Through Mountain Mists: March 2005

Thursday, March 31, 2005

What We Learn From Early Post Offices

Even though we live in an age of electronic communication and e-mail is the mode of today’s exchange of letters, there still is a fascination about receiving mail by post. If you have a post office box and go there to check your mail, no doubt you spend time to greet someone in the lobby or in the parking lot. You exchange pleasantries, news of the day, and talk of the world situation, politics or the weather (none of which we can change much by talk alone).

If the mail is delivered to your home address and you are there near the time for the postman to come, you begin to watch the clock. If you are away at work when the postman arrives at your address, you most assuredly will check your box soon after arriving home. We may deplore the excesses of “junk” mail. We could wish our bills were not so prompt in delivery. But still there is the fascination for the mail. And so has it been through many a day of mountain mists.

In the last column we sought to locate where Polk, Union County might have been. Noting that the post office name changed from Polk, founded in 1844 to Choestoe in 1851, we listed the known postmasters until the Choestoe post office closed in 1938.

Other complications are noted about Polk as a post office. In the old Coopers Creek District were five post offices: Baxter, Clemeth, Polk, Seabolt and Shopes.

William L. Smith made application for a post office to be named Polk, Georgia on December 23, 1891. It was approved January 11, 1892 and Mr. Smith was the first postmaster. Evidently the authorities at the U. S. Postal Services considered that enough time had elapsed since September 25, 1851 when Joseph F. England “across the mountain” had requested that the Polk office there be changed to Choestoe. That was, after all, forty years in the past.

Polk post office opened in the Coopers Creek District. James H. Shope was appointed second postmaster at Polk on October 15, 1892, but his appointment was soon rescinded. Smith resumed the duties until James H. Cavender was appointed on April 14, 1893. Next was his sister, Mary A. Cavender, who began as postmaster on March 30, 1894. Samuel A. Dixon began duties on April 2, 1895. Polk, Georgia post office was discontinued on October 7, 1897. This Polk location for the U. S. mails lasted almost five years. When the last postmaster had the charge, it was located at his home on Dixon Branch, a mile south of Mulky Gap. When Polk was closed, the mail was routed to the Coosa post office, which closed March 15, 1907.

Baxter post office had an interesting history. It was the forty-fifth post office to be established in Union County. Dates of appointment and postmasters were: David M. Jarrard, June 16, 1900; James H. Cavender, April 15, 1901; Mary Ann Cavender (James’ sister), February 20, 1903; Nellie Cavender Grizzle (sister to James and Mary Ann), January 17, 1935; Mrs. Lillie Gurley moved the post office to her home January 26, 1944 and served until the office was discontinued April 15, 1953. Two of the postmasters served until their deaths: Ms. Mary Ann Cavender and Ms. Nellie Cavender Grizzle.

Clemeth post office in Coopers Creek District was opened June 21, 1880, with Clemeth Cavender the first postmaster. The office had the given name of its first postmaster. It had a short life until April 26, 1887, two months shy of seven years. Yet in that seven year period, there were seven postmaster appointments, some serving twice: Clemeth Cavender, Andrew B. Campbell, James A. Cavender, William Jones, William A. Jones, William F. Cavender and James A. Cavender.

Seabolt post office was located in the Coopers Creek District. The initial application asked for the name Mist, due to the mist from the waterfalls near Coopers Creek Bridge as well as the many morning fogs that left mist like a veil over the valley. The application was approved on May 25, 1903 but not the name Mist. Instead, Seabolt was the assigned name. Seabolt was designated in honor of the first settlers to the area. It lasted the first time until October 31, 1907 when it was discontinued and the mail routed through Suches. However, Seabolt was reopened July 22, 1922 by James Frank Seabolt and operated until July 31. 1924 and the mail routed to Baxter, GA.

The last of the five post offices in the Cooper Creek District was named Shope. The application requested Harkinsville as the name, but instead the U. S. Postmaster General chose Shope after early settlers. Opened August 8, 1880 with Charles W. O’Kelley as postmaster, he served until the office closed March 2, 1883 and the mail was routed to Clemeth.

Applications for new post office charters had to give approximate number of families that would be served by the office, the names of some citizens in the community, and occupations. Even being in close proximity to those the office served, postmasters could not always guarantee delivery for they depended on mail to arrive at their office by a carrier on horseback. The Pony Express of the west had a kindred tie to the station-to-station carriers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Through rain, flood, snow, sleet or sun’s burning rays, they sought to do their jobs and get the mail on its way.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

March 4th Was Once the Presidential Inauguration Date

Was there a place called Polk in Union County? And if so, where was it located?

