In 1877, a one-story dogtrot-style home was built off of the old Dawsonville-Jasper Road (present-day Cove Road). Over the hill and south of the main east-west thoroughfare, the home sits in a field surrounded by woods. A dogtrot home has an open breezeway built between two sections of the enclosed house. This home was constructed of hewn logs, most likely oak. The dogtrot style of architecture was common in the late 19th Century and in many instances, these homes were used as post office locations for local residents. Today, the house is only one of 156 in the National History Registry (out of some 82,000 total structures.)
The dogtrot passage is visible in this picture taken in 2008.
Photo of the Griffeth Pendley home taken by the author in 2020 (note the cat in the front)
The land was sold in 1839 by the winner of the Land Lottery drawer for Land Lot 3, Section 4, William Perrett to Samuel Tate. In 1843, Samuel sold the land to his first cousin, Caleb Griffeth II (Both Tate and Griffeth families moved to Cherokee County in 1832 from the Lumpkin/Franklin County areas) By the 1860's the Griffeth's had hundreds of acres of farmable land in Pickens County. Caleb, II passed away in 1868, and nine years later, his son Caleb Griffeth, III, built the first part of the dogtrot home in 1877.
Over the next few years, Caleb III built a well, a barn, and an outhouse on the property. His farming prospered and in 1905, he decided to build the Griffeth House (The former Jasper Junction on the corner of Grandview and Cove Road - where sadly, the Dollar General now sits) Contrary to popular belief, the former Griffeth home was not a trading post for the Cherokee Indians built in 1832.
The former Griffeth house was built in 1905 for a larger space for the Griffeth family to live in.
Thomas Monroe Pendley bought the property for $500 in 1905. Thomas, a former member of the notorious HMF&P (Honest Man's Friend and Protector) group - a vigilante group that in 1877 terrorized Pickens County and committed several arsons in battles against informants in the Moonshine Wars, was a former moonshiner and immediately planted two orchards on the property.
By 1935, Thomas had become one of the largest landowners in the Grassy Knob and Sharp Top Districts of Pickens County. After his death, the land was divided among his daughters. The Fann family held the land until approximately 1947 when they sold it back to Vernie Griffeth. They and their son Arnold Hoyt Griffeth rented the property and lived on it until
the elder Griffith's died. In 1981, the property solely fell into the possession of Hoyt.
In 2008, the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Sadly, scandal befell the property. In 2014, Arnold Hoyt Griffith and Christopher Byers killed Ray Walnoha
by striking him in the head and neck with an axe. They then disposed of the body on the property and attempted to destroy evidence. It was during this process, they burned down the barn.
It would be two years before Griffith was arrested for the murder. Rumors of Mr. Griffith being involved with murder had circulated since 2014, however, with no name or body, the original sources were considered unreliable. Mr. Griffith was in jail in Pickens County when the charges were brought. Apparently, in a moment of bragging, he spilled too many beans. Griffith subsequently named an accomplice, Mr. Byers (who was in jail in Gordon County).
In 2018, Mr. Griffith pled guilty to attempting to hide the body (buried in the dirt on the Griffith property and hidden under sticks) and cleaning the murder scene. He admitted to bleaching the couch on the porch where the murder happened and the porch. However, it was deemed that he was not an active participant in the murder. Mr. Byers had later bragged that he came back to the property and moved the body to another location from where it would never be found. Some of the locations mentioned were the mine at the S-Curve off of Cove Road (the old Perseverance Quarry), in a wood chipper across the street by the Community Gardens, the Edge of the World waterfalls on the Amicalola River near Juno, and or in a cave/hole near Grandview Lake.
Sadly, the interior of the dogtrot is no longer accessible due to contamination.
Arnold Hoyt Griffeth
(sentenced to one year)
Christopher Byers
(sentenced to life in prison)
Raymond Walnoha
(2014 victim of ax murder, body never recovered)
As an added bit of lore, Arnold Hoyt claims that the ghost of a slave woman that died on the property, prior to the construction of the dogtrot home, haunts the grounds of the Griffith land.
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