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There is an ancient valley in northern Georgia, formed eons ago when a chunk of Africa rammed into America . . . pushing up mountains higher than the Himalayas. They have been worn down through the ages to become the fabled Blue Ridge Mountains. Mankind has been there a long, long time. It is where the trails linking the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Tennessee Valley intersect. The fertile bottomlands are filled with potsherds and the souls of my Creek ancestors, who lived there for thousands of years. The Spanish came in the late 1500s and mined gold. After about 125 years, they were driven out by the Cherokees. A few Cherokees were there for about a 125 years. They were quickly driven out when America's first gold rush occurred there. It is the beautiful Nacoochee Valley, fountainhead of the Chattahoochee River.
The rain stopped too late for me to going cross-country skiing in the Smokies, so I decided to take the three wonder dogs on the shorter trip to northeast Georgia and the Nacoochee Valley. There are many Indian mounds there, but the largest and one of the oldest is known by few people. I wanted to photograph it and soak in the spiritual feelings of its environs.
I had the archaeological report on the site, but the report didn't give good directions. My first stop was the Old Sautee Store. (see its web site) It is a turn of the century country store, that was featured in the movie, "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" and eventually was restored by a family from Norway. For several decades it was a oasis of Scandinavian culture and food in the midst of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The original owners have died, so there are new owners.
My good luck was that one of the employees of the Sautee Store OWNED the Kenemer Mound. She was a descendant of the one of the original pioneers, who came here during the 1820s gold rush. The store owner called her. At first she was confused and hostile, but gradually warmed up when I kept on insisting that I only wanted to photograph the huge mound, so I could create a virtual reality computer model of it. I explained that by using NASA photos I had identified a string of large five side temple mounds that were aligned perfectly for 330 miles along the same longitude line. They all dated from around 750 AD. Eventually, she agreed to take me over to a man's house, who was considered the historian of the region.
First surprise! I had been in her house many moons before. When I was in college, she had operated a restaurant and summer guest house in the big frontier period house. I had taken several dates there. The lady was in her late 80s, and looked quite apprehensive at first - I guess because of my physical size. However, I am much more successful at charming the fairer gender in person, than on the internet personals.. She agreed to drive me over to see her friend, the historian.
Second surprise! I had been in his house before, when I was about ten. For forgotten reasons, my parents had visited there one Sunday afternoon long ago. This man was also a decendant of the first pioneers. He was at least 90, but there he was chopping firewood under the shed for his ancient house, that was only heated with fire places and cast iron stoves.
The old man was the classic image of a retire professor. At first he started listing off names of 19th century historians, assuming I would not comprehend, like the typical tourists that frequent the valley. However, when I suggested a chronicle by Juan de la Bandera from the 1500s that even he had not read, he realized that I was legit and gave me directions.
The retired history professor mentioned that awhile back a Cherokee man had come by there, wanting to see the mound, but had quickly returned because he said there were ghosts on top. I laughed, "No problem! Those are Creek ghosts. They will like having a member of the Wind Clan among them!"
The mound was on top of a tall, steep sided hill about 150 feet high, that overlooked the Chattahoochee. It was a magnicent site for an ancient town. The big mound was at the center point of lines drawn between the major peaks of the valley, which also aligned with the solar azimuth. This was obviously an observatory.
As the sun set in the west behind Mount Yonah, I took several warm tinted photos of the hill, the mound and the valley. My dogs played with Creek spirit children along the Chattahoochee River. They only reluctantly returned to the Explorer, when I whistled that it was time to go. We then headed north on the path of the ancient trading trail over Unicoi Gap, then back home as the last crimson tint of Mother Sun sanked beneath the Cohutta Mountains.
What a special place the Nacoochee Valley is. It has such spirtual power. I have a feeling that the first humans, who ever set foot there, the Nokose-ke (Bear People) had the same warm, calm, peaceful feeling inside as I did this afternoon ... while walking along a path that many feet had tread.
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| The Foxfire Tales: Today, the Beautiful Nacoochee Valley |
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