An e-mail from David Friedly noted that an 1839 map of Union County showed Polk as located “around Owltown.” His question to me was “Have you heard of Polk in Union County?”

I had not heard of a Polk in Union County, but curiosity got the better of me and I began a search to see if I could find authentic references. Knowing that a post office usually designated a place, named either for the first person approved to be postmaster or for another significant person, I checked out the post office history of Union County, using the wonderful Heritage of Union County, Georgia, 1832-1994, Sketches of Union County History. Volume 2 (1978) and census and other records.

Interestingly, I found that there was a Polk post office, but founded later than the 1839 map listing to which Mr. Friedly referred. The mystery of why a place was named Polk and whether it was in Owltown still remained unanswered.

Then I found this important bit of information. Of the 1800’s militia districts formed in Union County, Owltown (GMD # 1409) was the last district to be designated. It was carved out of portions of Arkaquah, Coosa and Choestoe. The addition of Owltown District was signed into law by Ordinary William Colwell on April 4, 1887.

The next step was to try to locate a Polk Post Office in Union. That was not hard to do. Looking at the list of post offices in Owltown District, only three were listed: Laura founded February 5, 1892; Otto, founded May 14, 1898; and Edmund founded March 11, 1905. No Polk there on record.

The Coosa Post Office was the first to be officially established in the new Union County, started On July 19, 1833 with Arthur Gilbert as postmaster. It was near the county seat of Blairsville, and ran until September 17, 1834. No post office seems to have existed in Union County until the old Coosa, under postmaster Charles R. Gibbs was granted a name change to Blairsville on February 9, 1835. There was no post office named Polk in the Coosa District.

Then to the Choestoe Militia District post office listings, and the origin of Polk was immediately evident. The very first post office in that district was named Polk, with the first postmaster John Butt, Sr. on February 20, 1844.

Why was it named Polk? Evidently not for the first postmaster. A guess is that it may have been to honor James Polk, eleventh president of the United States who was running for the country’s highest office and had been governor of the nearby state of Tennessee. Polk was not in the nation’s highest office when Polk post office was formed in 1844. Polk was elected and served one term, from 1845-1849. His platform of westward expansion, annexation of Texas and the Oregon Territory, the tariff, immigration policy and agrarianism might have appealed to Mr. Butt. Maybe he wanted to honor this “dark horse” candidate from Tennessee by naming the first post office in the Choestoe District for him.

Succeeding postmasters and their dates of appointment at the Polk post office were Francis (Frank) Collins, November 5, 1845; Robert F. Lemmands, May 28, 1846; John Butt, Sr. (for the second time), September 13, 1847; and Joseph F. England, June 30, 1851. While Joseph England was postmaster, he requested that the name be changed to Choestoe. This was granted on September 25, 1851. So Polk became Choestoe.

To answer the question posed by David Friedly: “Where was Polk in Union County?” I did some more speculation based on facts. Knowing that the post office changed locations with the appointment of a new postmaster, and that the office was either in a portion of the home or store owned by the postmaster, I surmised that the location could have been somewhere in the midst of Choestoe, a large district.

The second postmaster was Francis Collins, son of one of the first Choestoe settlers, Thompson Collins and wife Celia Self Collins. This Collins family was listed in the first census (1834) of Union County and owned broad acreages along Town Creek and the Nottely River in Choestoe. I could not easily find Mr. Lemmands who served for little more than a year. But the Joseph F. England was a neighbor to Francis Collins and his family had also settled early in Choestoe. He was the one who requested the name change from Polk to Choestoe.

[Next week: Continuing a look at early post offices.]

Where in Union County Was Polk, Georgia

Was there a place called Polk in Union County? And if so, where was it located?

An e-mail from David Friedly noted that an 1839 map of Union County showed Polk as located “around Owltown.” His question to me was “Have you heard of Polk in Union County?”

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Susannah Nix, Daughter of John Henry Stonecypher, Jr.

