An archeologist reveals the mysterious world that disappeared under North Georgia’s man-made lakes in this fascinating history. North Georgia has more than forty lakes, and not one is natural. The state’s controversial decision to dam the region’s rivers for power and water supply changed the landscape forever. Lost communities, forgotten crossroads, dissolving racetracks and even entire towns disappeared, with remnants occasionally peeking up from the depths during times of extreme drought. The creation of Lake Lanier displaced more than seven hundred families. During the construction of Lake Chatuge, busloads of schoolboys were brought in to help disinter graves for the community’s cemetery relocation. Contractors clearing land for the development of Lake Hartwell met with seventy-eight-year-old Eliza Brock wielding a shotgun and warning the men off her property. Georgia historian and archeologist Lisa Russell dives into the history hidden beneath North Georgia’s lakes.

North Georgia has more than forty lakes, and not one is natural. The state's controversial decision to dam the region's rivers for power and water supply changed the landscape forever. Lost communities, forgotten crossroads, dissolving racetracks and even entire towns disappeared. The creation of Lake Lanier displaced more than seven hundred families. During the construction of Lake Chatuge, busloads of schoolboys were brought in to help disinter graves for the community's cemetery relocation. Contractors clearing land for the development of Lake Hartwell met with seventy-eight-year-old Eliza Brock wielding a shotgun and warning the men off her property. Lisa Russell dives into the history hidden beneath North Georgia's lakes.

When the bustle of a city slows, towns dissolve into abandoned buildings or return to woods and crumble into the North Georgia clay. In 1832, Auraria was one of the sites of the original American gold rush. The remains of numerous towns dot the landscape - pockets of life that were lost to fire or drowned by the water of civic works projects. Cassville was a booming educational and cultural epicenter until 1864. Allatoona found its identity as a railroad town. Author and professor Lisa M. Russell unearths the forgotten towns of North Georgia.

The textile era was born of a perfect storm. When North Georgia's red clay failed farmers and prices fell during Reconstruction, opportunities arose. Beginning in the 1880s, textile industries moved south. Mill owners enticed an entire workforce to leave their farms and move their families into modern mill villages, encased communities with stores, theaters, baseball teams, bands and schools. To some workers, mill village life was idyllic. They had work, recreation, education, shopping and a home with the modern conveniences of running water and electricity. Most importantly, they got a paycheck. But after the New Deal, workers started to see the raw deal they were getting from mill owners and rebelled. Strikes and economic changes began to erode the era of mill villages, and by the 1960s, mill village life was all but gone. Author Lisa Russell brings these once-vibrant communities back to life.

In the late eighteenth century, waves of intrepid settlers made their way down the Great Wagon Road into the virgin wilderness of Northeast Georgia to find new homes and opportunity for land and wealth. Against a dramatic mountainous backdrop, these pioneers carved out farms and small communities in perilous isolation and created an American experience vastly different from that of the plantation-style society established along Georgia's coast. Battling Creek and Cherokee warriors, government intervention, natural disasters, and a landscape not easily tamed, year after year, these men and women of Northeast Georgia stamped their self-reliance, their perseverance, and their industriousness upon generations to follow and upon the very geography they called home. In Northeast Georgia: A History, readers travel across several centuries of change, from the early American Indian tribes that once made this territory their hunting grounds to the present day, a time of unprecedented growth and expansion in both industry and population. Truly a world unto itself, Northeast Georgia has served as a haven and destination for all classes over the past two centuries: the bold gold miners of 1829, the stalwart sustenance farmers, the social elite enjoying fresh mountain air at the many summer resorts, a multitude of businessmen seeking opportunity in railroading, cotton, lumber, and poultry farming, and bootleggers finding the landscape convenient for clandestine whiskey-making and distribution. These stories and more provide insight into understanding a people and place unique in Georgia.

Take a spine-tingling tour of Atlanta and North Georgia that presents real life ghost stories and encounters with the world beyond. Meet ghosts from the Civil War, life-saving guardians, mischievous southern belles, and demonic entities as you explore The Fox Theatre, Dahlonega Gold Museum, Tilley Mill, The Shakespeare Tavern, The Eagle Tavern Museum, and Tunnel Hill. Be prepared to be chilled to the bone in Georgia!

The northern Georgia reaches were once home to the Cherokee Nation, who, as early as 1731, lived among the fertile lands and were linked to other native inhabitants by a meager trading path. The first European settlers and traders, arriving in 1797, introduced agriculture to the area, as families established homes and farms along the Georgia Road. Forestry thrived, necessitating mills and factories, while the poultry industry and high-quality cotton attracted waves of new settlers. The county's scenic splendor has drawn people away from urban centers, appealing to new residents and visitors with a relaxed and rural beauty. Today, Forsyth County proudly boasts of its recognized status as the nation's fastest growing county. Originally the home of significant amounts of gold, particularly through the Dahlonega Gold Belt and the Hall County Gold Belt, Forsyth County prospered as settlers quickly commanded the area. The costs may have outweighed the gains at times, however, and hardships befell the county through racial tension, economic trials, and extreme population fluctuations. Nevertheless, the county has persevered, and its people have shown both strength of character and spirit. Including new and unpublished data, this book explores the important advances in education, economy, and historic preservation in Forsyth County, as well as the tragic events related to the expulsion of the African-American population in 1912 and the Brotherhood Marches in 1987.

A fascinating exploration of lakes around the world, from Walden Pond to the Dead Sea. More than a century and a half have passed since Walden was first published, and the world is now a very different place. Lakes are changing rapidly, not because we are separate from nature but because we are so much a part of it. While many of our effects on the natural world today are new, from climate change to nuclear fallout, our connections to it are ancient, as core samples from lake beds reveal. In Still Waters, Curt Stager introduces us to the secret worlds hidden beneath the surfaces of our most remarkable lakes, leading us on a journey from the pristine waters of the Adirondack Mountains to the wilds of Siberia, from Thoreau’s cherished pond to the Sea of Galilee. Through decades of firsthand investigations, Stager examines the significance of our impacts on some of the world’s most iconic inland waters. Along the way he discovers the stories these lakes contain about us, including our loftiest philosophical ambitions and our deepest myths. For him, lakes are not only mirrors reflecting our place in the natural world but also windows into our history, culture, and the primal connections we share with all life. Beautifully observed and eloquently written, Stager’s narrative is filled with strange and enchanting details about these submerged worlds—diving insects chirping underwater like crickets, African crater lakes that explode, and the growing threats to some of our most precious bodies of water. Modern science has demonstrated that humanity is an integral part of nature on this planet, so intertwined with it that we have also become an increasingly powerful force of nature in our own right. Still Waters reminds us how beautiful, complex, and vulnerable our lakes are, and how, more than ever, it is essential to protect them.

North Georgia has been found to contain some of the most advanced indigenous cultures north of Mexico. Very little of what one reads about its Native American history, whether on historic markers or tourist brochures, is accurate.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist exposes the secret history of racial cleansing in America