Blue Ridge and Atlantic Railroad
Encyclopedia
Chartered in 1887, the Blue Ridge and Atlantic Railroad of the United States purchased the Cornelia-Tallulah Falls section of the North Eastern Rail Road in an attempt to connect Savannah, Georgia
to Knoxville, Tennessee
. It went bankrupt in about 1892 and in 1898 its properties became part of the newly formed Tallulah Falls Railway
.
and had some rather ambitious projects which never were fully developed. One of these was to build a road from Walhalla, South Carolina
to Chattanooga, Tennessee
which would have shortened the route to Chattanooga by cutting off Atlanta and thus creating an economic boon to the border areas of North Carolina
, South Carolina and Georgia
with this connection to the West. The Blue Ridge Railway had begun business around the late 1840s and connected Charleston
with the Upstate from the original tracks that ran from Charleston to Hamburg
(North Augusta, SC today). It ran from Columbia to Greenville via what is now Newberry, SC. thence to Abbeville and Belton and from there to Greenville, SC. Mary Chesnut in her diaries mentions this road. It was for a long while the ONLY upstate railroad until what is now the Norfolk and Southern built a road around 1890.
, S.C. will swear that Confederate
President Jefferson Davis
brought a steam locomotive train load of Confederate gold from Richmond's Banks to Abbeville and buried it near the present railroad tracks or near the Savannah River
(now under water). People in Chester, SC and in Washington, Ga will tell the same tale. This is simply not true. Davis left Richmond by train for Danville, Va and from there he went to Charlotte, N.C. where he was coolly received; thence to Chester, South Carolina where tracks ended. The party continued to Abbeville via Conestoga WAGONS (wagon train) to Hodges, SC and thence to Abbeville.
While they could have taken a train from Newberry (then called Lawrenceville); it was just too dangerous and for that reason to avoid capture the wagon train (now the reader can see how steam trains got mixed up with wagon trains) continued south by wagon train until Davis was captured just below Washington, Georgia. What gold there was returned to Richmond Banks by 1910. although some has never been accounted for. While it can not be proven; what became of the unrecovered Gold probably ended up in a Bank in Charleston, SC with a mysterious Rhett Butler figure who was treasurer of the Confederacy and who became inexplainably rich after the civil war running a bank in Charleston.
remains and was used for many years as an ideal place to make and store blue cheese
by Clemson University (formerly Clemson College). This cheese is and was genuine Roquefort except for the domaine of origin. During World War I
, a Clemson professor had obtained the native strain of spores of Penicillium roquefortii in Roquefort, France and thus began the Clemson Cheese Industry. The University ceased using the tunnel around 1960 and the cheese making was moved to campus and moved again around 1980 to a more modern facility near Anderson, SC
.
near spectacular Isaqueena Falls. (please note that Isaqueena is the original correct spelling, since DOT folks mis-spell it). Isaqueena Falls is named after a fictional Indian Princess. The Cherokee
were very prevalent all around Upstate South Carolina. Cateechee was the supposed Indian princess, she was called Isaqueena in the Choctaw language. Local legend states that Cateechee overheard the Cherokee Indian chief planning an attack on Cambridge Fort (which was the Star Fort at Ninety-Six, South Carolina). When she heard this she left the Cherokee town of Keowee to warn her white lover Allen Francis who was at the fort ninety-six miles away. Along her journey, she named the streams and creeks that she crossed. The town of Six Mile, Twelve Mile Creek, Eighteen Mile Creek, Three and Twenty Creek, Six and Twenty Creek, and the town of Ninety Six are the current names on maps today. These towns and creeks are located in Pickens, Anderson
, Abbeville, and Greenwood counties in South Carolina. The legend probably is not true considering the same story in various other parts of the Continental US and in Guam ("Lover's leap") there. There was significant rockslides in the tunnel early in the 21st Century, so access into the tunnel is blocked off after several hundred yards.
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
to Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
. It went bankrupt in about 1892 and in 1898 its properties became part of the newly formed Tallulah Falls Railway
Tallulah Falls Railway
The Tallulah Falls Railway, also known as the Tallulah Falls Railroad, "The TF" and "TF & Huckleberry," was a railroad based in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, U.S.A. which ran from Cornelia, Georgia to Franklin, North Carolina...
.
Early history
The railway had an earlier history under the name Blue Ridge Railway which was organized before the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and had some rather ambitious projects which never were fully developed. One of these was to build a road from Walhalla, South Carolina
Walhalla, South Carolina
Walhalla is a mountain city in Oconee County, South Carolina, United States. It is located from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina and is also located in the Appalachian Mountains of South Carolina. The population was 3,801 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Oconee County...
to Chattanooga, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
which would have shortened the route to Chattanooga by cutting off Atlanta and thus creating an economic boon to the border areas of 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...
, South Carolina and 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...
with this connection to the West. The Blue Ridge Railway had begun business around the late 1840s and connected Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
with the Upstate from the original tracks that ran from Charleston to Hamburg
Hamburg, Aiken County, South Carolina
The dead town of Hamburg, South Carolina, was once a thriving upriver market located in Edgefield District . It was founded by Henry Shultz in 1821, across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia, in direct competition with that city . In its heyday, 60,000 bales of cotton worth $2,000,000 were...
