Georgia Natural Wonder #193 - Pumpkinvine Creek Gorge - Paulding Co. (Part 3). 1,214

[Top Row Dawg]

Pumpkinvine Creek - Paulding County (Part 3)

OK I was doing a history tangent on Paulding County and I got a message Too Large twice. So I have detailed the three days of Civil War carnage in two post surrounding the Natural Wonder of High Shoals Falls. I had a lot of Post Civil War history and notable people but I did not want to do just a 3rd history tangent post and I went looking for a second Paulding County Scenic spot and I saw these Internet images of Pumpkinvine Creek Gorge. Little Pumpkinvine Creek flows through a gorge developed in Mulberry Rock Gneiss. It is like nothing else in the Pumpkinvine Creek Drainage.



This is Little Pumpkinvine Creek as it exits the gorge.



Pumpkinvine Creek is a tributary of the Etowah River. Pumpkinvine might be the English translation of a Cherokee name.



Located at mile marker 23, Pumpkinvine Trestle is one of the Seven must-see sights on the Silver Comet Trail.



The trestle was built in 1901 and restored for trail use in 1999. It is over 750 feet long and is a marvel.



Rambo Road Trailhead is at mile marker 22.2 on the Silver Comet Trail, has paved parking, a porta-toilet, picnic tables, no water, and is 0.7 miles east of the Pumpkinvine Trestle. Built in 1901, the Pumpkinvine Trestle rises 126 feet over Pumpkinvine Creek.



The trestle was restored in 1999, and opened for Silver Comet use in 2000. The Pumpkinvine Trestle  was abandoned around 1990 and converted to pedestrian use on Silver Comet Trail in Dallas, Georgia.



There was a train wreck here in 1903.On October 18, 1903, "Ole 88" Engine 345, a steam-powered locomotive, jumped its tracks and tore down part of the Pumpkinvine Creek Trestle.



One of the most remote areas of the Silver Comet is west of the Pumpkinvine Trestle, and travels through parts of the Paulding Wildlife Management Area. The Paulding Forest is over 25,000 acres, and areas are open to the public. It contains one of the southernmost trout fishing opportunities, Raccoon Creek.



Pumpkinvine Creek Nature Preserve is 5 miles of multi-use natural surface trails for public hiking and mountain biking.



As of September 2021 about half of the trail system has been created but is not ready for public use. The trail system will be open by the end of 2021.



The site will be used for training by the Paulding County Georgia Cycling League youth mountain bike teams.



Pumpkinvine Creek Nature Preserve is a triangular parcel donated to us by the Boyce family. It has a creek front on two sides and a high-crowned hilltop in the middle.



This configuration has created 5 unique areas: swamp, wetland, high grassy field, mixed hardwood forest, and emergent pine forest. It is being used by a youth mentoring program as a home base.



We have taken a 110-acre suburban property that was once platted for 200 homes and permanently protected it from any type of development and will transform it into a community asset that will improve the quality of science education in our area.



The majority of the creek is extremely shallow and relatively featureless, but there are plenty of places that hold big spotted bass. Your best bet for bass would either be on the Paulding WMA or at Paulding Meadows or other public land. Never trespass and always get permission for private land.



Wiley Jones' Grist Mill on Pumpkinvine Creek

B.E. Roberts does an outstanding job hiking and photographing Georgia spots. Here he has Internet images of a Mill along Pumpkinvine Creek in Paulding County. Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Paulding Co., originally built of logs, was torn down by Federal Troops in May of 1864. The logs were used to build a bridge across Pumpkinvine Creek near the Wiley Jones Mill.  It is believed that some of the Jones' teen-aged sons were killed by Union troops.  Jones Mill was destroyed in the great flood of April 1884.


All that remains of Wiley Jones' mill is a partial foundation.


Interior wall and other disturbed stones.


More foundation stones - mill's interior.


Creekside foundation wall.


Pumpkinvine Creek from the mill site.

Historical significance

This property also has a bit of history. It is certain that Union troops moved across and possible that they camped either on or very nearby this property just prior to the Battle Of Dallas.



Brushy Mountain.

Before we leave the Natural Wonder section of this post, I found a few mountains in the County at about 1,000 feet and one of those has a rail road tunnel as part of the Silver Comet Trail. The massive 800-foot, turn of the century railroad tunnel under Brushy Mountain Road was built in 1912 and is located at mile marker 30.9 on the Silver Comet Trail in Paulding County.



Tunnel under Brushy Mountain on an abandoned alignment of Southern Railway (Formerly the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad).



An 800-ft. concrete-lined tunnel through Brushy Mountain built by Seaboard Air Line Railway in the early 1900s. It was abandoned by the railroad in 1988.


Coots lake in Polk County looking back to Brushy Mountain and Sand Cliffs east of tunnel in Paulding County.

