Allatoona was a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 located in extreme southeastern Bartow County, Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

. Built along Allatoona Creek, it was a gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 area later in the first U.S. gold rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

, which occurred in Georgia and North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. Reaching its height in the 1840s, the Georgia Gold Rush

Georgia Gold Rush

The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States. It started in 1828 in the present day Lumpkin County near county seat Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. By the early 1840s, gold became harder to find...

 continued into the 1850s even while the second gold rush was occurring in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. (Gold was also mined in nearby Woodstock

Woodstock, Georgia

Woodstock is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 23,896 at the 2010 census.Originally a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Woodstock is now considered part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...

.)

The Battle of Allatoona Pass took place here just after the fall of Atlanta in 1864.

The town was destroyed in the late 1940s when the new Lake Allatoona

Lake Allatoona

Lake Allatoona is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir in Georgia, located in northwestern metro Atlanta. The lake is mostly in southwestern Cherokee County, but a significant part is in southeastern Bartow County, and a small part in Cobb County near Acworth. Cartersville is the nearest...

 flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

ed it, making the creek

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 into its major southern arm. Red Top Mountain State Park

Red Top Mountain State Park

Red Top Mountain State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is located in the northwestern part of the state, on the northwestern edge of metro Atlanta, in southeastern Bartow County near Cartersville...

 is immediately north of the old town, the city of Acworth

Acworth, Georgia

Acworth is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,425. Acworth is located in the foothills of the North Georgia mountains along the southeastern banks of Lake Acworth and Lake Allatoona on the Etowah River.Acworth's nickname is "The...

 in Cobb County is immediately to its south, further upstream on the former creek. The site is just south and east of Allatoona Pass.