CLICK HERE TO BUY TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH: A COMPENDIUM OF NORTH GEORGIA HISTORY
After four years of research and countless hours and excursions, I'm proud to release my first book about North Georgia history. The book spans four centuries of events with original content. Over thirty separate pieces of research are organized into six sections:
The First Inhabitants - Pretribal Indians through the Cherokee
Enter the Europeans - British and American Colonists from the Revolutionary War
Moonshining and Outlaws - From the Civil War though Prohibition
The Depression Era - Tate Mountain Estates, The Dude Ranch, and CCC
Crime, Luck, and Redemption - Murderers, Serial Killers, and Redeemed Serial Killers
Forgotten Places - Cemeteries, Ghost Towns, Hamlets, and Homesteads
Review by Historian Robert Scott Davis, Jr.
"What we know and love as Pickens County was a magical place, literally from its physical beginnings. Located between chains of the oldest mountains in the world, some scenes there have changed little in many thousands of years, even when sabretooth tigers roamed this land. The land is a mineral-rich plateau of aquamarines, graphite, marble, and mica that can be seen for twenty miles before the visitor arrives. Here Georgia’s hill country meets the mountains, a land always where different peoples came together with important highways that connect not only places but also the past, present, and future. Since its creation in 1853, Pick- ens usually was near the bottom of Georgia’s 161 counties in physical size and population. Yet, because of its geography many different people arrived; far more cosmopolitan their numbers might imply. With different ambitions, dreams, and realities, their stories sometimes even impacted the nation.
The past of this land and its people, however, became as lost as its gold and silver mines, its prehistoric past, or even the origins of its most colorful names like Long Swamp, Price Creek, and Talking Rock. The late Reverend Charles O. Walker (1929-2010), once a newcomer to the area, began the recovery of that legacy in the 1960s and it is now carried on by people inspired by his work. Chris Feldt now continues this great adventure in ways Charles would have loved. Be prepared on these pages to be amazed as well as entertained! But also, so much more.
Too many places have a history that exists only on paper in archives and books, beyond what can be physically experienced or felt. Chris not only reveals the heritage of this special place, but shows that in Pickens County, William Faulkner’s claim, “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” is very true! Please take the time to savor the incredible amount of work done here in your own armchair journey to this incredible crossroads of times that have been, are, and will be! Pickens County is always worth any journey!"
Robert S. Davis
Author and researcher who has made that trip.
Robert Scott Davis has more than 2,000 publications dealing with genealogy, history, records, and research, most of which deal with the state of Georgia (USA) in some form or fashion. He has been widely quoted by or appeared in CNN, Time, Smithsonian, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere.
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