Family legend holds that when Susannah Stonecypher married William Nix on September 9, 1809 at Carnesville, Georgia (Franklin County), her father, the inimitable John Henry Stonecypher, Jr., Revolutionary War soldier, disowned her and had nothing more to do with her or her family. However, this family story may not be true at all, since documents have been found to show that Susannah Stonecypher Nix did, indeed, receive a portion of the inheritance from the notable estate of John Henry, Jr. and Nancy Curtis Stonecypher.

Susannah (1788 – after 1870) was the second of nine documented children of John Henry Stonecypher, Jr. (1756-1850) and Nancy Curtis Stonecypher (abt. 1760-1849). Susannah’s siblings were Benjamin (1786), James (1793-1854), Nancy (1795), Frances (known as Fannie, 1797), Mary (1799), Lucy (1801), Amy (1803) and Phoebe (1807-1865).

Susannah grew up in relative prosperity for that day in Franklin County, Georgia. Her father owned large tracts of land, most of which he received in grants for his service in the American Revolution. He built a large two-story dwelling house at Eastanollee (a portion of Franklin County which became Stephens County). He had an architect named Pressnell design and build the house. As a monument to the solid building, the house, restored, still stands today near the graves of the Stonecyphers. It took ten years to complete the plantation house. Every sill, sleeper, joist and post were mortised and fitted together. The nails in the house were wrought by hand. At that house, and amidst plenty, Susannah grew up.

Using the waters of Eastanollee Creek for power, John Henry Stonecypher built a mill in the early 1800s. Millwright Thomas Sockwell was the engineer responsible for erecting the Stonecypher Mill. As with mills in every communtiy, it was a popular place for getting corn, wheat and rye ground and for keeping up with happenings of the day.

When Susannah married William Nix on September 9, 1809 and moved away to then Habersham County, later White, near Tesnatee northwest of Cleveland, her youngest sibling, Phoebe, was only two years of age. If the story has any credence that Susannah was “disowned” by her father, she was, nevertheless, named one of the legatees of the estate of John Henry Stonecypher. Also, when Nancy, Susannah’s unmarried sister, made her will, one of the legatees was “William Nix, in the right of his wife, Susannah.”

William Nix and Susannah Stonecypher Nix had seven children: John Nix (1811) married Lucinda Adams; James Nix (1812-1882) married Elizabeth Collins (1814-1856); Mary Nix (1816) married Archibald Collins (1811); Fannie Fairlena Nix (1818-1854); Rutha Nix (1822-1893) married Francis Collins (1816-1864); Susannah Nix (1827-1856) married James Cathey (1823); Malinda Nix (1829-1894) married Jesse Souther, Jr. (1813-1869); and William Carr Nix (1831-1858) married Rachel Minerva Carroll (1842-1920).

Four of Susannah Stonecypher Nix’s children played prominently in early Union County history. James Nix married Thompson Collins’ third child Elizabeth, known as Betsy. They had thirteen children. Mary Nix married Thompson Collins’ first child, Archibald. They had eleven children. Rutha Nix married Thompson Collins’ fourth child, Francis (called Frank). They had ten children. Malinda Nix married Jesse Souther, Jr., son of Jesse and Jane Combs Souther of Wilkes County, NC. Jesse, Jr. founded the Souther Mill of Choestoe. Malinda and Jesse, Jr. had eight children. The youngest of these, Jeptha Freeman Souther who married Mintie Dyer, continued to operate the Souther Mill until 1937. Books and lengthy descendancy charts are required to trace all these Stonecypher descendants from these four children of William and Susanna Stonecypher Nix. To my knowledge, no researcher to date has been able to tabulate them all.

An historical marker will be placed at the Souther mill site in a special commemorative program planned for April 30, 2005 at 2:30 p. m. Mark your calendar now. The public is invited.

Thus the Stonecypher legacy lives on in Union County.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 17, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Thoughts at the Grave of John Henry Stonecypher, Jr. (1756-1850)

John Henry Stonecypher, Jr. was the Revolutionary War ancestor of many descendants in Union County, Georgia and beyond. Although he never lived in Union County, many of his descendants who claim this county as home can trace a direct lineage back to him.

John Henry Stonecypher, Jr. was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1756. His parents were Johannes Henrich Steinseifer, born January 10, 1724 in Eisern, Westphalia, Germany and Eleanor Dortch Steinseifer. The last name, a trade name of those who worked with stone, was anglicized to Stonecypher. John Henry, Jr. married Nancy Curtis in Wilkes County, NC in June, 1785. She was born in Maryland about 1766. After his service in the American Revolution, John Henry, Jr. and Nancy Stonecypher settled on land in Franklin County, Georgia, broad acreage he had accrued because of his service to his country.

