Nickajack Creek | |
---|---|
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Groundwater |
• location | Marietta, Georgia |
• coordinates | 33°54′47″N84°32′28″W / 33.913192°N 84.541182°W |
• elevation | 1,056.4 ft (322.0 m) |
Mouth | Chattahoochee River |
• location | Mableton, Georgia |
• coordinates | 33°47′17″N84°31′14″W / 33.788083°N 84.520423°W |
• elevation | 731.6 ft (223.0 m) |
Nickajack Creek is a stream in Cobb and Fulton counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is a tributary to the Chattahoochee River. [1] Groundwater serves as the water source, with the creek beginning in Marietta, Georgia. The creek runs through the city of Smyrna and terminates at the Chattahoochee River in the town of Mableton. [2]
Tradition states Nickajack Creek was named after a local Cherokee person, possibly the chief of a village that bore his name. [1] One of the earliest known records of white Europeans being aware of the village inhabitants is an 1839 map depicting a 'Nickajack Creek' converging with the Chattahoochee River south and west of the Standing Peachtree settlement. [3]
White European settlers moved into Nickajack Creek in the mid-1800s. They formed a community initially known as 'Mill Grove', and later 'Nickajack.' The creek provided ample power to run grist, saw, cotton, and woolen mills. Robert Mable, founder of Mableton, assisted in building a gristmill owned by Henry Clay Ruff in the 1850s. Mable refined his skills as a millwright under the mentorship of Robert E. Lee at Fort Pulaski. [4] Both Ruff's home and his mill remain standing in the portion of the creek running through Smyrna.
On July 4, 1864, Union and Confederate troops clashed at Nickajack Creek in the Battle of Ruff's Mill.
After the war, the Concord Manufacturing Company established a woolen mill on the stream in 1869 and made a significant economic contribution to Cobb County. The mill suffered a fire in 1889. [5] Remnants can still be seen today.
A covered bridge, originally built c. 1848–1850, traverses the stream. It is one of the few remaining covered bridges in Georgia, and still highly active today after it was later buttressed to handle automobile traffic.
Ruff's mill, house, the Concord woolen mill, and the covered bridge are part of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District.
Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. It is the state's third most populous county, after Fulton and Gwinnett counties. Its county seat is Marietta; its largest city is Mableton.
Mableton is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. Voters of the unincorporated area of Mableton approved a referendum to incorporate on November 8, 2022, and six council members were elected on March 21, 2023, with Michael Owens elected as Mayor in a runoff on April 21, 2023. According to the 2020 census, Mableton has a population of 78,000. Upon Brookhaven's cityhood in December 2012, Mableton was previously the largest unincorporated CDP in Metro Atlanta. With boundaries described in Appendix A of House Bill 839, Mableton is set to become the largest city in Cobb County in terms of population, and will include historical Mableton, along with the Six Flags area, areas of unincorporated Smyrna, and other residents of unincorporated South Cobb. While 53% of voters approved the referendum, many residents are already exploring deannexation.
Smyrna is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It is located northwest of Atlanta, and is in the inner ring of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. It is included in the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta MSA, which is included in the Atlanta–Athens-Clarke–Sandy Springs CSA.
Vinings is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cobb County, Georgia, United States that runs along the Chattahoochee River bank across from Buckhead. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a total population of 12,581. Located next to the affluent Paces section of Buckhead in northwest Atlanta, Vinings is known for its historic sites, shopping districts, proximity to local freeways and The Battery, and nearby nature areas. The United States Postal Service assigns "Atlanta" to the ZIP Code (30339) that includes Vinings.
Roswell is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. At the official 2010 census, the city had a population of 88,346. The 2020 estimated population was 94,884, making Roswell the state's ninth largest city. A close suburb of Atlanta, Roswell has an affluent historic district.
The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers and emptying from Florida into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. The Chattahoochee River is about 430 miles (690 km) long. The Chattahoochee, Flint, and Apalachicola rivers together make up the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin. The Chattahoochee makes up the largest part of the ACF's drainage basin.
Ernest W. Barrett was the chairman of the county commission in Cobb County, Georgia from 1965 to 1984. Barrett was also a former trustee of Kennesaw State University.
