The Unicoi Turnpike was a 150-mile (240km) trail through north Georgia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee used by Native Americans before the footpath was converted into a toll road in the early 19th century. [1]
The Unicoi Turnpike was a 150-mile (240km) trail through north Georgia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee used by Native Americans before the footpath was converted into a toll road in the early 19th century. [1]
The trail began in Tennessee at Tellico Blockhouse on the Federal Road near Nine Mile Creek in present-day Vonore. [2] It entered the mountains in Unicoi Gap on its way east to present-day Murphy, North Carolina, and followed the Hiwassee River toward Hayesville, before turning south towards present-day Hiawassee, Georgia, and entering Georgia's Unicoi Gap. The trail then crosses Spoilcane Creek and the Chattahoochee River 11 times, dropping around 800 feet on its way to Sautee. In the Sautee-Nacoochee Valley, the turnpike connected with the Cherokee Trading Path network which included trails to present-day Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. [3]
From Sautee-Nacoochee, the path continued east to Toccoa as the Chattahoochee River turned south. The route then connected with the Savannah River, just below the entrance of Toccoa Creek. From there, the river could be navigated to ports in Savannah and Charleston. [3] [4]
The path has existed for more than 1,000 years. [5] Even before Native Americans used the trail, large mammals migrated along the route for the winter. [2]
In 1756, British soldiers used the road to construct Fort Loudoun during the French and Indian War. [5] [4] The trail later aided raids between European colonists and Cherokees during the American Revolution. [4] In 1795 a United States fur trade factory was established in Tellico along the route. It was moved to Hiawassee in 1807 before being discontinued in 1811. [6]
In 1813, after requests from Tennessee and Georgia, the Cherokee struck a treaty with the U.S. government to allow construction of a toll road along the path. [2] [7] According to the treaty, the tribe would be paid $160 per year for twenty years. After that time the agreement would be re-negotiated or the route would revert to the Cherokee's ownership. The annual amounts were reportedly never paid. [7]
A company led by Russell Wiley worked from 1813 until 1817 to turn the trail into a two-lane toll road for wagons carrying freight. [2] Inns and rest stops called "stands" were built along the trail at intervals of about fifteen miles. [2] Many such rest stops grew into communities, such as Brasstown, North Carolina. [8] The only surviving inn, Traveler's Rest in Toccoa, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. [9] [10] [11]
Drovers herded turkeys, hogs, and livestock on the toll road. [4] The toll ranged from twelve and a half cents for a man and his horse to $1.25 for a four-wheel “carriage of pleasure." [7] The discovery of gold at Coker Creek in the 1820s brought an influx of people and a fort was established to separate miners from Cherokee and their lands. [4] In the 1830s, the turnpike was the first leg of the Trail of Tears for more than 3,000 Cherokee people who were deported during the Cherokee Removal. [5] [4]
The toll road remained in operation until after the Civil War. [2] Today the path is part of the Cherokee Heritage Trail project. [12] A 2.5 mile (4.0km) section of the original trail opened for hiking in June 2005. It is located in the Cherokee National Forest in Coker Creek. [5] [4] The rest of the turnpike can be can be seen by car on roads that roughly follow the route of the old trail. [4]
“Unicoi” was the Cherokee word for “white." The name may have referred to the mountain mist along the route or to the travelers using the road. [7]
Clay County is a county located in the far western part of U.S. state North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,089. The county seat is Hayesville.
Towns County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,493. Its county seat is Hiawassee. The county was created on March 6, 1856, and named for lawyer, legislator, and politician George W. Towns.
Toccoa is a city in far Northeast Georgia near the border with South Carolina. It is the county seat of Stephens County, Georgia, United States, located about 50 miles (80 km) from Athens and about 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Atlanta. The population was 9,133 as of the 2020 census.
Hiawassee is the county seat of Towns County, Georgia, United States. The community's population was 880 at the 2010 census. Its name is derived from the Cherokee—or perhaps Creek—word Ayuhwasi, which means meadow, Hiawassee is also known in the novel "Restart" by Gordon Korman.
