Blue Ridge Railroad 6

March 2022 I had one major segment of the Blue Ridge Railway route in Rabun County remaining to explore, the only access being through private property. I waited all week for a cloudy day, but it was not to be, so I finally just headed over there, despite the full sun. From the topo maps, I'd marked 9 drainages that had potential for containing stone culverts. I soon saw that only 4 of the 9 drainages were large enough to have had culverts built. Of the 4, the first one had been destroyed by a recent road, and the second was flooded at one end and badly damaged on the other. Fortunately the other two culverts were in good condition.

While the north end of Culvert 1 had been destroyed by roadwork, the south end (here) had completely slumped, hiding any rock work. (This photo gives an idea just how horrible the lighting conditions were in the harsh sunlight.)

Culvert 2 - damaged north end. The upstream (south) end was flooded with a pond; most likely the culvert there is clogged or silted up.

A closer look at damaged Culvert 2 (north).

I came across an old cistern while looking for the next culvert. This was in one of the drainages where I had hoped to find a culvert, but there was none.

Culvert 3 - north end. While the stones on this end are somewhat dislodged, the culvert overall looks pretty good after 160+ years.

Creek flowing out the end of Culvert 3.

Large slab capstones over the N end of Culvert 3.

Neither this Culvert (#3) nor Culvert 4 were ever covered with fill. The tall earthen berms were constructed on both sides of these culverts, but work ended before the fill could be applied over the culverts.

South end of Culvert 3.

View through Culvert 3, from the south end.

I encountered an outhouse (a one seater) on my way to the next drainage.

Some of the large slab capstones over Culvert 4. This turned out to be the most impressive culvert I have found to date.

North end of Culvert 4. This end was almost completely hidden by dog hobble before my "landscaping".

The capstone lying in the culvert channel appears to have never been placed.

View through Culvert 4 toward the south end. This massive culvert is about 200 feet long!

An unfinished / uncapped segment of this culvert actually extends beyond the portal shown in the previous images. This is part of the uncapped culvert wall from that section.

This was to be the actual northern end of Culvert 4. They never completed the installation of the capstones all the way to the end before work was halted. You can see the portal in the background (shown in earlier pics) which was as far as they got.

Detail of the "true" north end.

Southern end of the same Culvert (#4). I had to trim a lot of rhododendron just to see the opening.

Closer view of Culvert 4's south end. Note the drill marks in the 160+ year old stone slab...

Culvert interior, from the south end.

Same view, but without flash. Without flash, one can see daylight coming in from a breach in the culvert's slab roof.

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