There were several historic mills around the metro Atlanta area, for which many of its current-day roads are still named. Most of the mills date back to the 1820s and 1830s, and were built along the area's many streams. The locations of many of these mills are shown on a map of 1875 showing U. S. military operations around Atlanta in 1864. This map is now located in the U. S. Library of Congress but can be seen on the webpage linked here.
Historic ferries operated on rivers around Atlanta, Georgia area, and became namesakes for numerous current-day roads in north Georgia. Most of the ferries date to the early years of European-American settlement in the 1820s and 1830s, when parts of the region were still occupied by cherokee and other Native American communities.
Sope Creek is an 11.6-mile-long (18.7 km) stream located in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It is a significant tributary of the Chattahoochee River. It was known as Soap Creek during the 19th century. A section of Sope Creek runs through the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.
Through much of the 19th century, Pace's Ferry was an important ferry across the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta. Started in the early 1830s near Peachtree Creek, it was run by Hardy Pace, one of the city's founders. It was an important transportation link to northwestern Georgia, especially prior to the construction of the State Road to Chattanooga.
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) preserves a series of sites between Atlanta and Lake Sidney Lanier along the Chattahoochee River in Georgia, U.S. The 48-mile (77 km) stretch of the river affords public recreation opportunities and access to historic sites. The national recreation area, a National Park Service unit, was established on August 15, 1978, by President Jimmy Carter.
The Northwest Georgia Threatened Historic Sites project was established in 2005 as part of Kennesaw State University's Public History Program. The project was developed to promote historic preservation by identifying, documenting, and publicizing threatened sites of historical significance in northwest Georgia. The first initiative of the group, undertaken in the Fall of 2005 was to create a catalog listing of such sites and to call greater attention to the issue of preservation and to save some of these valuable historic sites. The initial sites identified in Fall 2005 as being most "at-risk" have been posted at their web site and the project continues to solicit nominations for the 2006 catalog listing.
Cumberland is an edge city in Cobb County located in an unincorporated area of the northwest Atlanta metropolitan area, Georgia, United States. It is situated ten miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta. With approximately 122,000 workers and 103,000 residents, Cumberland is the region's fifth-largest business district, and is marked by several modern skyscrapers rising from the wooded hills above the freeways.
The Marietta Daily Journal (MDJ) is a daily newspaper published in Marietta, Georgia. It is the primary local newspaper of Cobb County, Georgia, second only to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which covers all of metro Atlanta, and previously most of north Georgia.
There were several historic bridges around the metro Atlanta, Georgia area, for which many of its current-day roads are named. Many of them originated as ferries, dating back to the 1820s and 1830s, and carrying travelers across the Chattahoochee River and several other smaller rivers. Several were also covered bridges, very few of which remain as historic sites.
In the U.S. state of Georgia, the Cobb County Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department is the unit of Cobb county government which handles county parks, recreation facilities, and cultural affairs programs.
Johnston's River Line, also called Johnston's Line, the Chattahoochee River Line or simply The River Line, is a historic American Civil War defensive line located in the communities of Mableton, Smyrna, and Vinings, Georgia that was used by the Confederate Army under General Joseph E. Johnston during the Atlanta Campaign in early July 1864. While no significant battles took place along the River Line, it remains one of the most impressive defensive fortifications ever constructed, often compared to the French Maginot Line built prior to World War II. Part of the River Line Historic Area and the Chattahoochee River Line Battlefield, the site today consists of the remains of Confederate earthwork battlements including unique fortifications called Shoupades, named after their designer, Confederate Brig. General Francis A. Shoup. The remains are spread across a six to seven mile stretch along the northwest side of the Chattahoochee River from a point just north of where Nickajack Creek joins the Chattahoochee in Mableton to north of S. Atlanta Road in Smyrna/Vinings. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 5, 1973. Although many of the remains are on private property, visitors can access the site off U.S. 78 in Mableton, and off S.R. 280 and S. Atlanta Rd in Smyrna/Vinings. The site's coordinates are 33°47′31″N84°31′23″W.
Ruff's Mill and Concord Covered Bridge is a historical site in Smyrna, Georgia. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Zachariah Armstead Rice was an American businessman who was prominent in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, in the decades before and after the Civil War. In addition to investments in textile mills, general merchandise stores, and real estate, Rice was a slave trader, Confederate officer, city councilman, and newspaper publisher of the Daily Intelligencer.