Memories of Easters Past

The early morning chill made shivers run through my body. I was but a child, maybe seven or eight at the oldest. I stood with other church members from Choestoe Baptist Church on the crest of the hill on the Holt property. From that vantage point, we had an excellent view of the eastern sky. Already it was tinged with streaks of gold and sparkling magenta. At the very first peek of the sun on the horizon, the Easter Sunrise Service began.

This, to my knowledge at least, was the first sunrise service I had ever attended. Our pastor, the Rev. Claud Boynton, who had come to our church when I was age six, was what we call a bi-vocational pastor. For his “real” living, he worked under that inimitable forest ranger, Mr. Arthur Woody, to patrol the forests of our section of north Georgia, to build fire breaks, to build roads, and whatever else was assigned to the forestry workers. And, as an additional—and I might add—called—job, he served as pastor at Choestoe Baptist Church and at Zion and maybe Mt. Lebanon, too, over in Suches community. Later, he would go to full-time status as pastor, with Choestoe and Blairsville First as his charges, and eventually only Blairsville First. But the Easter sunrise service of note was rather early in his career as an outstanding pastor in the hills of North Georgia.

Pastor Boynton had many innovative ideas that we at Choestoe had not experienced before. One of them was to hold an Easter sunrise service. And so we were gathered there, on the crest of the Holt property hill, awaiting the sunrise that early Easter morning.

As I mentioned above, I was cold. Mornings in Choestoe in March or early April (I did not look back to see which month Easter might have fallen, for I really don’t know exactly what year that long-ago sunrise service was held.) Even wrapped in my warmest coat, the early morning cold penetrated, and I wondered if I had been wise to attend the service. Everything about it was new and unusual to my child mind.

But the impression it made has held for my lifetime since then. I became aware at a very early age of how special Easter is. Where there was death and a tomb, there came, instead, resurrection from the dead and an empty grave. Where there was sadness and mourning, there came joy and hope. From that point onward in my life, any time I stood at the grave of one beloved, I did not consider the doom associated with death but the victory in resurrection.

You might say the cold I felt on that long-ago Easter morning when I attended my first sunrise service turned to a warmth in my heart that sees beyond death to life everlasting.

I can see in my mind’s eye the brilliance of the sunrise on that long ago Easter. I return again and again to the words my pastor, the Rev. Claud Boynton read from Matthew 28:1-10 (or maybe he read from Mark 16:1-11, or Luke 24:1-12, or John 20:1-18, all accounts of the resurrection). The experience of that first sunrise service made a deep and lasting impression on me. It changed my perspective on death and dying and gave me hope for life and eternity. How much would I need that hope, and how it grew into fruition a few years later when my beloved aunt, grandfather and my own mother died (I was only fourteen at her death).

So Easter is a time of hope.

It was many years later, 1978, as a matter of fact. It was not even Easter in early spring but July, and heat from the sun in the Holy Land let us (my husband Grover, his sister Estelle and I) know that we were in a strange land. But in a sense, it was not a strange land, for most of my life I had read and heard about the places Jesus frequented when He was in the flesh upon this earth.

My husband and I, in that summer of 1978, were having the privilege of visiting his sister Estelle who was a missionary to the Holy Land. We went together to many of the sites described in the Bible and where Jesus traveled, performed His miracles, taught His disciples. And finally, the sites where He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, was tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin and in the Roman Praetorium, traveled on the Via Dolorosa (The Way of Sorrows), went to the cross on Golgotha, was placed in the tomb offered by Joseph of Arimathea, and then on that glorious First Easter, the tomb was empty.

We experienced seeing the empty tomb and hearing a service of celebration beside it. I thought of times in my husband’s ministry when he had led Easter sunrise services at various churches he pastored. All of those early morning vigils were filled with hope and joy. The visit to Jerusalem and the Garden Tomb was indeed a highlight of my Christian life and journey. But as impressive as the visit to the empty Garden Tomb was in our Holy Land trip, it was no more impressive than that first Easter sunrise service in my memory when the sun burst forth from behind the mountains as the assembly of faithful believers gathered on Holt’s Hill in Choestoe. Resurrection took on a most significant meaning then.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 1, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Beyond the Mountain Haze

Charles Weymon Cook shown with Mrs. Dora Hunter Allison Spiva at her 104th birthday celebration in February, 2009. He read a poem in tribute to her influence upon him as his high school mathematics teacher.

It is seldom that we can read a delightful and revealing story about a mountain family written in poetry, with just enough prose interspersed to make the line quite understandable and appealing.

Charles Weymon Cook who was born to Rufus and Nora Davenport Cook and calls Blairsville his hometown has done just that with his newly-published autobiographical poetry book entitled Beyond the Mountain Haze. Weymon, as he was known growing up in Union, now lives in Macon, Georgia. He is one of those native citizens who has gone out into other places and done well, first as a teacher, and now in his retirement as a writer. In this book paying tribute to his mountain heritage, he has captured in impeccable rhyme and rhythm many aspects of mountain life that are fast passing away under the guise of progress.

What makes the book even more appealing is the fact that its author is what I like to call a “walking miracle.” Charles Weymon Cook underwent heart transplant surgery on September 21, 2000. Not only did he live and do well, but he has been able to write and compile his delightful autobiography in verse and make it available to any who would like to know more about life in the “miracle” dimension of restored health. One way of offering his thanks for the gift of life is this book, well-crafted and pleasing to the eye as well as to the reader. It walks us through woodland paths and family solidarity, helps us meet and greet people significant in his life, and allows us new perspectives on the beauty of nature and the harmony of creation. And with thanks to his beautiful and compassionate wife, a teacher as he, LaVerne Young Cook, and their only child, daughter Christy, who assisted him with manuscript, typesetting and organization for the book, we have for our perusal a volume which I predict the reader will return to again and again.