John Henry Stonecypher died in 1850. On July 16, 1994, it was my privilege to participate in a ceremony led by the Sons of the American Revolution and descendants at the Stonecypher gravesites at Eastanolle, Georgia in Stephens County. It was a moving experience. Through mountain mists his history echoed through the years. I share here a free verse poem I wrote about the experience. In future articles I will give more history of the Stonecypher family.

This Rose, This Tomb, This Wooded Dell

Struggling roses shed fragrance
In July afternoon.
Sunshine slanting through oaks and elms
Falls dappled on the soapstone tomb.
We gather at secluded gravesite, voices hushed,
Minds awash in floods of imagination
About our Revolutionary War ancestor.
Ninety-six years from womb to tomb
The gravestone tells us.
We know but sketches
Of his long and fruitful life.

A pioneer, a mountain man,
He weighed the choices given him:
Ignore the call of freedom’s price
Or go resolutely to the fray.

In North Carolina, Wilkes County,
He heeded the call to arms.
At King’s Mountain he lifted musket,
Sharp-shot at Beatty’s Ford,
At Guilford Courthouse, wounded sore,
Went home to heal, then left to fight again.
Tide turned with October’s leaves.
On to Pleasant Gardens,
In battles along Catawba’s waters,
Red with blood of patriots and royalists alike,
He tasted victory, reward for hero’s dreams.

From private to captain
Without benefit of military training,
He employed instincts, pride, love for freedom,
Marks of independent men.

Again the call to far horizons
Beyond familiar Wilkes:
He wound through mountains, forests, valleys
To claim in 1784 his 20,000 acres
In north Georgia’s wilderness.
To Nancy Curtis he pledged his troth,
She the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier,
He a veteran of that freedom war.

To their acreage they went, hopes high.
They tamed the land, cleared for a house,
The best their money and expertise could build,
A mansion with the flair and lines of architect Presnell.
John Henry joined to quell Indian uprisings,
Bring those proud and noble natives to subjection,
Helped drive them from the Tugaloo and Estanollee.

Had he no thoughts for justice,
For peace to those whose lands were taken,
Those who wanted only to be kindred
With the woods, the soil, the sky and running waters?
Or did he thinks his wounds at Guilford Courthouse
Gave him unquestioned right,
A heritage to go where adventure beckoned,
Claim as his own the valleys, hills and streams?

What thoughts propelled our ancestor?
We can but guess
In this place on Eastanollee Creek
He built a plantation, a mill,
Became a founding father in a church and started schools.
Long life was his, and children, too,
Rose up to call him blessed.
At age ninety-six he died,
Injured in a fall from steps
At his Eastanollee Stonecypher Mill.

Today, beneath this grove of trees
We gather to pay tribute to his life and deeds,
Lay claim to his kinship and his fame.
Brass music by seventh and eighth generation descendants
Sounds the strains of “America the Beautiful”
And “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory.”
Words of adulation flow in afternoon assembly.

Beside the grave rose petals ripple in a fleeting breeze.
Thoughts unfold as blossoms, separate and confined
In some vast sea of years and deeds,
Converge on a gray soapstone monument,
A patriot and a name.

(Poem by Ethelene Dyer Jones published first in Mother and Child Reunion, EJ Productions, Epworth, GA, c1995. Used by permission.)

Monday, March 7, 2005

April is National Poetry Month: Byron Herbert Reece, Mountain Poet

I have not covered nearly all the early post offices of Union County’s rich history. I will return to those not touched upon at a later date. For the next two weeks I plan to write about one particular emphasis the fair month of April brings us. First we will pay tribute to National Poetry Month. In this column I will write about two of Union County’s poets. One is our native son, Byron Herbert Reece, about whom much is known already. Another is my poet friend and daughter of one of my high school principals, Dr. James M. Nicholson and my eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Flora M. Nicholson. Her name is Barbara Ruth Nicholson Collins Sampson, who, though not born in Union County, has nevertheless made it her home for many years.

She and Reece knew each other and he encouraged her in her poetic efforts. I had the privilege of reviewing her delightful book of poems, "Earth Is a Splendid Place” at the April, 2001 Georgia Poetry Society Meeting.

