Explore!

I was inspired by The Rake and his trip last weekend. So, yesterday I went out to do some exploring. Here's a map of my trip:


I'm finishing my map in Google maps. When I'm done, I'll put a link up. If you are interested, you will be able to view my route in more detail and see the photos on the map. You can also turn on satellite view in Google maps.

My first stop was to the town of Central. Central was founded by the railroad when they set their headquarters there in the late 1800's. It is 133 miles to Atlanta and 133 miles to Charlotte. They have a museum in the building of an old Victorian house. It is only open on Sunday's, so I walked through their gardens. There are a lot of statues, fountains, and benches. Most of the statues were wearing scarves and hats.

My next stop was across town to the Central Roller Mill. I'm sure this building used to be a center of economic activity. Today it is a safety hazard. I walked around the building and took some pictures. You can see inside through all the broken windows that there is still a lot of equipment inside. In a couple of places you can see the original wood framed windows and support beams. In all the wood, you could see that it was roughly milled lumber. It almost seemed as if they milled it with an axe and got "close enough".
After I left the mill, I went down Gaines street toward a bridge I had seen before. It is one of the scariest bridges to drive on around here. It is an all wood construction that crosses a double set of rails. Up close you can see that the boards were coated with a tar or oil. The bridge is barely wide enough for two cars.
Across the street from the bridge is the New Olive Grove Missionary Baptist church. Like many old churches in this area, there is a cemetery next to the building.

Up keep at the cemetery didn't seem very high. There were a lot of over turned flower pots, a large tree that had fallen and not been picked up, and an entire section of tomb stones I could not reach because they were located in a dense stand of trees.
One of the most interesting things I found were several stones that were hand carved. The spelling was way off on these. Obviously written by an uneducated person. This one says:

Roada (can't read last name) Died June 26, 1918

You can see how they wrote it

There were also a few of these stones. It looks like a hub from a wheel or a part of a pulley. The center was filled with concrete and the message carved in. I could not make out many words on any of these. The last word on this one appears to be some form of Johnson.
The cemetery obviously belonged to a group of poor, uneducated people. There are some more modern looking stones and even some recently placed stones. It was very interesting walking through there.

On my way to Six Mile, I turned off at the community of Cateechee. I found this brick building there:

There were lots of signs warning trespassers. Next door to this was a trailer home that looked occupied. I stayed in the car. The community is mostly old mill homes and trailers. The streets were narrow, and I started to wonder if I should be out there. Once I got home I learned there is a large mill along a creek in Cateechee. The mill is the reason the community was formed. I'll go back someday and check out the mill and get some photos. I believe the building has been demolished and just the ruble and foundation are left. The name Cateechee is named for a woman from the Choctaw tribe. She was kidnapped by the Cherokee during a battle and kept as a slave. In her tribe of Choctaw her name was Issaqueena. A white man that did a lot of trading with the Cherokee fell in love with Cateechee. When she over heard the indians planning an attack on Fort Cambridge she snuck out and traveled 96 miles to warn the settlers. She ended up marrying that man.

That is the story told in tradition. The men building the mill named the town for her. The neighboring town on the railway is named Norris. Named for the owner of the mill.

On my way home I had an emergency. Marked by the red triangle in my map. It was at that point that I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad. So bad, that it hurt. There obviously is nothing but a few homes and cattle out where I was. I started feeling around the backseat for a bottle as I drove. I couldn't find one suitable. I looked down at my bottle of Gatoraid that I was drinking. I hadn't drank even half of it. As bad as I had to go, I didn't want to waste my drink.

I barely made it home. When I pulled into the driveway, I left the car door open and rushed inside.

After such a great trip, it was almost ruined by those painful last ten minutes.