(North Augusta, SC today). It ran from Columbia to Greenville via what is now Newberry, SC. thence to Abbeville and Belton and from there to Greenville, SC. Mary Chesnut in her diaries mentions this road. It was for a long while the ONLY upstate railroad until what is now the Norfolk and Southern built a road around 1890.
Legend
Because of its early operational period to the upstate; the Blue Ridge railroad has been the subject of legends and mis-information for over 100 years regarding the Fall of Richmond. Folks in AbbevilleAbbeville, South Carolina
For other communities of the same name, see Abbeville .Abbeville is a city in Abbeville County, South Carolina, United States, 86 miles west of Columbia. Its population was 5,237 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Abbeville County...
, S.C. will swear that Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
brought a steam locomotive train load of Confederate gold from Richmond's Banks to Abbeville and buried it near the present railroad tracks or near the Savannah River
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...
(now under water). People in Chester, SC and in Washington, Ga will tell the same tale. This is simply not true. Davis left Richmond by train for Danville, Va and from there he went to Charlotte, N.C. where he was coolly received; thence to Chester, South Carolina where tracks ended. The party continued to Abbeville via Conestoga WAGONS (wagon train) to Hodges, SC and thence to Abbeville.
While they could have taken a train from Newberry (then called Lawrenceville); it was just too dangerous and for that reason to avoid capture the wagon train (now the reader can see how steam trains got mixed up with wagon trains) continued south by wagon train until Davis was captured just below Washington, Georgia. What gold there was returned to Richmond Banks by 1910. although some has never been accounted for. While it can not be proven; what became of the unrecovered Gold probably ended up in a Bank in Charleston, SC with a mysterious Rhett Butler figure who was treasurer of the Confederacy and who became inexplainably rich after the civil war running a bank in Charleston.
Construction
Work in earnest began before the Civil War much of it done with slave labor as well as that of paid Scots-Irish and German Immigrants(who founded the town of Walhalla) and the road was finished as far as the Stumphouse Mountain area (in Oconee County) where they were blasting a tunnel through the Mountain before the war brought a halt to the project. Supposedly, the tunnel was being dug and blasted from both sides of the Mountain but this writer has not found the roadbed from the other side, although there are shafts cut from above into the tunnel which one can fall into if one is not familiar with the top of the Mountain. (note: The other side of the tunnel is now under Crystal Lake. Some of the road bed can be found near this lake which is a few miles up the road from Stumphouse Mountain. Locals state that prior to flooding the tunnel still contained tools and iron from the original construction.)Closure
The railway ceased to exist around 1890 as the Blue Ridge Railway and went into foreclosure. Some of the tracks were taken over by Richmond and Danville Railroad which continued the tracks to Atlanta and in 2006 is still operational after more than 100 years of service. The tracks from Columbia still exist and are used by successive companies. However, the tracks that ran from Abbeville to Augusta,SC(or Hamburg) sit abandoned and rotting and are basically unusable, creating at the same time modern South Carolina ghost towns, or towns on the verge of being so, especially between Abbeville and McCormick, SC. The Belton route tracks are in 2006 still functional, at least in the Greenville area.Cheese-making
The uncompleted Stumphouse Mountain TunnelStumphouse Mountain Tunnel
Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel in Oconee County, South Carolina is an uncompleted railroad tunnel for the Blue Ridge Railroad of South Carolina in Sumter National Forest...
remains and was used for many years as an ideal place to make and store blue cheese
Blue cheese
Blue cheese is a general classification of cow's milk, sheep's milk, or goat's milk cheeses that have had cultures of the mold Penicillium added so that the final product is spotted or veined throughout with blue, blue-gray or blue-green mold, and carries a distinct smell, either from that or...
by Clemson University (formerly Clemson College). This cheese is and was genuine Roquefort except for the domaine of origin. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, a Clemson professor had obtained the native strain of spores of Penicillium roquefortii in Roquefort, France and thus began the Clemson Cheese Industry. The University ceased using the tunnel around 1960 and the cheese making was moved to campus and moved again around 1980 to a more modern facility near Anderson, SC
Anderson, South Carolina
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was estimated at 26,242 in 2006, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 70,530...
.
State Park
Today the tunnel is a State ParkState park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
near spectacular Isaqueena Falls. (please note that Isaqueena is the original correct spelling, since DOT folks mis-spell it). Isaqueena Falls is named after a fictional Indian Princess. The Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
were very prevalent all around Upstate South Carolina. Cateechee was the supposed Indian princess, she was called Isaqueena in the Choctaw language. Local legend states that Cateechee overheard the Cherokee Indian chief planning an attack on Cambridge Fort (which was the Star Fort at Ninety-Six, South Carolina). When she heard this she left the Cherokee town of Keowee to warn her white lover Allen Francis who was at the fort ninety-six miles away. Along her journey, she named the streams and creeks that she crossed. The town of Six Mile, Twelve Mile Creek, Eighteen Mile Creek, Three and Twenty Creek, Six and Twenty Creek, and the town of Ninety Six are the current names on maps today. These towns and creeks are located in Pickens, Anderson
Anderson County, South Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 187,126 people and 70,597 households residing in the county. The population density was 260.6 people per square mile . There were 84,092 housing units...
, Abbeville, and Greenwood counties in South Carolina. The legend probably is not true considering the same story in various other parts of the Continental US and in Guam ("Lover's leap") there. There was significant rockslides in the tunnel early in the 21st Century, so access into the tunnel is blocked off after several hundred yards.