route through Rabun County that was formed by the junction of two existing wagon trails at Clayton. One originating in Walhalla, South Carolina crossed the Chattooga River, followed Warwoman Road to Clayton and then turned north, passing through the Rabun Gap on its way to North Carolina. A second road ran south from Clayton, crossed the Tallulah River at Crane’s Ford near Lakemont and headed to Clarkesville. The north end of the improved road was a point on the North Carolina state line marked by a locust stake, causing the road to be known as the Locust Stake Road. By the early 1840s, people from neighboring counties accounted for much of the traffic on this north-south route. However, they contributed nothing to the road’s maintenance. To make all users pay for upkeep, the Georgia legislature in 1845 chartered the Rabun Turnpike Road Company, which converted the Locust Stake Road into a toll road. Private parties that owned the turnpike were responsible for collecting tolls and maintaining the road. One tollgate was located at Crane’s Ford, the other at the North Carolina state line. Tolls varied from one dollar for a wagon team of six horses, mules or oxen to two cents for each head of hogs and sheep. The toll road company was disbanded in 1887. Tallulah Falls Railroad tracks and the highway passing through the Rabun Gap in front of Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School
Blue Ridge and Tallulah Falls Railroads
Railroad builders also sought to capitalize upon the Rabun Gap. Former U.S. Vice President and South Carolina firebrand John C. Calhoun was a promoter of the Blue Ridge Railroad in the 1830s. His idea was to build a major freight route connecting the port city of Charleston with Cincinnati on the Ohio River. The proposed route was to pass through Clayton and proceed north through the Rabun Gap to North Carolina. Work began on the railroad in 1854, but, as a result of the Civil War, the Blue Ridge Railroad was abandoned and never completed. Unlike the Blue Ridge, the Tallulah Falls Railroad was built and used the Rabun Gap as its route through the Appalachians in Rabun County. Established in 1887, the 58-mile short line ran from Cornelia, Georgia north through the Rabun Gap and then to the line’s northern terminus in Franklin, North Carolina.
The Rabun Gap has afforded travelers—from Native Americans and European explorers to soldiers and railroad passengers—a passageway through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Rabun County for thousands of years. In so doing, this natural mountain gap has had a significant impact on the history of northeast Georgia.
Learn more about our history by becoming a member of the Rabun County Historical Society. Membership and complete information about the museum are available at www.rabunhistory.org. You also can visit us on Facebook. Following an extensive renovation and development of important new exhibits, our museum at 81 N. Church St. in downtown Clayton reopened on June 11. The Society is a not-for-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, making membership dues and donations tax deductible.
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