Star Creek Explorations

After finding an old homesite near Payne Gap in Union Co., Sheldon and I spent the rest of the day exploring for old home places in the watershed of Star Creek in eastern Fannin Co. The day had started out cloudy (good for photos in the woods), but as usual, by the time we found some of the homeplaces here, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Heading up a tributary, we found the long collapsed remains of a chimney at the first homesite (FA15). It looked like someone had restacked some of the chimney rocks in a line.

There were also several old terraces in the vicinity, but with such horrible lighting, I only took a few photos here.
Continuing upstream, we came to a spot that showed a homesite on the old map. There was a pile of rocks, barely recognizable as a chimney pile. With all the tree shadows, I didn't bother taking a photo. We headed up a hollow towards a gap to go down into the next drainage, and came across another collapsed chimney.

The remains of this homesite chimney (FA17) weren't much either, but at least the lighting was decent.

There were a couple of small sections of "wall" below the collapsed chimney pile.
Climbing over the gap and going down the next drainage, we found the next homesite that showed on the old map.

Yet another collapsed chimney, at homesite FA18

Stacked rocks that supported one of the cabin's corners. The collapsed chimney from the previous image is in the rear, but it's hard to see, mostly hidden by the hollies.

Closer view of the stacked corner support rocks. These were on the left corner, when facing the front of the chimney.

Stacked corner support rocks at the other corner. Right corner, when facing the chimney...
We continued down the drainage to where the map showed the next homesite. Just before the homesite we passed by the site of an April 2010 Navy T-39 training jet crash. The government removed all signs of the crash, and nothing remains but a banner memorializing the spot. I didn't take a photo, because the banner corner hangers had broken loose and we didn't have anything to fix it so it would hang properly.

A number of rock-lined terraces are found around the homesite.

Another rock terrace wall

Collapsed chimney at homesite FA19

Moving around the chimney... Galvanized bucket in the front...

Continuing around, the rock foundation supports outline the footprint of the old home (FA19).

Me perusing the old homesite... (Photo by Sheldon)

Another terrace wall behind the house site..

Rock-lined spring head adjacent to the house site.
We headed up another drainage to the west, where the map showed a couple more old homesites.

This unusual rock-lined "flume" paralleled the branch.

We found another collapsed chimney at homesite FA20. The Forest Service must have been busy dismantling all the old cabins and knocking down chimneys after they bought the land in this area.

The structure of the old chimney base is more apparent in this view.

Not sure what this small nearby rock structure was...

One more view of the collapsed chimney.

Jug bottom between rocks on edge of the pile.
We had one more homesite to look for at the top of the gap. We came across this big red maple on the way up.

We thought the tree was huge for a red maple. It measured 114 inches in circumference (just over 3 foot diameter).

But when I got home, I looked up the Georgia champion maple, and it was almost twice the circumference of this one!

Homesite FA21 was a nice one, with a collapsed chimney, cellar hole, and rock foundation outlining the footprint of the long narrow house.

Me standing in the leaf-filled cellar hole for scale.

The house was built on a slope, hence the rock supports along the lower side.

Coming around to the collapsed chimney

Rear of the collapsed chimney There was an iron rod / pipe driven into the ground on either side of the chimney.

Wider view of house site FA21 from the rear.

Sheldon examining one of the metal rods / pipes.
It was getting late and time to head back down the mountain...

On the way down, we spotted this odd square-shaped area cut out of the creek bank. About 8 ft x 8 ft x 4 ft deep.

We came across one more homesite (FA22) as we got near the road. Just a dug cellar, but no signs of a chimney. Probably not as old, and had a wood stove.

Dug well About the only time we find wells is at homesites in the lowlands, like this one. The mountain homes usually got their water from springs, or adjacent creeks.

Fannin Homesites Index	Fannin Co. Index
Other Homesites Index	NE GA - NC Index