Charles Weymon Cook’s father was Rufus Cook, “Mr. Ranger,” one of the earlier forest rangers in North Georgia who learned his skills as a forester under the able tutelage of Ranger Arthur Woody. Charles tells us that his father spent 43 years as a U. S. Forest Ranger. Among his skills were certified surveyor, timber-marker, forest-fire fighter, recreational facilities designer and builder, tower radio equipment manager and repairer—whatever the need within the far reaches of the mountain forests, Rufus Cook was there, walking the forests, keeping an eye diligently on the land and its care. Nine of Charles’s poems pay tribute to this giant of a fellow, both in stature and morally and spiritually, who gave him the firm foundation of a solid upbringing. We can sense love in every line in which this poet describes his father. Here’s but a small example from “Mr. Ranger”:

“I thank my God that I was there
To live and love and grow
Amidst the shadow of a giant,
With smiling face aglow.” (p. 65)

His mother, Nora Davenport Cook, has her section in the book. Both parents and their influence are seen throughout the book, but their own sections are especially provocative, leading the reader to recall and appreciate family roots that went deeply into the soil of a developing life and bore fruit in years “beyond the mountain haze.” A descendant of the early Davenport settlers to Union County for whom Davenport Mountain was named, Nora Cook was a stay-at-home mother who worked hard as an avid gardener and a dedicated housewife and mother. She did not tolerate “sassiness,” back-talk, or half-done chores. Her discipline and astuteness to details and homemaking values assured Charles and his siblings that they had a warm loving home where they were taught the principles of life:

“You taught me love with gentle hands,
Encouraging all the way;
You laid the founding cornerstone
By teaching me how to pray.” (p. 54)

I have the recent privilege of being associated with Charles Weymon Cook, teacher, poet, friend, having met him only in recent years through our associations in the Georgia State Poetry Society and the Byron Herbert Reece Society of which we are both members. Occasionally I am able to meet for a meal with him and his wife, LaVerne, or to travel to a meeting together. Having grown up in the same county, Charles and I didn’t know each other back when we were youth. I did know Charles’s older brother, Donald, as we were nearer together in age. The day of Mrs. Dora Hunter Allison Spiva’s 104th birthday celebration in February, 2009, Charles and I were both there and were able to read to her our individual poetic tributes for her profound influence on our lives. She had much to do with each of us choosing and pursuing careers in teaching.

Charles Weymon Cook writes in his “Introduction” to his book, Beyond the Mountain Haze: “My southern style ‘earthy’ verses simply reflect people, places and events that have influenced my life. Some things just tear at the heartstrings and trigger a melody in your soul that you wish to share with friends and neighbors.”

This very modest appraisal by the author of why he had to write the book only goes partially into why he should, indeed, have shared it. He had something to say, and he said it with apparent ease and facility. Find a copy of Beyond the Mountain Haze. My prediction is that you, as I, will return to its pages again and again for inspiration, information and enjoyment. He lifts the haze and allows us to see a miracle heart, restored and ready to give praise to the Creator of all beauty and the Sustainer of life. And this he does in understandable, sensitive and positive poetry. Congratulations, Charles Weymon Cook, mountain lad grown to productive citizen, whose knowledge and appreciation of family, environment and associations shine forth from the pages of your book.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 18, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Why Reverend Claud Cole Boynton Remained in the Mountains

Last week’s column gave a brief review of the history book produced by First Baptist Church, Blairsville, Georgia. I highly commend it to your reading.

I want to add some more information to the biographical sketch on pages 74 and 75 that tells of Rev. Claud Cole Boynton’s ten-year tenure as pastor of First Baptist Church, Blairsville (1944-1954). He was well-beloved by many, and served not only First Baptist of Blairsville, but Choestoe Baptist (my home church), Zion and Mt. Lebanon in Suches, and others.

He and his bride, the former Annis Grace Ozmer, came to the mountains to Lake Winfield Scott for a vacation before they planned to move on to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ranger Arthur Woody met the young preacher, a graduate of Mercer University. The Ranger found out that he was a good speaker and that his exegesis of the Scripture was sound. In addition, the young preacher had a marvelous singing voice and had been on an evangelistic team not only as a preacher but as a baritone soloist as well.

The report goes that Ranger Woody talked to Rev. Boynton, telling him of the dearth of good Bible-teaching preachers at that time in the mountains (about the mid-1930s). Ranger Woody made arrangements for him to preach in revivals at some of the mountain churches in the Suches area. Crowds came to hear the young, enthusiastic preacher. A harvest of souls and baptisms were encouraging.

Ranger Woody prevailed up Rev. Boynton to remain in the mountains. He supposedly said to him, “You can get enough training right here in these mountains where we need a good preacher so badly. You don’t have to go away to seminary.” Furthermore, Ranger Woody promised the young preacher a job working as a supervisor in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a job which provided a meager living for the young couple. That was arranged, and Rev. Boynton worked with “the boys” of the C. C. C., as a chaplain and also a supervisor as the young men built roads and fire towers, put out forest fires and planted trees. Rev. Boynton preached on Sundays and Wednesday nights at part-time churches.

Without availability at this writing of the Notla River Baptist Association minutes to verify just when Rev. Boynton assumed leadership of Choestoe Baptist Church, I will say it was about 1936 or 1937. He was also pastor at the same time at Zion in Suches, preaching on alternate Sundays at the churches. He therefore became my pastor when I was young, and remained with us until Blairsville First Baptist became “full-time,” at which time he resigned Choestoe and became Blairsville’s full-time minister (August, 1953).

He often liked to state of his work in the mountains: “I came here on a vacation and spent the rest of my life serving God in these mountains.”

He was an apt teacher of the Word of God, and often led what we then called “study courses” for members of his congregation, with the studies focused on particular books of the Bible. He was a lover of young people, and ever encouraged them to get education beyond high school. He was good at knowing how to assist them to apply for and receive scholarships for college studies. He introduced Vacation Bible Schools as part of the summer programs of every church he pastored in the mountains. The Georgia Baptist Sunday School Department had provision for leadership help, a lady they sent to live among the people and assist with Vacation Bible Schools until the churches developed their own leaders under the encouragement of Rev. Boynton.

