack for another two hours. At midnight , stunned by the attack, Geary’s Division took a stand at the Wauhatchie Station and formed a V-Shape Battle Line.


Wauhatchie was one of the few night battles of the Civil War.

Hearing the reverberation gunfire and cannons of General Hooker who was at Brown’s Ferry, sent Union Major Otis Howard and two of his divisions to Wauhatchie Station as reinforcements. The Battle of Wauhatchie only lasted two days but many young men lost their lives in and around Lookout Valley . The battle ended with neither a success nor loss for the Confederates or the Union . Confederate Losses were 34 killed, 305 wounded, and 69 missing. The Union losses were 78 killed, 327 wounded, and 15 missing.Lot of Yankee monuments up here.



A few side notes to the Battles for Wauhatchie: some of the Union Regiments who fought in the battle were veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1-3, 1863 .


Capt. Charles Atwell died three days after the Battle of Wauhatchie. Yankee cannon Man shot by cannonball.

Leave these Yankee monuments large so you can read them.



Also, Moses Veale, Captain, Company F, 109th Pennsylvania Infantry who fought in the Battle of Wauhatchie received the Congressional Medal of Honor on January 17, 1894 , who fought after his horse was shot underneath him. He also had four gunshot wounds.



The coal and coke mining operations had closed temporarily by the war's end because their major buyers, factories further south, were destroyed by Union forces. The mines reopened in the 1880s, using state-supplied prison labor for much of their workforce. Active mining continued until the late 1970s, when it began to taper off, and by the late 1980s coal mining in the county had ceased.


Late 1800's Mine workers Dade County Georgia.

The area was long isolated by its geography of mountains and rivers, which some historians say contributed to early residents' separatist attitudes. For the first century of Dade County's existence, no road connected it directly to the rest of Georgia. Dade County shares Lookout Mountain with Alabama along its western border and with Tennessee along its northern border. Until 1939 the only vehicle access to Dade County was via those two states, resulting in an isolation reflected in its nickname, the State of Dade.


Getting married in Dade County back in the day.

That changed in 1939 with the establishment of Cloudland Canyon State Park, and Georgia began work on Highway 136 to connect U.S. 41 to the recently created park. The Civilian Conservation Corps built many of the facilities and access roads to the park.


Tricky building 136 up and over Lookout Plateau.

In 1964 Covenant College established a campus at Lookout Mountain. Founded in 1955 in California, it was ready to expand after a year. Several professors led Covenant to move to St. Louis, Missouri, where it developed for eight years. After outgrowing its facilities there, the college decided to move to Dade County.


An old areal photo of Carter Hall, (formerly known as the Lookout Mountain Hotel or the "Castle In The Clouds") which is currently owned and operated by Covenant College as a student residence building in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.


Carter Hall in 2019, formerly Lookout Mountain Hotel

Manufacturing is the largest employment sector, followed by retail trade, health and social services, and construction work. The establishment of the Dade County Industrial Park contributed to a considerable increase in business development.



Quarter controversy


Georgia State Quarter without Dade County.

Shortly after the Georgia State Quarter was released by the US Mint, Dade County gained attention because of an apparent mistake in the design. As shown on the quarter, the state appears to lack Dade County, in the extreme northwestern part of the state. Some accounts in 2012 suggest the exclusion was intended to refer to the local legend of Dade County's secession from Georgia.

Georgia water supply

Dade County lies just south of Nickajack Lake on the Tennessee River, which was created by the Nickajack Dam, constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The city of Atlanta, Georgia wanted to gain rights to the water in Nickajack Lake to supplement their sources from Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona. In addition, in 2008 Georgia lawmakers wanted to change the Tennessee-Georgia state line, as they say it is based on a flawed 1818 survey, which mistakenly placed Georgia's northern line just short of the Tennessee River. Changing the boundary would give Georgia rights to the water, but they were unsuccessful.


Nickajack cave on Nickajack lake.

Communities

    Rising Fawn
    Trenton
    Wildwood
    West Brow
    New Salem
    New Home

Rising Fawn

Rising Fawn is a small unincorporated community in the southern part of Dade County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is also the location of Cloudland Canyon State Park.



