A Trail Through Time

One of the most overlooked treasures for both nature lovers and history buffs in Marietta lies hidden in the woods along the Sope Creek nature trails.

The trails themselves are part of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, for Sope Creek feeds into the Chattahoochee. The access to the park is on Paper Mill Road just off Terrell Mill.

But visitors to the park often miss its jewel. Less than 100 yards from the trail’s head, a smaller trail diverges on the left, looking like the less traveled road in the Robert Frost poem.  Its narrowness gives the appearance that the path leads nowhere, and many a hiker passes this by, continuing on the wider path.

But those who take the side path find themselves on a picturesque trail under a deep green canopy, winding around the hill for about a half a mile before the path dips strangely close to the Paper Mill Road and then veers back into the forest again.

Then they appear, rising up out of the forest growth like headstones in a forgotten graveyard: the ruins of the Marietta Paper Mill.

The fieldstone ruins date back to 1859, when the Marietta Paper Mills, founded by Andrew S. Edmonston and Saxon A. Andrews, produced newsprint and stationery for much of the South. Several buildings occupied the site, including an oil room, pulp grinding room, storage building and office.

The ruins of the main building contain rows of windows that provided workers with ample sunlight. Today, they make the site reminiscent of a ruined medieval church.

Before and during the Civil War, the Sope Creek mills supplied newsprint for many of North Georgia’s newspapers. As the war raged on, the mill struggled to keep up with the demand; paper manufacturing was not deemed crucial to the war effort, and mill workers were not exempt from conscription. As more and more men were sent to reinforce the Confederate Army, Edmonston and Anderson were unable to replace them with workers having the necessary skills.

This problem was short-lived; Union forces under General Cameron burned the mill buildings on July 5, 1864, just 3 days before federal troops forded the Chattahoochee River at the mouth of Sope Creek, crossing the river for the first time in the Atlanta campaign.

The mils were rebuilt the following year only to be gutted again by an accidental fire in 1870. Restored in 1871, they remained in operation until their closure in 1902.

The abandoned buildings were reduced to their present condition by the slow processes of time and the encroaching forest. Now they seem almost a natural feature of the landscape, their moss-covered stones blending with the hillside and the greenery along the rocky banks of Sope Creek.

The ruins are a pleasant and relatively easy hike form the trail head, although visitors would do well to mind their footing while exploring them; the trail around the ruins is steep in places, and some spots can be slick.

The park is operated by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. There is a $3 fee per car to park.  The many interweaving trails allow visitors to hike for many miles with varying scenery without ever being more than a couple of miles from the trail’s entrance.

For more information, visit the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area Web site.