Old Bridge Piers

These are the piers of the original bridge for the Highway 76 over Lake Burton in Rabun County. They was built by the Georgia Rail Way and Power Company (the GPC) in 1919 for $100,000. The lake filled in 1920. Highway 76 is the only connection east-west between the Chattooga River (SC line) and Cleveland, TN, a distance of 120 miles. The original, called Jones Bridge for a family who lived at its base and sold bait and rented boats, was one lane. The highway was not paved from Clayton to Hiawasse until 1952. It crosses the Appalachian Trail at Dick's Creek Gap about 8 miles to the west. The modern bridge was built in 1976.

Interestingly, less than two miles north, in 1756 Capt. Raymond Demere led 200 men from Kewoee, a Cherokee village now a SC lake, to construct and man Fort Loudon at the junction of the Tellico and Tennessee Rivers. This was the first British presence west of the Appalachians. The men marched 140 miles in 10 days. They were followed by a pack train carrying 12x300 lb. brass cannons! They crossed the Blue Ridge at Cowart Gap, formerly a major Cherokee trading path. Ft. Loudon was later besieged and taken by the Cherokee in 1760 as part of the French and Indian War (also the Cherokee War in the South). The Cherokee thinking they has been swindled, attacked the retreating British killing 29. The rest were held for ransom. This dramatic ambush was used in the Daniel Day-Lewis movie, Last of the Mohicans.
Mike Maffett