Riding Home

I took a ride over to the ancestral home to join my father and mother, and my sister who happened to be in town, in watching the Super Bowl yesterday.  Here are some of the sights I grew up with.

 The forbidding face of Yonah Bald.  "Yonah" is a Cherokee word that means "bear."  I did my first rappelling on those rocks.

North Georgia College & State University, Georgia's Military College.  I spent a lot of time there as a young man, because my mother worked there and also pursued one of her degrees there.  It is located in the mountain-top city of Dahlonega, whose name comes from the Cherokee word for "Golden" because the nation's first gold rush happened there.  Some of the local gold makes up the roof of the college building in the background.

One of James Vann's taverns, a few yards from the Etowah river and not very much farther from the home where I grew up.  "Chief" Vann was the son of a Scottish fur trader and a Cherokee mother who was involved in a murderous raid against white settlers during the Chickamauga Wars.  He became rich and powerful through taverns, ferries and trading posts along the first Federal Road to pierce the Georgia mountains.  He burned one of his slaves alive for stealing, having hung a female slave by her thumbs to make her name the thief.  He also fought, and won, a famous mounted duel.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

All I see in that first picture is Ranger school @ Yonah... thanks for the nightmares tonight...

Grim said...

Yeah, I should have gone up to Frank D. Merrill while I was so close. :)

bthun said...

Is the Smith House just down the road from NGC&SU still? I always enjoyed eating at the Smith House.

I had a nephew attending NGC&SU when GHWB, aka POTUS 41 and the US Military, with a little help from our friends, spanked Iraq the first time during ODS in '91.

If memory serves, many of the cadets attending NGC&SU were mobilized during the run up to ODS and the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait. I know the nephew was.

Again, thanks for the pics. Fond memories...

Grim said...

The Smith House is still there. Not only that, I saw one of their posters advertising a special Valentine's Day menu while I was passing through today. Sounded like good Georgia cooking, which is what you'd expect from the Smith House.

Last week I was up in Rabun County, and passed by the equally-famous Dillard House. It still appears to be going strong as well.

MikeD said...

The Bride and I spent our honeymoon up in Dahlonega. Beautiful country.

bthun said...

Well hot dog! I may have to put Walkin' Boss in the pickup and head to the Smith House for V day.