He was very active in community affairs. He served as Union County’s representative to the Georgia Legislature for several terms. He was an able speaker and was often invited not only to civic clubs in Union County but elsewhere as guest lecturer.

When the movement began in the mid-1940s to establish Truett McConnell College, it was Rev. Boynton who sent out letters and called a meeting of interested persons at First Baptist Church, Blairsville. At first, the charter was drawn for the college to be located in Blairsville, but Cleveland, Georgia had the largest donation of lands and money, and the college went there. Change of location did not preclude Rev. Boynton’s hard work for the fledgling college. He served on its first Board of Trustees, and went far and wide over the state of Georgia speaking on behalf of the college to raise funds.

He was my pastor at Choestoe from about 1936 until following my husband’s ordination to the gospel ministry. He was my counselor and spiritual advisor when I became a Christian at age nine. He baptized me. When my mother died in 1945, he comforted my family and conducted her funeral. When my brother returned, wounded, from World War II, he was there to encourage. He helped me to get a work-study scholarship to attend Truett McConnell College. He counseled Grover and me prior to our marriage in 1949, and officiated at our wedding ceremony. Later, when Grover announced his call to the gospel ministry, Rev. Boynton was the first one we told. He arranged for and presided over the ordination presbytery when Rev. Grover Jones was ordained on August 19, 1951.

Rev. Boynton died at a young age, 61, following a heart attack. His call to pastoral work in the mountains came in an unusual way—from a visitor on vacation here to a person who became one with the churches, people and needs of the mountains. His tombstone and those of his wife and their beloved daughter are in the Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery. When you see the tombstones, I challenge you to think of the dash between the dates, representative of all the good work the Boynton family expended in the mountains of North Georgia, and the broad-reaching influence he wielded through his faithful calling:

Rev. Claud Cole Boynton, June 26, 1893 – November 13, 1954
Annis Grace Ozmer Boynton, October 26, 1893 – August 7, 1981
Mary Boynton Wehunt, August 4, 1914 – December 17, 1946

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Sept. 24, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Focusing on the Chattahoochee- Oconee National Forests

Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now.

These lines from poet George Pope Morris [1802- 1864] might well have been written in protest to the widespread devastation of virgin forests that existed in the nineteenth century as trees were felled for lumber to supply the demand for building better houses. People wanted nicer dwellings than the log cabins that characterized the early-settlement period of our mountain lands.

As we saw the life and times of Jim Berry, last of the "true mountaineers" in the last two columns here, we learned that he was an employee of the Vogel-Pfister Land Company that dealt mainly in harvesting trees for timber in the Southern Appalachians.

Following the Civil War, a proliferation of timber harvesting occurred in this mountain region. The work of cutting trees and getting them to sawmills set up on streams provided much-needed employment. Very little attention was given to environmental practices and preserving the land or its forests. Large land companies, with an eye for the timber market, bought up lands the early settlers had received in either gold lots or land lots. The lands were cut over and many chestnut, oak, and hemlock trees yielded bark for tanning businesses and lumber for houses. It was a perilous time for mountain forests. The mountain landowners, many owing taxes on their acreage, sold land for as little as $1.00 per acre. Capitalists took advantage of a poverty-level situation and amassed land once rich with virgin timber. The plea of Morris's poem, "Touch not a single bough!" went unheeded. Former farmers sought refuge in the "lumber camps" that sprang up. There they found shelter and subsistence wages.

Erosion set in. Wildfires were prevalent. With forest deadenings widespread, floods came, with nothing to prevent the water from taking the topsoil in formerly productive farmlands. It was a sad and ruinous time. A voice was heard among all the destruction. His name was Gifford Pinchot, one of the first environmentalists. He urged that government and citizens do something about the "burned, slashed, and over-grazed forest." President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in, and in 1901 he ordered that "the preservation of the mountain forests should no longer be left to the caprice of private capital."

The famous Weeks Act was passed in the US Congress on March 1, 1911. In this Act, the U. S. Department of Agriculture was authorized to purchase lands that had been cut over and denuded. Gifford Pinchot's pleas had been heard. The slow process of restoration was set in motion. It did not happen quickly, for growing trees takes time. Restoring natural resources is a slow process.

Out of the Weeks Act grew the National Forest Service Reservation Commission. In 1911, large tracts of mountain land, about 31,000 acres in all, in Union, Fannin, Lumpkin and Gilmer Counties were purchased for $7.00 per acre. The seller was the Gennett Land and Lumber Company of Atlanta, Georgia. The purchase became official on August 29, 1912. A small portion of the lands acquired by the National Forest Service still had stands of virgin timber, but most of the land had been cut-over, cleared, or desecrated through careless industrial cutting and logging.

Another aspect of this era of mountain history shows a decline in population. For example, Union County statistics reveal that population dropped over ten percent from 1900 through 1910. Due to the ecological changes brought about by environmental excesses, people had to leave to find work elsewhere. The poor mountain farms could not support the population. The "westward" movement to Colorado and other western states and influx to manufacturing towns like Gainesville, Dalton and Atlanta accounted for the population decrease.

The Gennett Purchase began the stewardship of forest lands that would eventually lead to formation of the Chattahoochee National Forest in 1936. At first, these lands were incorporated into the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests in Tennessee and North Carolina. Gifford Pinchot's pleas were being heeded. Goals were set for reforestation, planting of new trees. Management of soil, water and wildlife were incorporated into the plan.

Two important names emerge in this early period of National Forest management. Ranger Roscoe Nicholson was the first Forest Ranger in the North Georgia Region. His area was the Tallulah Ranger District. Ranger Arthur Woody of Union County also made a name for himself as he was employed by the Forest Service. They patrolled with an iron will. They used trained bloodhounds to trace down forest arsonists. The first fire towers were built by them and the men they employed—Union County's at Brasstown Bald. Ranger Woody used his own money to stock streams with trout and the forests with deer when these were not forthcoming from Forest Service funds. Ranger Nick and Ranger Woody were brave pioneers who set the pace for later practices that were expanded and enforced.

