High Falls and Indian Springs: The Fall Line in middle Georgia

Work has been so tiring lately. Especially when it's getting warm in the afternoons and you're sent out on difficult missions in strange locations that aren't so welcoming. And if you want some shade and shelter from south metro Atlanta I-75 suburbia, there actually aren't many natural public spaces to choose from. However, just about halfway between Atlanta and Macon, there is a lush section along the fall line escarpment (an ancient coastline) which has two state parks, High Falls and Indian Springs. Both are within a few miles of the interstate, and have been visited/settled for hundreds of years.

The High Falls on the Towaliga River

It was an industrial town in the 1800's, a perfect location for a grist mill. Before that, it was a Creek Indian settlement. The Towaliga rises in Henry County and is mostly flat until the falls, and then it joins the Ocmulgee River just north of Macon. The elevation change is sudden and intense, and separates the upper and lower Piedmont right here. Below the falls, canoeing/kayaking are popular, one of the few locations in middle Georgia.
I arrived not long before sunset, finding the cool spray of the falls totally necessary to counter the humidity of a warm season in the Georgia piedmont. (pictured at top) Then below the falls a little hiding space on the river's edge, with lots of rabbits and other wildlife running past me really made me want to stay.


http://www.gastateparks.org/HighFall

INDIAN SPRINGS

A little further from I-75 is middle Georgia's "Indian Springs," which was also a Creek settlement, then incorporated as a town by the whites, and the land around the spring and the two streams that also join there was bought by the state in 1825 as Georgia's original state park. Recognizing the importance of preserving the spring, the state has resisted offers from private companies to sell the land (for bottling/selling water, for example) because of its renowned healing properties (similar to other cases around the world of the known healing properties of spring water, and the rise and fall of the health resort industry boom in the 20th century).


The Spring House - built by the CCC in the 1930's

The first person to capitalize on the springs' resort potential, ironically, was Creek Chief William McIntosh (the park's lake is named after him). He signed two fateful Treaties of Indian Springs here with the Georgia government; the first in 1821 gave him property of this land, where he built his second plantation and a hotel. It must not have been good enough, because in 1825, he caved in to the whites' quest for the land and signed the second treaty, giving these springs, the Towaliga river and falls, the Ocmulgee basin/Macon, and the area that would become the city of Atlanta (up to the Chattahoochee), including the very spot I am sitting in right now writing this.

I was almost out of water when I arrived at the park, and there were several travelers from Macon and Atlanta who regularly come here with empty jugs and take advantage of the forever free flowing fresh water. The water smells so good here, it smells like life. Not like a truckstop sink or cooler, or surrounded by a ritzy resort.
Thank you, state of Georgia, for preserving this spot!

http://www.gastateparks.org/IndianSprings

from a Broken Bridge, Sweetwater has never seemed sweeter

I've been thinking about ruins lately...
A trip to Sweetwater Creek State Park on the cusp of spring, a tear drop shed as I entered for hearing that amazing sound of rushing water not fifteen minutes from my home. And though it's warm, the trees are still bare, so there are so many clear views of the river all along.
The trail to the mill is well-traveled, so this time I chose to walk upstream, in solitude except for occasional joggers and dogs followed by tag-along men. I'd heard people talk about a bridge here, but I didn't see one, surprising given the lack of leaves. Then around a bend and under a mess of debris and fallen trees:


"It was September's flood that broke this bridge...
the hard work of 15 years by the Army Corps of Engineers!
a mass of green steel beams torn and thrown into the stream.
no human touch, only the hand of nature."
A jogger tells me this as he passes the ruin for the first time. It's going to change his route, he was expecting to cross as many others do.
Who would have thought, from a creek so Sweet, renewing itself again?
This could be a microcosm of the experience for those who lived through Hurricane Katrina, like my friend from Mississippi with whom I shared this story.

I sat on the concrete ledge which once was the bridge for a while, then as the sun was going down I walked down to the Mill area. Later in the day it's not so crowded and the rushing water over the shoals make for the best river experience in metro Atlanta! There is some boardwalk and trail damage too, down here, where volunteers have been working to clean some of this up.
Here's a beautiful view of the river through the mill you can only see when the trees are bare:


I love this park and I will come here again as soon as I can!

For more information about Sweetwater, check out http://www.gastateparks.org/Sweetwater

Osage-Orange 2: update

I returned to Peachtree Creek yesterday, and here is a photo of the Osage-Orange fruit with its majestic tree in the background:


The fruits:


The bark:


And here is a photo of the historic Standing Peachtree site, from Ridgewood Road:

I called the number on the Fort Peachtree website:
http://www.buckhead.net/history/fort-peachtree/index.html
but no answer.
Alas,
Arianna R.F.
10/21/09

Standing Peachtree / Osage-Orange

ADVENTURES IN ATLANTA: Standing Peachtree

Today I tried to visit the place where Peachtree Creek flows into Chattahoochee River, off Marietta Blvd in West Atlanta/Buckhead next to the giant City of Atlanta water treatment plant.
This is the origin of the city, occupied by Creek Indians and visited by white traders until 1814, when Fort Peachtree was built by the military to drive the Creeks out.
The Creek village was known as "Standing Peachtree" due to a single tree (peach or not) on top of a hill or mound overlooking the river. Peachtree Street and all of its descendants are, of course, a reference to this.
Supposedly Fort Peachtree can be visited by the public, but when I drove across the bridge on Ridgewood Drive, I only found a large fenced-off forested area with signs saying "City of Atlanta: Keep Out." No park, no visible fort or even a reference to a public attraction...just a historical marker further on Ridgewood Drive talking about the fort as if it is covered by homes and a neighborhood.
I have a hunch that the Fort, and the settlement remains, and the river confluence, are all behind that fence with the "Keep Out" sign, and that the water treatment plant and overflow facility has taken over the site, deeming it "unsafe" for people to access.
This is a shame, if so - another example of natural and cultural history being carelessly covered in the name of development and industry, not to mention an implication of environmental destruction of the River basin...which, upon research, has been argued multiple times by the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper organization.

Oh, a trip into nature in my beautiful city of Atlanta.

OSAGE-ORANGE REDEMPTION

Luckily, as I drove back through Buckhead following Peachtree Creek upstream, urban park areas began, as the "Atlanta Memorial Park." At one point along the Creek, by Northside Drive, a few Osage-Orange trees grow (and are identified). They have this amazing bumpy large green fruit! The trees are thick and twisty with brown and orange bark. These trees are common in the Mississippi Valley and in the prairies but rare here. I wish I had brought my camera, but I'm going back soon.
Meanwhile, I am going to start referring to Northside Drive as "Osage-Orange Avenue."

-Arianna, R.F.