First, to some important observations about poet Byron Herbert Reece (1917-1958). Born in Choestoe, Union County, to Juan and Emma Lance Reece, he early on showed great propensity for words. By the time he entered first grade at Choestoe School, he had learned to read, having already been taught by his mother. His favorite books to read at that tender age were the King James Version of the Bible and John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.

His poetry writing was a gift but also utilized his sharp observation of nature, the wind, life, death and the changing seasons on his Choestoe farm. All of these themes play prominently in his exquisite poetry. Add to these themes important truths from the King James Bible. His first book, Ballad of the Bones and Other Poems, published in 1945 by E. P. Dutton, New York, had as its lead poem the ballad using the account in Ezekiel 37:1-10, of the dry bones coming to life again. In many other ballads and poems, he employed biblical themes. Reece became a master of the ballad form as well as the sonnet and the lyric poem.

Bill Shipp, writing in “The Atlanta Constitution” said of Reece: “He was...a farmer, depending on the harsh and lonely life of a mountain farm for [his] livelihood. He was also a poet, perhaps the greatest balladeer of the Appalachians. And Ralph McGill, long-time editor of the same paper, who seemed to take Reece as an example of country boy who became great ranked him “among the best poets this country has ever produced. His poetry was lonely and mystical and often seemed preoccupied by death.”

Death walked with him in the illness of his father, mother, sister and himself, all beset with dread tuberculosis. His frail body was often overcome by the rigors of hard work on the farm and his eagerness to write. He spent many midnight hours working on the poems that came to his mind and begged composition. His calling to be a poet and a recorder of what he understood of life and nature are expressed in his poem, “The Speechless Kingdom”:

Unto a speechless kingdom I
Have pledged my tongue, I have given my word
To make the centuries-silent sky
As vocal as a bird.

The stone that aeons-long was held
As mute through me has cried aloud
Against its being bound, has spelled
Its boredom to a crowd

Of trees that leaned down low to hear
One with complaint so like their own
--I being to trees an ear
And tongue to the mute stone.

And I being pledged to fashion speech
For all the speechless joy to find
The wonderful words that each to each
They utter in my mind.

(from Bow Down in Jericho, 1950)

A poet can relate to Reece’s ideas in “The Speechless Kingdom,” can know the compulsion to let the rocks speak through his words, the trees take voice, the sky utter its paean of praise. Poetry is like that with “wonderful words that each to each” utter in the poet’s mind and do not give rest until they are committed to paper.

The Byron Herbert Reece Society was formed in June, 2003. Its stated purposes are “to preserve, perpetuate and promote the literary and cultural legacy of the Georgia mountain poet/novelist, Byron Herbert Reece. In addition to enhancing both knowledge of and appreciation for his writings, efforts will be made to honor his way of life, with particular emphasis on his love of nature and his attachment to farming.”

In the first year, the Society was able to record an oral history, with interviews from several who knew Reece personally before his death. The Reece farm on Choestoe came under the auspices of the Society, with the future intention of turning it into a cultural center. Efforts are now under way to raise the revenue to turn the farm into a memorial to this mountain poet/farmer.

Recently, thanks to the efforts of Georgia Representative Charles Jenkins, that portion of Highway 129/19 from the Blairsville courthouse southward to the county line, and running by the Reece farm, has been named the Byron Herbert Reece Highway to honor this literary giant of the mountains.

In this month emphasizing poetry, we are grateful to Reece, poet and novelist extraordinary, a son of whom the mountain citizens can be justly proud.

During April, National Poetry Month, find some of his writings and read them thoughtfully and with deep appreciation. I think you, as I, will be awed by his exquisite and polished lyricism, his inimitable insights into life, nature and death, and his humility that he should be one chosen to speak for “The Speechless Kingdom.”

Next week we will look at a contemporary poet of Union County, Barbara Ruth Sampson, one who was named “National Senior Poet Laureate of 2004” with her poem “Return to Spring.” You will be delighted with her poetry’s insight and expertise. It is very likely that we should try to find a fitting way to honor this lady poet of the mountains and let her know that we appreciate her expertise with words. Reece, who had already read some of her poems when his Three Lyric Poets (by Reece, Alise Moser and Tom McNeal) was published in 1942, wrote on its flyleaf when he autographed it for Barbara Ruth: “With admiration and affection.” Poet to poet, one encouraged the other to higher achievements in the poetic arts.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 7, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Thursday, March 3, 2005

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.