One of the largest national forests east of the Mississippi owes its birth to an environmental disaster. The history of the Chattahoochee National Forest, which takes its name from the river whose headwaters rise in the north Georgia mountains, is the story of a phoenix rising, not from ashes but from a rubble-strewn landscape left
The December 2021 newsletter includes photographs from the early twentieth century when Rabun County and many areas of the Southern Appalachians were clear cut by industry-scale logging. Use the link below to download the newsletter in PDF format: 2021 Dec Vintage Rabun
Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the U.S. presidency in 1933 at the depth of the Great Depression. National unemployment stood at a staggering 25%. FDR’s landslide election was a plea for help from a desperate and demoralized nation. Upon being sworn into office on March 4, 1933, FDR launched what became known as “The Hundred Days,”
Tulip poplars with girths of seven feet. Tens of thousands of clear-cut acres. A sawmill cutting 13 miles of boards every day. These startling facts tell the story of what was once Rabun County’s largest industry: the environmental disaster known as industrial-scale logging. Rabun Logging Started in 1890s Logging on an industrial scale began in
Rabun County turns 200 years old on December 21, 2019. From its beginnings as a remote and sparsely populated frontier in 1819, the county has developed into a growing magnet for mountain tourists…with a thriving downtown in its county seat…and elegant homes dotting the shores of pristine lakes. To find out how this transformation happened,
Museum Exhibit Industrial-Scale Logging: An Environmental Disaster Tens of thousands of acres of Rabun County were clear-cut during the first decades of the twentieth century. Logging companies purchased land from poor mountain farmers for $1-$2 per acre. These companies built narrow gauge railways into mountain hollows, blasting out entire hillsides to gain access to remote
The topic of the September 2017 edition of the Rabun County Historical Society’s Vintage Rabun newsletter is: Mules: Intelligent, Indomitable, Indispensable Use the link below to download the newsletter in PDF format 2017 Sept Vintage Rabun (PDF)
The topic of the March 2016 edition of the Rabun County Historical Society’s Vintage Rabun newsletter is: Forests Forever: Rabun’s Economic Dependence on Trees Use the link below to download the newsletter in PDF format 2016 March Vintage Rabun (PDF)
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Clayton, Georgia 30525
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