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1959 Map of Hemp Top

Name: 1959 Topographic Map of Hemp Top
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1977
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1977

About this map

Cohutta Mountain and the high ridges of the Blue Ridge dominate this interior look at the wilderness straddling the Tennessee-Georgia line during the late 1950s. The landscape is defined by the steep drainage basins of the Jacks River and the Conasauga River, where human presence is sparse and concentrated along creek bottoms and remote gaps. Evidence of earlier settlement and mountain industry appears at Jones Mill and the nearby Bethlehem Ch and Jones Cem, markers of the community life that persisted before the area was fully absorbed into the Chattahoochee National Forest and Cherokee National Forest.

Transportation through these heights relies on primitive routes like the East Cowpen Road and the Rice Camp Trail. High-elevation landmarks such as the Lookout Tower on Hemp Top provide a sense of the fire-watch infrastructure of the era, while named spots like Beech Bottom and Dally Gap point to traditional river crossings and passage points used by locals long before modern recreation. The presence of Ruins near the South Fork suggests the traces of mountain homesteads being reclaimed by the forest.