Tugaloo

On the border of South Carolina and Georgia, along hwy 123, is a historical marker for the old Cherokee town of Tugaloo.

The marker says that the area was settled around 500 A.D. and the Cherokee Indians occupied the town around 1450. The town was once described by Indian agent, Col. George Chicken in 1725 as ". . . the most ancient town in these parts." The town was destroyed during the Revolutionary War because the Cherokee were allies of the British.

The Tugaloo river flows near through this area and has been flooded to become part of lake Hartwell. Now that the lake is 18 ft low, this valley has been revealed. Grey tree stumps line each side of the river and the valley is brown with mud and dried grass.

I stopped and looked around for a bit as I thought about what the valley might have looked like when the Cherokee lived here.

When the lake is full you can't see the tree stumps and the lake hides the shape of the river. Now that the lake is empty, you can see it as the Cherokee might have seen it.

(In both of those photos, all the land up to the tree line is normally part of the lake.)

I imagine during their time the valley was green with vegetation and small boats would be floating down a twisting river.  The Tugaloo was shaded by tall trees along the banks.

Sometimes I wonder if damming the rivers was the right thing to do. It seems like so much history gets covered up and I wonder what we are losing when this happens.

It reminds me of the Three Gorges dam in China. This massive structure will bring a lot of benefits to China, but what about the history they are going to cover up as the lake forms behind the dam? Over 1,000 archaeological sites will be buried under water.

I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to see the Tugaloo river uncovered.  When lake Hartwell returns to this area, it will be harder to visualize the history that the water hides.