Credit is due President Franklin Roosevelt's programs to help the nation recover from the Great Depression that began in earnest in October of 1929. During his presidency, beginning in 1932, his "Alphabet Projects" tackled the job market and supplied workers for needed efforts to bring America back into competitive production. The Civilian Conservation Corps was organized in 1933. Camp Woody near Suches and the CCC Camp at Goose Creek on Highway 129 had the boys working to plant trees, check tree blights and insect infestations, build firetowers, fight forest fires, build roads and Vogel State Park. A new day dawned for the mountain forests of North Georgia.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published October 2, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

How Some Places in Union County Were Named

The Suches area of Union County is "across the mountain" from the county seat of Blairsville, a large mountainous area somewhat isolated until more modern roads were built in the 1930s and 40s. Suches contains three militia districts, Cooper's Creek, Canada and Gaddistown. How did Suches get its name?

Go back a long ways to the time the Cherokee Indians inhabited the area of Union County. Cherokee Chief Suches was the major chief of the area "beyond the mountains."

When the United States government gave orders to move the Cherokee west to Oklahoma, Chief Suches cooperated by giving General Winfield Scott, commander of the U.S. Army commissioned to move the Cherokee on what now is known as the Trail of Tears, a census of the Cherokee population of his domain.

Why Chief Suches would side with the U.S. government to assist General Scott with the exodus has been lost in the mists of time. Did the chieftain realize that the Cherokee homelands would succumb to the white man's rule? Did he see no other hope for his people than to have them vacate their mountain home? Did the white man's greed for land and gold supercede any thoughts of preserving the Cherokee's domain?

Whatever the answers, Chief Suches helped Scott to locate and round up the Cherokee families of his area. As a tribute to this Indian chief, the land in Union County "over the mountain" in the southwest section of the county that adjoins Fannin County on the west and Lumpkin County on the east is known as Suches. When you travel the picturesque route to this area of Union County, you might like to imagine that it was once the domain of Cherokee Chief Suches and his braves.

A placid lake in the region is named Winfield Scott after the General who not only led the Indian removal but who, during the Civil War, served as a commander in the U.S. Army. So popular was he that he received two nominations to run for president of the United States, but he never made it to that high office. Many believed Scott's lack of support for the presidency stemmed from his infamous part in the Indian Removal.

Woody Gap is the gap in the mountains through which Georgia Highway 180 winds southwest to meet Georgia Highway 60 at Suches. Woody Gap, Woody Lake in Suches, and Woody Gap School were all named for Union County's beloved Forest Ranger Arthur Woody and early Woody settlers there. John Woody, Ranger Woody's paternal grandfather, was a founder of North Georgia Agricultural College at Dahlonega. John Woody had also fought with the U.S. Army at the famed battle of Gettysburg, bearing a U.S. flag which has become a treasured legacy of the Woody family.

Known as "the barefoot ranger," Arthur Woody began working for the Forest Service in 1912 as a surveyor. His love for the forest and outdoorsman expertise were recognized and in 1918 he became Georgia's first forest ranger over the newly-established Blue Ridge District of the Chattahoochee National Forest. His work with the Civilian Conservation Corps and his efforts to bring the deer back to the forests and stock the lakes with trout, bass and bream are notable.

Likewise, he wanted better education for the Suches community. Plans began in 1936 to build a school that would consolidate the scattered schools of Mt. Lebanon, Mt. Zion, Cooper's Creek, Sprigg's Chapel and Valley into one complex. Arthur Woody and his son Walter made numerous trips to Atlanta on behalf of establishing the consolidated school. These men bought the land that was formerly owned by the Governor Joseph E. Brown family and gave it for the school site. The building was constructed, using native stone. In 1941 the school opened in January, at mid-term. Through thick and thin, the school has maintained its position in the annals of Georgia education as an "isolated" school, and continues to this day. It was named to honor the Woodys, father and son, who labored long to get the school located in Suches.

Now to the three militia districts in Suches. How did Canada get its name? It is believed that some of the early settlers there thought their new mountain home resembled areas of Canada, and thus the name. Who knows? As for Cooper's Creek and Gaddistown, these names can definitely be traced to early settlers by the same name. On the fast-flowing streams, the pioneers who had known how to build and operate grist mills in North Carolina and Tennessee used their expertise to channel the mountain streams for water power and to establish mills. With mills built, roads had to be cut for settlers to have a path wide enough for their wagons to bring grains to be ground. Civilization was slow coming to this remote mountainous area of Georgia. Now citizens enjoy not only the beauty and majesty of surrounding mountains but the relative quiet and solitude of their mountain homes. Place names pay tribute to those who have gone before.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 15, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Georgia’s highest peak – Brasstown Bald

Both Union and Towns counties claim portions of Georgia's highest mountain, Brasstown Bald. Before Towns County was formed from Union in 1856, the mountain lay within the boundaries of Union. After Union was divided out to form Towns, the highest part of Brasstown Bald Mountain--also known as Enotah Bald--lay in Towns.

The name of the mountain was called Enotah by the Cherokee Indians who once inhabited the area. After the gold rush of 1828 when white settlers rushed pell-mell into the area seeking yellow riches around Nacoochee Valley and Dahlonega, and even into Union County later at the Coosa Gold Mines, they confused two names the Indians called the highest peak: it-se-ye meant "fresh green"; unt-sai-yi meant "brass".

The latter, for brass, was attached to this highest mountain in the Wolfpen Range. It rises through the mists, fogs and clouds to 4,784 feet. A peak to the southwest is Blood Mountain which reaches a height of 4,458 feet. Legend holds that the Cherokee considered Blood in greater reverence than Enotah Bald, unusual for the Indians who normally named sacred the highest peak in their area.

Perhaps their reverence for Blood goes back to the battle between the Cherokee and the Creek nations for sovereignty of the mountain region when it is said that Wolf Creek, originating high on Blood Mountain, ran red with the blood of brave warriors.