Most of this section is through the Paulding Wildlife Management Area (WMA), a national-park like wooded area. At mile 27.46 you’ll pass the massive Castle Rock. Then, at mile 30.79 you’ll pass through Brushy Mountain Tunnel, a 800 foot long, 5 story high train tunnel.



This section of the trail runs through forests, and next to fields. It cuts through large hills exposing impressive rock formations, and makes a worthwhile day trip.

TRD Addendum

I went out to Paulding County on Saturday. Got these panoramic images from trestle.





Quite the adventure.



Silver Comet is a nice Natural Wonder, more man made, cutting tracks through rocks.



Daughter and boyfriend out for afternoon adventure.


Stopping to smell the flowers and wishbone stick.

Paulding County (Part 3)

Two Wonders and 3 Civil War Battles, Paulding County is turning out to be a cool spot to explore.

Post Civil War History

After the Civil War the county languished for decades, experiencing the difficulties common to other agricultural areas in the South beset by the loss of numerous young men, overused soil, and economic depression. Life for the county began to improve in 1882, however, when the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railroad built lines through it. The railway was directly responsible for tripling the population in Dallas by the end of the decade. The town of Braswell was created around a depot placed at the site by the railway in 1882, when it laid tracks through the area.


Dallas Depot.

By the turn of the century, Paulding County was flourishing. Many one-room schools dotted the county, an indication of the population boom and a testament to the high value residents placed on education.



The county economy followed that of the nation, suffering with the Great Depression and improving during the era following World War II (1941-45).



Agribusiness remains a major economic factor in the county, but some areas have become bedroom communities for Cobb County and Atlanta, making Paulding County one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.



According to the 2010 U.S. census, the population of Paulding County was 142,324, a substantial increase from the 2000 population of 81,678.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Paulding County, Georgia

The Fannin-Cooper Farm, near Hiram in Paulding County, Georgia, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. It is spread across both sides of Smith Road, including parcels at 620 & 511 Smith Rd., and is located about 7 miles east of Paulding County seat Dallas, Georgia.



Its main farmhouse, built in 1887, is a one-story, central hall plan house with a shed-roof front porch.

Structures

The listing included four contributing buildings, two other contributing structures, and a contributing site, on 82.2 acres  It includes a corn crib built in 1882, and a two-story mule barn.

The Hiram Colored School in Hiram in Paulding County, Georgia was built in 1930. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The school is located west of Georgia State Route 92 between its junctions with Fitzgerald Street and Alexander Street (formerly Ragsdale Street).



It is a two-room Rosenwald school, built with funding from Julius Rosenwald, President of Sears, Roebuck and Company. The Rosenwald Fund was established in 1912 to build schools for African-American students in Southern rural areas. Though nearly 5000 schools were built using the Rosenwald Fund, the Hiram Colored School was the only Rosenwald school in Paulding County. It was also the only African-American school in the county with a library. Today, its historical significance is preserved by the Hiram Rosenwald School Preservation Committee.



The Old Paulding County Courthouse is a historic county courthouse in the courthouse square of Dallas, Georgia, county seat of Paulding County, Georgia. It was built in 1892 and has been renovated several times since. An annex was added. The original building was designed by Bruce & Morgan and is Queen Anne in style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1980.



Pickett's Mill Battlefield Site is a Georgia state park in Paulding County, Georgia that preserves the American Civil War battlefield of the Battle of Pickett's Mill. The 765-acre site includes roads used by Union and Confederate troops, earthwork battlements, and an 1800s era pioneer cabin. The area's ravine is a site where hundreds died. The park's visitor center includes exhibits and a film about the battle.



The battle took place on May 27, 1864, as the Union Army tried to advance on Atlanta two days after the Battle of New Hope Church. The battle included 14,000 Union Army troops under General Howard and 10,000 Confederate troops under General Cleburne. The Union army began its attack at around 5 p.m. The Confederate army held out. The Union army had 1,600 casualties and the Confederate Army lost approximately 500.



The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 26, 1973. It is located northeast of Dallas, Georgia off GA 92 at 4432 Mt. Tabor Church Rd. Notice how Paulding County and Georgia has a nice State Park where the Confederates kicked butt, but they built the High School where they got whooped.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 314 square miles, of which 312 square miles is land and 2.1 square miles is water. The Tallapoosa River originates in Paulding County.


1883 and Today.

The county is mainly located in the Piedmont region of the state, with a few mountains located in the county that exceed elevations of 1,000 ft. These mountains are considered to be part of the southernmost extensions of the Appalachian Mountains.

Recreation

Silver Comet Trail

The Paulding County section of the Silver Comet travels through Hiram, behind the Paulding Chamber of Commerce in Dallas, through remote areas in the Paulding Wildlife Management Area, and heads west near Braswell to the Polk County line.



