Re: [at-l] original terminus

[Uncle Milt <unclemilt@backcountry.net>]

Stewart,
Thanks for the wonderful and informative reply. 
-UncleMilt

On Thu, 20 May 1999, Stewart Holt wrote:

> On Wed, 19 May 1999 16:36:05 -0500 (CDT), Uncle Milt
> <unclemilt@backcountry.net> wrote:
> 
> >Has anyone seen old topos that had the original route? There must be some
> >trace of where it crossed the road. Been up to Oglethorpe a few times in
> >the last year and they're building houses like crazy. It is an awesome
> >mountaintop location - but it's a real shame.
> >
> >Where exactly did they put the monument? 
> >
> >- -Milt
> >
> 
> As of last February, the south end of Monument Road was blocked by a heavy
> gate with various signs on it. One warned not to trespass in the FAA
> facility several hundred feet beyond. Another said for information to call a
> certain land developer. If one were to venture past this gate, they would
> find an FAA facility with many antennae enclosed in what would look like a
> new fence. The fence offsets to allow the monument to be outside. There were
> a few bushes planted around it.
> 
> A good guess would be that they are securing the FAA facility behind a fence
> and preparing to open the road up for development of the rest of Mount
> Oglethorpe. The long ridge which Mt. Oglethorpe is on is being developed
> with subdivisions and individual houses. Oglethorpe and other peaks exceed
> 3000 feet in elevation. I guess at that point, one would be allowed to go
> near the monument. It is a tall marble column with an inscription about
> General Oglethorpe who founded the colony of Georgia. It has cracks and has
> obviously been used for target practice.
> 
> In 1957, the Atlanta Constitution ran editorials that this setting which was
> becoming a dump for waste products from chicken farming and logging was no
> place for this monument to the founder of the colony, nor for the southern
> terminus the Appalachain Trail. The trail was very difficult to find due to
> the conditions and the fact that trees with blazes were being cut as fast as
> the blazes were painted. The trail terminus was moved, the monument has been
> dwarfed by technology.
> 
> There is a picture of the monument on page 10 of "Walking With Spring",
> taken when it was in better shape. Earl Shaffer did start on Mt. Oglethorpe.
> He had a hard time finding where it was. No one he met knew of the AT. When
> he asked a man which mountain was Oglethorpe, the man answered, "I don't
> rightly know, Mister, but it's one of them tops out there." Today, standing
> in the McDonald's parking lot at the Jasper exit from I-575 (extended), it
> is the hignest peak at the right hand end of the ridge.
> 
> 
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> 


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