Helen is a small city in White County, Georgia, United States, located along the Chattahoochee River. The population was 531 at the 2020 census. The city has now been made over, as a tourist attraction, to look like an old-world Bavarian village. This idea was suggested by John Kollock, an Atlanta artist.
Brasstown Bald is the highest point in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is located in the northeastern part of the state in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border between Towns and Union counties south of the city of Hiawassee. The mountain is known to the native Cherokee people as Enotah.
The Cherokee Path was the primary route of English and Scots traders from Charleston to Columbia, South Carolina in Colonial America. It was the way they reached Cherokee towns and territories along the upper Keowee River and its tributaries. In its lower section it was known as the Savannah River. They referred to these towns along the Keowee and Tugaloo rivers as the Lower Towns, in contrast to the Middle Towns in Western North Carolina and the Overhill Towns in present-day southeastern Tennessee west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Unicoi Mountains are a mountain range rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in the southeastern United States. They are part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Province of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Unicois are located immediately south of the Great Smoky Mountains and immediately west of the Cheoah Mountains. Most of the range is protected as a national forest, namely the Cherokee National Forest on the Tennessee side and the Nantahala National Forest on the North Carolina side— although some parts have been designated as wilderness areas and are thus more strictly regulated.
Sautee Nacoochee is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in White County, Georgia, United States, near Sautee Creek in the Appalachian foothills of northeast Georgia, approximately 95 miles (153 km) north of Atlanta. The nearest incorporated town is the tourist destination of Helen.
North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important events in the history of Georgia. It was the site of many American Civil War battles, including the Battle of Lookout Mountain and the Battle of Chickamauga, leading up to the Atlanta Campaign. Today, particularly in the northeast portion of the region, tourism sustains the local economy.
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Great Tellico was a Cherokee town at the site of present-day Tellico Plains, Tennessee, where the Tellico River emerges from the Appalachian Mountains. Great Tellico was one of the largest Cherokee towns in the region, and had a sister town nearby named Chatuga. Its name in Cherokee is more properly written Talikwa, but more commonly known as Diligwa. It is sometimes spelled Telliquo, Telliquah or, in Oklahoma, Tahlequah. There were several Cherokee settlements named Tellico, the largest of which is distinguished from the others by calling it "Great". The meaning of the word "Talikwa" is thought to be lost by the Cherokees. However, in an article authored by reporter Tesina Jackson of the Cherokee Phoenix the meaning of the word is stated as "the open place where the grass grows".
State Route 75 (SR 75) is a 33.4-mile-long (53.8 km) state highway that travels south-to-north through portions of White and Towns counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It connects Cleveland and the North Carolina state line, via Helen, Macedonia, and Hiawassee.
The Tellico Blockhouse was an early American outpost located along the Little Tennessee River in what developed as Vonore, Monroe County, Tennessee. Completed in 1794, the blockhouse was a US military outpost that operated until 1807; the garrison was intended to keep peace between the nearby Overhill Cherokee towns and encroaching early Euro-American pioneers in the area in the wake of the Cherokee–American wars.
Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 18th-century European traders and explorers from British colonies along the Atlantic coast, as they had to cross the mountains to reach these settlements.
The Southern Highroads Trail is a 364-mile-long (586 km) loop of scenic and historic highways in the Southeastern United States. The driving trail traverses 14 counties, four states, and four national forests, providing sightseers and passersby an array of culinary, hotel, shopping, and recreational options along the way.
Northeast Georgia is a region of Georgia in the United States. The northern part is also in the North Georgia mountains or Georgia mountain region, while the southern part is still hilly but much flatter in topography. Northeast Georgia is also served by the Asheville/Spartanburg/Greenville/Anderson market.
Coker Creek is an unincorporated community in Monroe County, Tennessee, United States. It is located on Tennessee State Route 68, 6.7 miles (10.8 km) south of Tellico Plains. Its population in the 2020 census was 150.
Hayes Crossing is an unincorporated community in Stephens County, Georgia, United States. It sits at 944 feet (288 m) above mean sea level.