The Indians also had a story for what happened on Enotah Bald. A great flood once covered the earth. It killed all except those in a great canoe which landed on top of Enotah. The land was cleared on top of this high mountain by the Cherokee to make crops for sustenance. The "fresh green" –it-se-ye--for them meant renewed life after the trauma of the flood. It-se-ye could also have referred to "cloud forest" on Brasstown Bald. Even to this day an area of Georgia's tallest peak has a portion on the northeast section watered by moisture-laden clouds. There in this "mountain rain forest" lichen-covered birch trees, wild flowers such as laurel and rhododendron, various herbs, giant wood fern, allium (the common ramp of "ramp tramp" fame), ash, oak, willow, beach and even an occasional sugar maple (somehow imported from northeastern sugar maple stands) grow and thrive in this “cloud forest.” If anyone tries to walk in this area he may be hampered by lichen-covered damp rocks on which footing can be very insecure.

The tower at Brasstown Bald.

The first tower on Brasstown Bald (Enotah) Mountain was built in the early 1920's by the Pfister-Vogel Logging Company. It was constructed of chestnut and locust wood, and rose on the peak so that watchers could see smoke from any forest fires within the areas where the lumber company was conducting logging operations.

Brasstown Bald now stands in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. Between 1911 and 1930, the government bought approximately 743,000 acres of forest land and set it aside as a preserve. The present facilities of Brasstown Bald are open from May through October, with weekends open in November.

Much credit is due Ranger Arthur Woody for measures that led to preservation of forests in the north Georgia area. He wanted to see the forests that had been riddled from the thirst for virgin timber restored to refuges for wildlife and tall trees, deer in the forests, fish in the streams. He worked diligently to encourage the government to buy lands for forest preserves.

The second tower at Bald Mountain, built in 1935 by the "CCC boys" (Civilian Conservation Corps) was the dream of Ranger Woody. He sat at his kitchen table and drew plans for the stone and wood tower that replaced the old wooden tower constructed in the early 1920s. After World War II, the Woody Stone Tower was replaced by a steel tower in 1947. The present structures, visitor's center, and educational facilities with the thought-provoking "Man and the Mountain" program, recount the history of the area through various eras.

October is normally a time of "bright blue weather." If you have not visited Bald Mountain recently, perhaps you would like to choose a clear day in October to take your family up this highest peak in Georgia. You can ride a shuttle all the way from the parking area to the top. Or, if you are physically agile and want the challenge, you can climb the one-half mile trail to the top. Those who know about such statistics say that it rises 500 feet in elevation in the one-half mile, and is equivalent to walking 1,000 miles north. From the 360-degree observation deck on a clear day, you can view some of the most spectacular vistas in Georgia, and even into other states. Every time I have visited Brasstown Bald (several times in my lifetime) I have always been awed by the majesty and beauty of the Wolfpen Ridges reaching out in all directions, our beautiful Southern Appalachians.

c 2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Sept. 7, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

No Coincidence: To Learn of the Late Emma Lena Nix Dyer (1889-1955)

Webster defines “coincidence” as “the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection.”

Notice that coincidence is “by accident,” but that the events can also “seem to have some connection.”

Writer Haddon Chambers in the early twentieth century in his drama, “Captain Swift,” spoke of “The long arm of coincidence.” The English poet Lord Byron wrote, “’A strange coincidence’ to use a phrase/ By which such things are settled now-a-days.” Thomas Hardy, writing on the destruction of “The Titanic,” likened the glacier and the giant liner being “on paths coincident—twin halves of one august event/’Till the Spinner of the Years/Said ‘Now!’.”

So far, nothing as cataclysmic as the wreck of the Titanic has occurred, and we would hope that it would not. But indeed, it was “the long arm of coincidence,” and, we believe, intervention by the “Spinner of Years” that Bruce Dyer of Dalton and I came to have a telephone conversation a few weeks ago, and it was from him I began to learn of his beloved grandmother, the late Emma Lena Nix Dyer, about whom he wanted to know more information.

It happened like this, in a string of “brought together” coincidences (or, as Bruce and I now believe, it was no ‘accident’). Someone in Dalton where Bruce Dyer owns and operates several carpet-tufting mills took him a copy of “The Union Sentinel.” It was the issue when we were pleading with Dyers and Southers everywhere to attend the July 15 Dyer-Souther Reunion, and especially to attend the 3:00 p.m. ceremony that day that would review the contributions of inventor Micajah Clark Dyer (1822-1891) as a portion of Georgia Highway 180 was named in his honor.

“This has something about the Dyers,” the donor of the paper said to Bruce Dyer. “I thought you would like to read it.”

And with that coincidental giving of the paper, Bruce Dyer was furnished with my telephone number. This was after the reunion happening on July 15, but he called me and we talked a long time. He didn’t know much about his connections to the Dyers, except that his grandmother, Emma Lena Nix had married David Marcus Dyer. Beyond that, he had no inkling of whether or not he was in the direct line of Micajah Clark Dyer. I told him I had a few resources I could check, and I would be back with him in a few weeks. With that one telephone conversation, we struck a rapport, and I wanted, if possible, to help Bruce Dyer, businessman, connect with his ancestors.

To make a long story short, I had great success in tracing Bruce Dyer’s roots back to his great, great grandfather, Micajah Clark Dyer, and even beyond the inventor to the first known Dyers in the line. Furthermore, I was able to trace the roots of his grandmother, Emma Lena Nix, back to the earliest known Nixes in America. I had help, of course, from online sources, from genealogy buffs like myself, Linda Trader Jordan of Gainesville, Dr. Joe Turner of Gainesville, and the five books of genealogy my cousin Watson Benjamin Dyer published from 1967 through 1988, and a helpful tome, “The Nix Family Tree,” published by Wanda West Gregory in 1980.

I could hardly pull the wonderful information together fast enough and send to Bruce Dyer. On August 28 I had the second telephone call from him, thanking me profusely for my efforts and assuring me that he and his two sons, Mark and Jeff, who are in the carpet business with him in Dalton, were delighted with the results of my findings and were trying to absorb the various family connections I had unraveled for them.

