Heritage and Tribal Program on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests

Documenting the Traces of the Past

Anywhere you look in the forests Georgia, the outline of countless chapters in human history is firmly etched on the landscape.  Over 4,000 archaeological and historic sites have been inventoried so far on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests. Remains include American Indian campsites and villages, historic homesteads, mines, mill sites, and railroad grades.

Consideration in Planning

Prior to on-the-ground land management activities such as road construction, campground development, and prescribed burns, archeologists conduct inventories to locate and evaluate heritage sites. They also recommend protection or mitigation measures. Forest Service undertakings must comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and with 36 CFR 800, the regulations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Protecting Heritage Sites

Help preserve the past by volunteering your time and talents through programs like Passport in Time. The past belongs to all Americans. When looters and vandals destroy archeological and historic sites, part of the Nation's heritage is lost forever. Sites on public lands are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and other statutes.

Be a Steward of the Past:

Treat remains of past cultures with respect.

Tread lightly when visiting heritage sites.

Leave artifacts where you find them.

Photograph and enjoy rock art, but do not touch fragile surfaces.

Help preserve the past by volunteering your time and talents through programs like the Passport in Time program.

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 

With passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990, the Forest Service and other Federal agencies implemented programs to inventory and return human remains and funerary objects to culturally affiliated American Indian tribes. A number of repatriations are underway in the Southwestern Region.

National Register of Historic Places

A listing on the National Register of Historic Places recognizes a heritage site's special significance. Three sites from the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest have been placed on the National Register, including Chenocetah Tower and the Blood Mountain Shelter. Download to watch a video about the 75th Anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) [94mb WMV].

Forest History Program on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests

The lands that make up Georgia's beautiful National Forests were once the lands nobody wanted. The early history of Georgia is a tale of abuse and overuse of the fragile ecosystems. Hydraulic mining for gold, cut and leave practices of early timber companies,wildfires, over-grazing and unregulated hunting and fishing led to a forest that was in need of extensive restoration efforts.

The Forest Service purchased 31,000 acres in four North Georgia counties in 1911 for $7per acre. In the beginning, the Chattahoochee was part of the Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests in North Carolina and Tennessee. Many of the early purchases were old homesteads and abandoned farm lands.

On July 9, 1936, the Chattahoochee National Forest was proclaimed as a separate National Forest. At that time, Forest Service managers began to restore these lands by planting trees, fighting wildfires, controlling erosion and introducing wildlife and fish back into their natural habitat. As a result of a concentrated effort by the Forest Service and the Department of Natural Resources personnel, the deer and trout populations which had been virtually eliminated, were brought back to today's healthy and productive level. Today's estimate of the deer population is more than 30,000 animals and a turkey population of over 6,000 birds.

Likewise in 1970, the bear population on the Chattahoochee totaled 106 bears. After 20years of continually managing the habitat for this animal, the Chattahoochee today boasts a healthy bear population of more than 650 animals.

Here is a more thorough treatment of the History of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests.

Celebrating the Centennial of the Weeks Act

Sometimes Congress passes a law that surpasses the expectations of those who drafted it and worked so hard for its passage. Few people, if any, could have known the magnitude of the legacy of the Weeks Act. From this law was born nearly all the national forests east of the Mississippi River. Here we commemorate the legacy of the Weeks Act in Georgia with links to additional resources. Read more.

Tribal heritage on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests

Petroglyphs at Track Rock Gap

Tucked away in the gap between Thunderstruck Mountain and Buzzard Roost Ridge, history is written in stone. Track Rock Gap is the location of a series of rock carvings, or petroglyphs, made by Native Americans in Union County, Georgia on soapstone boulders. There are over a hundred carvings of a wide range of figures. It’s one of the most significant rock art sites in the Southeastern United States and the only such site located on public land in Georgia. Although it’s one of the best known rock art sites in the region, it was never completely recorded or studied before the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests sponsored research there in 2009. Please explore this site further to learn more about Track Rock and the findings of this research.

New archeology work at 17th century American Indian site

As the National Historic Preservation Act celebrates 50 years, local volunteers are gaining the experience to become leaders in preservation and cultural heritage for future generations. Working in small groups, local volunteers with the Passport in Time program are helping answer these questions. Volunteers helped recover more than 1,000 pottery sherds using large wooden shakers to separate the dirt from the artifacts. Several test pits were also excavated looking for pottery, stone tools, and additional outbuildings used by the family. Read more.

Archeology work to continue at 17th century American Indian site

Around the year A.D. 1600, a house burned at a family farmstead in a remote mountain valley in Northeast Georgia. In 2016, Passport in Time volunteers from across the country continued excavating this significant archeological discovery on the Chattahoochee National Forest. With evidence of habitation dating from 100 B.C. to A.D. 1615, the unusual site is helping to tell the story of native people in a time of tumultuous regional history.

During previous excavations volunteers uncovered pottery, stone tools and the central hearth of a house. Radiocarbon dating of burned wood from the site dates the largest occupation of the site to A.D. 1600-1615. Much remains unknown in regional history between the years A.D. 1550 and 1650, making this a find of particular significance. It was not until the late 17th century that English explorers reached the area and found it occupied by the Cherokee people. Read more.

Scull Shoals Historic Site

Explore over 10,000 years of history from early Native Americans to DeSoto (1540s) to Georgia's first paper mill in 1811. Take a gentle hike along the historic ruins of the old Scull Shoals Village on the banks of the Oconee River.

It's About Time 

Waiting silently in the mountains, canyons, and river valleys of our national forests and grasslands are the remnants of past cultures that confront us and remind us of the centuries-old relationship between people and the land. These heritage resources hold clues to past ecosystems, add richness and depth to our landscapes, provide links to living traditions, and help transform a beautiful walk in the woods into an unforgettable encounter with history. - National Heritage Strategy, 1998.