History of Cohutta Springs: Chief Vann House

Monday, July 9, 2012

Chief Vann House

The Chief Vann House is in the community of Spring Place, Georgia, about 12 1/2 miles south/southeast of Cohutta Springs. The State Historic Site was once owned by Cherokee Chief James Vann, and later, by his son Joseph Vann, who was finally forced from his home by Georgia State Militia in 1834. The Vann House features tours of the restored Vann House and plantation (including slave cabins), and a fine small museum. It is located at the intersection of Georgia Highway 52 Alternate and Georgia Highway 225, Chatsworth, Georgia (in the community of old Spring Place).

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Blog Purpose

The Cohutta Springs History blog is meant to explore an old community in Murray County, Georgia, known as Cohutta Springs. The place name appears in at least four locations on old maps, and on some maps, actually appears prominently in two places at once. For that reason, we will sometimes distinguish between "Cohutta Springs, east" and "Cohutta Springs, west," though both of them appear on old maps simply as "Cohutta Springs." The original place name appears to belong with the mineral springs, located at the base of Grassy Mountain, northeast of the old Summerhour Chapel. The springs are at the dead end of Cohutta Springs Road, off of U.S. Highway 411. The post office opened a branch five miles west of the springs in 1836, at which time the second place name for Cohutta Springs appeared on old maps. Later maps designate the second "Cohutta Springs" as "Cohutta Springs P.O." The post office suspended mail delivery during the Civil War. Some years later, after that post office closed, another branch was opened west, but much nearer, the mineral springs, and the place name on maps followed it. The other two instances of "Cohutta Springs" as a place name are an additional site very near the springs, and an area north of the springs called "North Cohutta Springs."

Loss of the Old Mill

The old ruins of the mill and dance hall on the property of an old, historic mineral springs always interested me. I loved to visit the old mill when it was still standing. The diagonal timbers were pretty, I thought. The massive wooden beams of the mill were something to see. I first visited it as a child in the late sixties or early seventies. Even then, it was falling in. In the seventies, the Georgia Cumberland Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists bought the property and built a new conference center and lake a half-mile or so from the older ruins. The mill was in hazardous condition, already falling into the creek. No one then had the money to restore it. The new owners demolished it, but first, they created a history project to document all they could learn about the mill, mineral springs, and old resort. They spoke to neighbors and collected stories, deed histories, and a bit of genealogical information. The mill is now gone, but not forgotten.

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Monday, July 9, 2012

Chief Vann House

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