Since the subject of this column set out to be about Emma Lena Nix Dyer (1889-1955), I will continue with that subject, and a lofty subject she turned out to be, indeed.

Emma Lena Nix was born November 22, 1889 in Union County, Georgia, the fifth of eight children of John Wesley Nix (1-5-1863 – 10-13-1896) and Minty Lavada Reece Nix (2-12-1863 – 8-6-1933). Emma Lena married David Marcus Dyer (1885-?) on January 6, 1907 in Union County. The couple lived in the Owltown District of Union County. David (“Dave”) was a son of Robert F. Dyer (1856 - ?) and Elizabeth Fortenberry Dyer (1856-?). And Robert F.’s parents were Micajah Clark Dyer (1822-1891) and Morena Owenby Dyer (1819-1892). Indeed, I had easily traced Bruce Dyer’s lineage on the Dyer side back to the nineteenth century inventor of the “Apparatus for Navigating the Air.” And on the Nix side, back through John Wesley, Archibald Carr, James, William “Grancer”, and John Nix.

Bruce knew some information about his grandmother whom he loved dearly. He told me when they held her funeral in Whitfield County, Georgia following her death on July 12, 1955, that “crowds of people came out of the mountains (around Owltown, Union County) to pay their respects. She and David Marcus Dyer had lived in Owltown until they moved to Dalton about 1946. She had been a noted mid-wife in the era before doctors were readily available to attend births around the countryside in Owltown. Those who came to her funeral were some of the grown-up children she had delivered, and their elderly parents who appreciated what this good woman had done for their families.

Emma Lena Nix Dyer was a devoutly religious woman. She and her family attended the Church of God in the Owltown Community. One summer, a Rev. Woody was leading a revival, and Mrs. Dyer got “in the Spirit,” and in her state of spiritual ecstasy, she walked around inside the church building with her hands raised, praising the Lord. Rev. Woody fell in behind her, and so did most of the congregation. When Mrs. Dyer sat down, the preacher went back to the pulpit and resumed his preaching and the congregation seated themselves and sat listening.

She did most of her trading with traveling peddlers who came by the Dyer house in Owltown. She saved up eggs, and caught fryer chickens to barter for goods from the peddler’s wagon (or, in later years, his truck). She also was noted for the produce she canned from her garden and orchard, and often traded pickles, jams, jellies and vegetables for the peddler’s wares. When the peddler got back to town, people rushed to his wagon to see what Mrs. Emma Lena Dyer had traded. They wanted first choice of her goods, knowing that they were “put up” with care and attention to detail.

After World War II, the Dyer family moved from Owltown District to Dalton, Whitfield County. David Marcus Dyer was a carpenter by trade. He worked for awhile in Atlanta, building houses, until they moved to Dalton. There both of Bruce Dyer’s grandparents died and were buried. The lineages on “both sides” of this family, Nix and Dyer, show a line of stalwart pioneers, salt-of-the-earth people who lived by high moral and religious standards, treated their fellowmen with respect, and left a legacy of hard work and stability.

c 2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Aug. 31, 2006 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

More Early Union County Post Offices

With double emphases in April on Confederate Memorial and History Month and National Poetry Month, I addressed this column to those two subjects for the past four weeks. We will continue with some more early post offices that once operated in Union County, a series I began earlier.

Let me digress here to thank those who attended the Souther Mill Site and Historical Marker Dedication service on Saturday, April 30. Despite the inclement weather, we did not have rain at the time of the meeting in the afternoon. A large crowd gathered to pay tribute to Jesse Willliam Souther, Jr. who founded the grist mill and sawmill. We thank John Paul Souther, grandson of the mill’s founder, and Theodore Thomas, great, great, great grandson, for their hard work in making the program possible and Mr. Thomas, in particular, for building the shelter that houses the historical marker and pictures at the old mill site. Another marker has been placed with the display of turbines from the mill at Union County Museum Annex, the Butt House. If you did not attend the program, you are invited to see the markers and pictures of the mills.

Today Union County has two post offices—Blairsville and Suches. With all the modern means of transporting the mail, it is hard for us to imagine that in post office history since Coosa, the first, was founded in 1833, the year following Union’s founding, the county has had a total of sixty-four named post offices at fifty-nine sites throughout the county.

Oftentimes in pioneer days, the post office was in a store or in a home. And both the post office and the store could have been in a room of the post master’s home.

Several post offices operated in Canada District. The first, according to record, was named Gaddistown to honor early settlers there, a family named Gaddis. The application was approved June 15, 1848 with John D. Cavender as first post master. Mail came to the new post office from Dahlonega. Gaddistown operated for a total of 107 years under the same name but moving to locations within a mile-square area of the first post office. Several men and women were in charge of the post office for its more than a century of operation: John D. Cavender, Newton K. Williams, A. H. Pitner, Lewis W. Gilreath, Squire E. Jones, John C. Cavender, Essie Brookshire, :Lottie Cavender, Arthur Grizzle, Lottie Cavender (second time), Mrs. Alma M. McDougald. The Warren McDougald’s rock dwelling house was the last location of Gaddistown postoffice.

Quebec post office was named as a complement to the name Canada for the district. Quebec was established August 31, 1881 with Eli P. McGee as first postmaster. The next postmaster at Quebec was Grant Woody. He operated the post office in his Service Spring Hotel at Miller Gap. The hotel, more like a boarding house, was the mountain vacation location of wealthy planters from the south. There in the basement of the hotel was a bar dispensing mountain moonshine and also an ingenious water trough reputedly carrying mineral springs water good for health. Later when all signs of the hotel were removed, the new owners of the land found the mineral water gum log water trough containing old iron implements over which the “mineral water” had passed, probably to give the water its “mineral” or iron content. Following hotel owner Grant Woody’s term as postmaster, two more men served at Quebec as postmasters: John Holloway and William E. Burnett. On April 30, 1907, Quebec post office was closed and the mail routed through the Suches station. Quebec had operated almost twenty-six years.

