Father’s Day Yondering Trip - June 20, 2010
After a Father’s Day breakfast provided by my loving family via the Resaca Hardees I was given the opportunity to take a little geocaching trip. Unfortunately I could not find my GPS. I fear that it may be a causality of the move. Time will tell. I grabbed my notebooks and a compass and took off toward Sugar Valley, Georgia. In Sugar Valley I crossed Horn Mountain on the Pocket Road and stopped off at Fowler Cemetery. This is a hillside cemetery of some size. I did not find in marked Confederates, but I did find a Dough Boy that died in 1918. I left the cemetery and headed north up through the Chattahoochee National Forest. Just south of Furnace Creek and Furnace Creek Road I spotted a small cemetery in a clearing west of the road. This is an area that appears to be recently cleared off. After visiting three graves I was walking back and noticed a bone jutting up out of the ground. It was appears to be a bleached tibia…much larger and robust than a dog or deer. It truthfully appeared to be human in nature. I left it leaning against a tree and headed north on the Pocket Road.
In Villanow I struck out north along Highway 201. Approximately three miles above Villanow I entered Whitfield County and encountered a historical marker in the parking lot of Salem Church. The sign was titled Geary’s Division to Dug Gap (155-8). Two miles farther north I stopped where Gordon Springs Road intersects 201. At this intersection there are two historical markers: Twentieth Corp in Dogwood Valley (155-7) and Callaway Place (155-29C). A local person told me that the original Callaway home is actually the brick home that
sets behind this marker. I photographed the house and the signs and bought a cold Diet Coke before driving north toward Rocky Face. In Rocky Face 201 intersects with Highway 41 – The Old Dixie Highway.
I turned north on 41 a drove for Tunnel Hill and then on into Catoosa County. I visited the Ebenezer Baptist Church just east of I-75. This church contains the marked graves of several local Confederates. There is also an area of the cemetery were a number unknown Confederate dead are buried. I stayed on 41 and drove on through Ringgold Gap into town.
In Ringgold I made several stops. I started at the Anderson Cemetery over near the interstate. Here is another site in which unknown Confederate dead are interred. These warriors of another time are spending their eternity behind an oversized wooden wall that blocks their view of neon glow of commercialized Ringgold. Historical markers were encountered at several locations
throughout town. In front of the Catoosa County Court House stands Catoosa County (023-1) and Confederate Hospitals (23-14). At the corner of Tennessee Street and High Street stands the impressive two story Whitman House. The historical maker Whitman House (23-10) mentions that the battle at the Ringgold Depot was observed by the residents of the house from the second story windows. The Depot itself is the site of another maker: Western& Atlantic Depot (23-8). Leaving Ringgold heading south on 41, I stopped at the Atlanta Campaign Pavilion. I have also photographed the pavilions at Cassville, Resaca, and Dalton. The historical marker Ringgold Gap (23-16) tells the story of the stubborn defense of the Confederate rear given by GeneralPatrick Cleburne’s troops in the Gap. There is also a statue of this fiery Confederate at the pavilion. His bronze eyes seem to shoot bolts of fire….
A few miles south of Ringgold Highway 2 splits off and 201 goes toward Varnell. In the forks of the road stands the Old Stone Presbyt
erian Church. It is a local history museum that appeared to have just closed. In its yard is a historical marker – Old Stone Presbyterian Church (023-9). There is also a large plaque commemorating the Trail of Tears in the parking lot. Opposite the church along the side of Highway 2 is another historical marker: Old Federal Road (023-7). Up behind the church was a very old cemetery. This cemetery contained quite a few individuals that were born in the seventeen hundreds. I would suppose these were the first settlers venturing down the Federal Road and finding their way into the new interior. It is interesting the overall size of the cleared area. Below the active part of the cemetery is a grass slope that contains as much space as the cemetery proper. I wonder if there are unmarked graves on that slope. The Stone Church was used as a hospital…could there be unmarked Confederates or Union soldiers resting on that grassy slope? That is question that begs more research!
Heading east toward Varnell on the Highway 2…the Catoosa Parkway… I visited Lee Chapel. About three miles below the Rock Church I documented a sign located in the intersection of Highway 2 and Tunnel Hill Road. The sign is titled Campaign for Atlanta Began Here (23-4). In understand Sherman observed his troops moving east from Ringgold from the Lee Home to the north. From this point I continued eastward in Whitfield County for two miles to Varnell. Coming into this town one passes over an elevation known at the Cohutta Ridge. This ridge appears to be a northern extension of Rocky Face and it gives one a view of the mountains east of Dalton. In Varnell I visited a house known as the Varnell Home. In the yard there is a historical marker: Varnell Home ( 155-32). Directly opposite this house is a place called Varnell Spring Branch. I watched a family fill many jugs of the water from this spring…for home use I supposed. Leaving Varnell 201 tracks to the south and west toward Tunnel Hill. Here I visited the Foster Cemetery and noted several Confederate soldiers.
It was getting late so I turned south out of Tunnel Hill. Stopped and got my last Diet Coke of the day and headed home! Thus ended a great Father Day’s gift of a yondering afternoon.
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