Some interesting locations are the 750-foot restored Pumpkinvine Trestle about 0.6 miles west of Rambo Road. Homer Leggett Park is next to the Hiram parking lot, and Tara Drummond Park is located at the former Seaboard Road trailhead. The 800-foot Brushy Mountain tunnel is in Paulding county, at the Paulding/Polk county line. The tunnel was built in 1912, and the nearest trailhead is Coot's Lake in Polk. This spectacular tunnel is about 2.6 miles east of Coot's Lake.



The Silver Comet Trail is "open from dawn to dusk", and the trail is lightly patrolled. Some areas are very remote, so please read the Good Ideas section.


Copper mining in Paulding county had pretty much ended by the 1920's, but there's still some old abandoned mines along the Silver Comet Trail bike path. This cave entrance has been vandalized over the years but is still there for the finding.


Circa 1918. Copper mining near Hiram in Paulding County.

White Oak Park
   
Ben Hill Strickland Park

The City of Hiram is proud to offer our citizens and visitors a beautiful place to visit at Ben Hill Strickland Sr. Memorial Park. The park offers an amphitheater, several sitting areas, Picnic Tables, walking trails, a lake, basketball and tennis courts, and playgrounds.


Amphitheater.

There are also 2 picnic pavilions that are available for special events on any day of the week. They are not available during City events. Grills are also available at each pavilion.
   
Taylor Farm Parks & Recreation
 
Burnt Hickory Park
   
Union Park/Mulberry Rock Park

Mulberry Rock Park will include pavilions, three miles of walking trails, a playground area, an area for a planned community garden and lots of open space.


   
Samuel U. Braly Sports Complex



Features a picnic pavilion, playground, a "Playground of Dreams" and 15 soccer fields,


"Playground of Dreams"
   
Mt. Tabor Park

Tabor is a Paulding county park that currently has tennis courts, ball fields, and a large rec center. The 8 miles of bicycle single track trail is made up of 3 loops in a stacked loop system.


   
Sara Babb Park (City of Dallas)

Sara Babb Park houses Paulding County’s only public pool equipped with a diving board, slide and concession stand.


   
Veteran's Memorial Park

The Paulding County Veterans Monument was rededicated at its new location in Veterans Park. It is inscribed with the names of eighty-one service members from Paulding County who perished in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and in the Middle East.



Cities
   
Dallas

Dallas is a city in, and the county seat of, Paulding County, Georgia, United States. The estimated population, as of 2010, was 11,544. Dallas is a northwestern suburb of Atlanta, located approximately 38 miles from the downtown area. It was named for George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States, under James K. Polk. We already detailed the Gold Rush and Civil War history in our earlier two post.



After the reconstruction period, Dallas and Paulding County began to flourish. Construction of the Southern and Seaboard Railroads began in 1882. Paulding County was also introduced to the textile industry at this time. Both industries played a great role in the growth of the county. Along with the introduction to the railroad and the textile industry, Paulding County's first newspaper was introduced, The Dallas New Era.



In the early 2000s the city completed a major refurbishment of downtown Dallas, which included adding and updating sidewalks, adding red brick to the roadways, creation of a large courtyard in the center of town, updating existing structural facades, adding a fountain area near the downtown gazebo, and further preserving historic downtown structures.



Movies that have been filmed in the area include Finding Steve McQueen, The Last Full Measure and Beauty and the Beholder. The dramatic final scene of Finding Steve McQueen was filmed on Main St near the Dallas Theatre.



The CBS television series MacGyver filmed some episodes in Dallas. The television series Stargirl, which is based on the DC Comics character of the same name, is currently being filmed in downtown Dallas. The Ford Motor Company also filmed a commercial in the area, titled "Roll on Sister".



TRD Addendum

We stopped in Dallas Saturday also, for these downtown images.



Main Street.



Courthouse Square.



Halloween Fun.



Hiram

Hiram is a city in Paulding County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population is 3,546. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated the Town of Hiram in 1891. The city was named after Hiram Baguette, the town's first postmaster.



The City of Hiram was originally founded as Gray's Mill, Ga., named after one of the earliest settlers, Garrett Gray. He was the son of Isaac Gray, a Revolutionary War soldier from South Carolina born in 1750. He built the first cotton gin in the area, got the first train to town. and was a state representative. Almost ran for Governor.



When the remake of the movie Footloose was filmed in Paulding County, one of Hiram's historic homes was used in the motion picture.


   
Braswell

Braswell is a city in Polk and Paulding counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 379. Braswell had its start in 1882 when the Southern Railway was extended to that point.


Only image of Braswell I can find.