A wholesale grocer of Dahlonega, Georgia had a good idea for increasing his business and making products not grown on the farms of Canada District more available to citizens. John Cannon, Wholesaler, had a line of groceries, dry goods and hardware. It was very likely that John Cannon helped Eli McGee set up the Gaddistown post office and establish a store there. Bill Davis had opened a store and John Cannon persuaded him that he should send application to open a post office in his store. Suches opened March 6, 1886. Suches was the name of an Indian chieftain who once lived in the valley near the Bill Davis store site. Interestingly enough, John Cannon himself was first postmaster listed with the US Post Office Department. It is very likely that the store owner, Bill Davis, did the postal work. On July 20, 1887, Bill Davis was officially made the postmaster. During its one-hundred twenty-one years of operation, a long list of postmasters have served. The office moved several times. The Lunsford Store owners operated the post office.

The present location near the intersection of Highways 180 and 60 has a stately brick building near the Woody Gap School. Rural routes operate from Suches to take the mail to families living in the valleys once ruled over by Indian Chief Suches.

(Next week: More on other Canada District post offices.)

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 3, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Arthur Woody, Forest Ranger Extraordinary

Ranger Arthur Woody
From sketch by artist Mary Beth Stager

Woody was an appropriate last name for this pioneer in Georgia forestry, for he loved the virgin forests, the undulating hills that surrounded the Woody family cabin, the sparkling mountain streams, the cry of whippoorwills and other birds, and the passing seasons that painted his domicile with variegated landscapes.

Legend holds that he saw his father shoot the last white-tail deer in the forest at a time when there were no laws in these mountains to protect them. He resolved then that when he grew up he would do whatever it took to bring the deer back to the forests and to prevent their extinction from over-hunting.

William Arthur Woody was born April 1, 1884 in a log cabin in Suches, Union County, Georgia. His parents were Abraham Lincoln Woody and Eliza Ingram Woody. His great grandparents were Jonathan Wesley Woody and Axey Seabolt Woody. He assisted his father on their farm and with their herds of cattle that roamed unhampered and pastured in the mountains. At time to sell them, he and his father would drive the cattle to market in Atlanta, a trip that took at least ten days. He learned early to work hard, to persevere, to set goals and strive toward them.

Arthur Woody’s early education was in the small one-room school near his home in Suches. At about age sixteen, he entered North Georgia College, Dahlonega, an institution his great grandfather had assisted in founding. But academic life was not for the outdoors-loving Woody. After a year of study there, he returned to Suches and continued to help on the farm and with cattle drives.

He married Nancy Emma Abercrombie whom he affectionately called “June.” She was from a third-generation Suches family. To them were born three children: Walter W. Woody (July 13, 1902); Clyne Edward Woody (April 30, 1905); and Mae Woody (July 15, 1907). The sons followed in their father’s footsteps and became foresters. Mae became a teacher.

He began his career with the U. S. Forest Service on October 1, 1912 as an axeman on a baseline crew. He gained valuable knowledge on forest fire control.

He soon advanced to surveyor for lands acquired by the forest service. On May 1, 1915 he was sworn in as a forest guard with the assignment of protection of forestry lands from fire, trespassers and poachers. On July 1, 1918 he became the first official Forest Ranger of Georgia, and among the first in the nation. His area was the Blue Ridge District that later became the Chattahoochee National Forest.

On the test to become a ranger, Woody was questioned on basics of life in the forest which he had mastered since youth. Among them were saddling and riding a horse, building a campfire with only flint and sticks, tying certain knots in rope, skills with which he was familiar as a man of the mountains.

To fulfill his promise to restock the mountains with deer, he first rescued three male deer left behind by a traveling circus from Wisconsin. Then he bought five fawn with his own money from the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. He named them Nimble, Bessie, Billy, Nancy and Bunnie-Girl. He fed them with a bottle and they became pets. When they were strong enough to make it on their own, he released them to the forest. He added more deer to the herd, carefully protecting them from hunters.

To deter hunters, Woody discovered a large bear track, perfectly formed. He made a plaster cast of it and used it to make ominous bear tracks near his deer preserve to discourage poachers. By 1941, the deer population had grown to about 2,000.

His next conservation effort was to restock the mountain streams with rainbow and speckled trout. These he had shipped into the Gainesville train depot from Denver, Colorado, the first shipment arriving in 1918. Clyne Woody recalled that he and his father met the train and hauled the barrels of fish by truck to the foot of the mountain and from there by wagon across Grassy Gap. Woody, his sons and others hand-distributed the fish to the cold mountain streams. He also ordered shipments from Washington State.

During President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps was founded to give young unemployed men a job and to provide income for needy families. During this “New Deal” period, Ranger Woody used many of the young men to build roads, string telephone lines, and protect the forests from fires.

Building dams on streams was another work of the CCC boys. At Dockery Lake near Suches, Woody, tiring of government bureaucracy, drew up specifications himself and had the dam built. When the engineers came they adamantly said the dam would not hold and had two more erected downstream. The first flood following hard rains washed away the two government-order dams, but the one Woody had erected using his own natural skills as an engineer held firm.

“Do what needs to be done and get permission later,” was his mode of operation.

He was known for his humor and philosophizing. When the road from Stone Pile Gap to Suches was being paved, Woody took some of the gravel and had it assayed for gold content and discovered that it yielded $30 of gold per ton. Asked why he allowed the gold-laden gravel to be used, his wry comment was, “Wal, I wanted at least one government road in this county to be worth what it cost.”

Trying to cheer up a friend who was down, Woody used the mountains as metaphor: “These mountains must be a little human. They go through periods of being dark and cold, and it looks like night will never end. But I’ve been watching it for nigh onto 60 years and it always does.”

He once tore up a lien against property when a mountain farmer died still owing Woody money. Asked by his wife why he did that, he told her to tell the widow when she came inquiring that the debt had been settled before the farmer died.