Rising Fawn was named after the child of a Cherokee Indian chieftain. The custom was to name the child after the first thing seen. On the following dawn, the chief saw a fawn rise from its bed and thought that he hadn't seen anything more beautiful. He then named his child Rising Fawn.


Rising Fawn Preserve.

Notable people

Desmond Doss, Medal of Honor recipient from World War II portrayed in the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge, resided in Rising Fawn for most of his life after the war, together with his wife Dorothy and their son Desmond Jr.



Silent film actress May Allison was born here in 1890.



Norman Blake, famed for his folk music, some of which was heard on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, resides in Rising Fawn with his wife, Nancy, also a folk musician.


Norman and Nancy

Country Music Association's Vocal Group of the Year, the Forester Sisters are from Rising Fawn.



Trenton

Trenton is a city in Dade County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,301 at the 2010 census. It is the only incorporated municipality in the county, and as such it serves as the county seat.



History

Founded in the 1830s, the area was originally known as Salem. In 1839 Salem was designated the seat of the newly formed Dade County. It was renamed Trenton in 1841.



The present name is a transfer from Trenton, New Jersey. William Trent was a prominent trader and merchant in Pennsylvania and New Jersey around the turn of the 18th century after which the capital of New Jersey, Trenton, was named.

Flag of Trenton, Georgia

In 2001, Georgia replaced its state flag, as some citizens had objected that its design incorporated the Confederate battle flag. That year, Trenton city officials adopted the old state flag as a city flag. The city had already used it from 1956 to 2001 as an official city banner. (This followed the 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that racially segregated public education was unconstitutional.) After adopting the former state flag for the city in 2001, the Trenton City Council also voted to post a plaque bearing the Ten Commandments at city hall. The city flies the flag outside the city hall/police department building and in the city park next to the courthouse and library. In addition, many local businesses fly it.



Dade County Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Georgia (National Register of Historic Places).



Notable people

Bella French Swisher (1837–1893), writer



Wildwood

Wildwood is a small unincorporated community located in the northeastern corner of Dade County, Georgia, United States. The community is close to the Tennessee state line and the Chattanooga city limits, and is considered part of the Chattanooga metropolitan area. It sits in the diagonal valley between Sand Mountain and Lookout Mountain, which runs through all of Dade County and is home to most of its population.



The noted Southern humorist George Washington Harris (1814–1869) is buried in the Brock Cemetery in Wildwood, GA.


Famous for his character, Sut Lovingood.

Although he was considered one of the seminal writers of Southern humor and greatly influenced the literary works of Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and Flannery O'Connor, his grave was not officially identified and marked with a monument until 2008.



Across the street from Brock Cemetery in Wildwood is Belvedere Plantation c. 1835, the oldest of the few remaining antebellum homes in the metro-Chattanooga area.



The northern terminus of Interstate 59 with Interstate 24 is found in the community. Via I-24, downtown Chattanooga is 11 miles northeast, and Nashville, Tennessee is 127 miles northwest. Via I-59, Birmingham, Alabama is 138 miles southwest.


Sand Mountain as viewed from I -59 in Trenton. Hell, a whole part of Georgia I never been to. I'll never run out of Natural Wonders.

Fox Mountain is just an offshoot of Sand Mountain. Now Lookout Mountain goes down the east side of Dade County, while Sand Mountain goes down the west side.


View of Trenton from Sand Mountain.

Hell we didn't even touch on the bigger part of Sand Mountain. That's probably because most of Sand Mountain is in Alabama.



The marker that divides three states is atop Sand Mountain.



So Sand Mountain, Charles B. Henson Cave Preserve, McLemore Cove, there will be future Wonders up here in the top left corner of the state. 126 images this post, good thing we split this Fox Mountain Preserve into two post. We return to our Cave Women theme for today's Natural Wonder Gals. There is an endless supply of Cave Women images.


Two of these Gals sporting the same Cave Dress. Give the HOTD what they want, more Cave Women!