Braswell was the location of the only tunnel on Southern Railway's (now Norfolk Southern Railway) Chattanooga to Atlanta main line. The original tunnel was bypassed in 1979 by cutting through Braswell mountain slightly to the east. Another nearby tunnel, the Brushy Mountain tunnel at Divide, is currently used by bicyclists and joggers as a part of the Georgia/Alabama Silver Comet Trail.

Unincorporated communities
 
New Hope

New Hope is an unincorporated community in Paulding County, Georgia, United States. Once considered a rural destination, New Hope is now an exurb of Atlanta, located at the crossroads of Dallas-Acworth Highway and East Paulding Drive/Old Cartersville Road. The community began to develop in the late 1990s and flourished in the early 2000s, especially with the development of the Riverwood, Bentwater, and SevenHills communities. As one of the fastest-growing communities in one of the nation's fastest-growing counties, New Hope was hit hard by the housing bust of the late 2000s. As a result, lots once slated for half-million dollar homes were vacant, newly paved streets had no destination, and newly built homes remained unsold and shuttered; however, by 2021 such housing had recovered.


New Hope Church
   
Yorkville

Yorkville is an unincorporated area in Paulding County, Georgia, United States, located near the crossroads of Hwy 113 and Gold Mine Road. Its elevation is 1,362 feet. The city has a total of 95.86 square miles. This means Yorkville is 1/3 of Paulding's land mass.


Yorkville Baptist Church was established in 1866. The present structure was built in 1945. Yorkville Methodist Church was established on 28 July 1874. The present structure was built in 1946. It is now home to Liberty Tabernacle.

The history of both church's has strong connections to the York family. In the 1820s, Josiah York, a native of Washington County, Tennessee, and his wife Sarah, settled this area, which was on the border of the Creek and Cherokee nations. The York [and Philpot] family was associated with the notorious “Pony Club” which stole horses and operated out of the reach of local law enforcement, which was nearly nonexistent at the time. York served as Justice of the Peace on several occasions between the 1830s and 1870s. He also served as Yorkville postmaster for a time. The land for both churches, the Baptist and Methodist, were donated by Josiah York’s son, Abraham “Hud” York.
   
Nebo

Nebo is an unincorporated community in Paulding County, Georgia, United States, located at the crossroads of Nebo Road and Dallas Nebo Road near the cities of Dallas and Hiram.
   
Sudie

Sudie is an unincorporated community in Paulding County, Georgia, United States, located at the crossroads of Hiram Sudie Road and Villa Rica Highway

Southern Airways Flight 242

On April 4, 1977, near the site marker for the Battle of New Hope Church, the forced landing of Southern Airways Flight 242 occurred. The passenger jetliner, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 with 81 passengers and 4 crew members, was flying from Northwest Alabama Regional Airport to Atlanta Municipal Airport. Upon descending in altitude to prepare for landing in Atlanta, the jetliner started to fly through an intense thunderstorm near Rome, Georgia. Because of the extreme amounts of water and hail that were ingested by the jet's engines, both of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7A turbojet engines were damaged and underwent flameout.



With the engines unable to restart, the flight's crew began gliding in hopes of reaching a nearby airport. Upon finding out that there were no nearby airports to perform a landing, the crew found a straight section of rural road in Dallas, Georgia to try and land. As the plane began to land, it clipped a gas station, convenience store, and other buildings, resulting in the plane to lose control of landing and ultimately crash, resulting in hull loss. Both pilots and 61 passengers were killed by impact forces and fire. Nine people on the ground were also killed.



Every 10 years since the crash, the survivors have attended a ceremony in remembrance of the victims of the crash. It is the largest survivors' group of its kind.


Damn, all the 3 Griffin sisters and their 4 kids.

Notable people

Cecil Butler, Professional baseball player.



Kelly Nelon Clark, Southern gospel singer with Nelon Family Singers. Performs regularly with Bill Gaither Home Coming Friends.



Chris Conley, Georgia football wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars.


   
Jayne County, Formerly known as Wayne County: influential transgender punk rock musician after leaving Paulding County for New York City in 1968.



Christopher Dudley, Keyboardist of Underoath..


   
Caleb Lee Hutchinson, American Idol finalist.


   
Patty Loveless, Country music star; and her husband, record producer Emory Gordy Jr.



Gary North Christian economic historian and publisher.


   
Marty Pevey, Iowa Cubs manager.


 
Riley Puckett, Country music pioneer.


   
Spencer Scott, Playboy Playmate of the Month for October, 2007.
   

Little bit of shade on link click.

Ray Traylor, Former WWF superstar.


   
Travis Tritt, Country music recording artist.


   
Zack Wheeler, New York Mets starting pitcher.


   
Shannon and Shannade Clermont, Models, Video Vixens.



Whew Paulding County.  Went there for a visit Saturday and we included some TRD Addendum's with some panoramic images. Let's see who was paying attention to post as we present our All From Paulding County GNW Gals.