Woody Gap School stands as a monument to Ranger Arthur Woody. Situated on land donated by Woody, built of stone from his quarry, and lumber sawed at his sawmill, the school has operated since 1941, an isolated school with excellence in education its goal.

The tall man among tall timbers died June 10, 1946. He had been instrumental in building the new Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church sanctuary, as he said, to have a place big enough for his funeral. But that summer day, the crowd of over 1,500 attending his service could not begin to find seating in the church building he loved. By his request, he was laid to rest in the church cemetery, facing Black Mountain, so that “on the resurrection morning he could rise up and see if his forests had been properly preserved.”

Sosebee Cove on the road between Vogel State Park and Suches is a memorial to William Arthur Woody. He negotiated the sale of 178 acres from F. Alonzo Sosebee on February 16, 1925 and it became a part of his Blue Ridge Ranger District and the Chattahoochee National Forest. Within the confines of this preservation are numerous trees that make the spot a botanist’s dream.

Today we enjoy the benefits of forest preserves because Ranger Woody cared enough to begin early efforts in Georgia to save them for posterity. Only their continuous preservation will remain a fitting and ongoing tribute to the “bare-foot,’ untraditional forester, W. Arthur Woody, forest ranger extraordinary.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 3, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Civilian Conservation Corps.

Perhaps some of you reading this column served in the CCCs, the Civilian Conservation Corps. Or perhaps you had a father, uncle, cousin or brother who worked in “FDR’s Tree Army” as this organization was called.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was born out of hard times in our country. The stock market crash occurred in October, 1929. The Great Economic Depression set in, and jobs were hard to come by.

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt became a Democratic candidate for president in 1932, he campaigned on the platform of restoring our country “to its former beauty,” providing jobs for young men, and taking measures that would conserve America’s natural resources. He was elected president and his “New Deal” proposals began. Someone, looking back on President Roosevelt’s terms in office, have noted that he instituted an “Alphabet Soup” of programs to begin the process of making America economically secure and growing a strong nation. One of FDR’s first acts to sign into law on March 31, 1933 was for the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Right away, in April of 1933, the first induction began.

The plan was to enlist men between the ages of 18 and 25, at first 250,000 strong, to “preserve the natural resources of these United States.” Before it was dissolved in 1942, the CCC had enrolled over two million young men working coast to coast, with up to 300,000 of them serving at a given time. When the United States entered World War II, many of the young men who had been in the CCC were inducted into military service. They were already accustomed to barracks life, discipline and hard work.

What was life like in the Civilian Conservation Corps? First, each young man inducted was guaranteed a salary of $30.00 per month. This does not sound like much money now, but in a period of deep depression when cash was scarce, a regular salary was a God-send. Of the $30.00, each enlistee was required to send $25.00 home to wife or parents or guardians to help them with finances. The CCC boy could keep $5.00 per month, his allowance for items at the commissary, for postage, or even for savings when he should be out of the CCC. Barracks, much like a military base, made up the living quarters. The men had rotating duties like KP (Kitchen Patrol), guard duty, clean-up detail, and their regular assignments of work.

Reforestation was one of the major tasks of “FDR’s Tree Army,” and became the job from which the Corps received its nickname. Large timber companies had moved in previously with sawmills and riddled the virgin forests in most places where trees once grew in abundance. The camps throughout the area that is now the Chattahoochee and Oconee National Forest had the men working to replant trees. This task alone was of great benefit to America and fulfilled one of President Roosevelt’s aims, “of restoring the country to its former beauty.” This project of conservation set the pace for subsequent forest management and wilderness areas.

Fire prevention was another of the conservation projects, with fire towers built at strategic locations to provide a watch for conflagration that could easily destroy acres of timberland. The first tower at Brasstown Bald Mountain was built by Ranger Arthur Woody and a crew of CCC boys.

Building roads was another major task. Automobiles were becoming a little more common as the economic depression lifted. But roads in many areas were little more than buggy or wagon routes. Crews graded and paved roads, making them more accessible to automotive travel.

Building dams on streams to help control flood damage was a major project. In certain areas where hydro-electric power was to be generated, these dams proved invaluable to future economic conditions and in providing electricity. The dam at Vogel State Park, though not one in the system of hydro-electric dams, is an example of the work of the CCC and was an early Georgia State Parks construction project. Likewise, the dam at Lake Winfield Scott in Union County was built by the CCC.

Camps to house the recruits to the CCC were at first in tents near work sites. Then part of the work was to build barracks, more permanent housing for the enlistees. Within the CCC campground would be the sleeping barracks, a common building used for cafeteria, classrooms, and meetings, and storage buildings for equipment and vehicles. Camp Enotah near Vogel State Park was one of the barracks locations. Camp Woody at Suches was another in Union County.

Those who remember their days at the CCC Camp say they expected to work hard. They received three “square” meals a day, pay for their labor, and some were given opportunity to learn to read and write if they were illiterate when they joined, or to take more advanced classes after work hours.

For the hard years of the 1930s, it was as good a way of life as some young men could find. Their needs were provided, including clothing, shelter, food, education, transportation and religious services. Each camp had a chaplain, and, unlike today when a great hue and cry arises about the mention of God in government functions, the men could attend regular religious services if they chose to do so.

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, writing later about some of her husband’s accomplishments as president, stated: “I realize that the one project in which my husband took the greatest pleasure was the establishment of the three Cs.”

Vogel State Park, built on land donated by the Vogel Family, was a major project in Union Country resulting from CCC work. A small museum is housed there today, and annually the Park holds the Civilian Conservation Corps Reunion. The lodge at Walisi-yi Inn at the top of Neel Gap was another CCC project. Adding onto the tea room the Vogel Family used to entertain guests, the lodge was constructed of native stones and sealed inside with chestnut wood. A stop along the Appalachian Trail, Walisi-yi is and has been a noted destination since its construction.

More than seven decades have passed since the CCC was active in Union County. Monuments to their work still stand today for us to enjoy. If you know a “CCC boy” or a member of his family, give him a belated thanks from all of us.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 29, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.