Allenbrook: Civil War-Era Plantation Home

Vanishing Georgia Collection, ful0468

Ed’s Citation here : )

The exploration and settling of Georgia by people following the initial Spanish expeditions created the need for means to cross the Chattahoochee River. The early indigenous people living along the Chattahoochee were nomadic hunters and gatherers who followed paths created often by large game animals such as the woodland buffalo. Artifacts found indicate that they lived along the river for at least 10,000 years before the Spanish explorers. The river was crossed at shallow areas that could be forded, or crossed over on foot. As time progressed and more land was annexed into the state, ferries became the means for people, livestock and trade goods to be transported from one side of the river to the other. The low cost of the ferries contributed to usage until the early 1900’s. As the economy progressed, the need for bridges resulted. The earliest bridges were constructed from wood and covered to protect the structure from the elements. One was known to have been used by the Union troops to get to Atlanta, along with a second one, on Roswell Rd., which was burned by the Confederates to prevent movement during the Civil War and consequently reconstructed.

Following the Civil War, the city of Atlanta experienced tremendous growth with the population more than quadrupling from 22,000 shortly after the war, to over 90,000 in 1900. Previous to World War I, most transportation was by horseback or foot using unpaved roads. However, once the automobile became used heavily by the public, it became apparent that more permanent and durable bridges were required for movement across the Chattahoochee River.

The expansion of the rail lines through Georgia, specifically the W & A (Western and Atlantic), to connect the center of Georgia with the Tennessee River Valley resulted in the construction of a railroad bridge over the Chattahoochee at Montgomery Ferry. Other railroad lines became connected in what was to become the city of Atlanta, originally called Terminus, then Marthasville. Travelers did not put much faith in the strength of the bridges and would get off of the trains and walk across the bridge, rather than ride across.

Wooden bridges were commonly used until after the Civil War. But they were not long lived. As the price of iron and steel became lower, the traditional wooden bridges were replaced with steel or iron truss bridges. By 1902, there were possibly three truss bridges, but none survive today. The four oldest steel truss bridges that are of historical significance today are Settles, Jones, Paces Ferry and Rogers Bridges. The Settles and Jones bridges are in disrepair, the others are used for foot traffic only. Settles Bridge is a Pratt, through truss, single span, iron and wood decked bridge. This particular style was commonly used in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. It was abandoned when a new bridge was built on Highway 20. Jones Bridge is similar in style, but consists of eight repeated units, has a camel back style, and is pin connected. Few bridges of this type remain. This bridge was in need of repair in the 1940’s and had been closed for some time when unknown people presented themselves as contractors and demolished one of the spans. When the truth was discovered half of the bridge was gone- presumably sold for scrap metal during the Second World War. It has historic value of a rarely found example of a pin constructed truss bridge. These bridges generally sit at the same location as original ferry crossings and maintain historic interest reflecting the progression of transportation at the sites. The first multi-lane, highway bridge to be used is the U.S. 41 Bridge. It continues to be used today. It was constructed in the mid-1930’s before the actual highway was constructed. The construction of this bridge influenced commerce to locate in the Marietta area. The bridge type is a steel and concrete span bridge, the next generation of bridges found spanning the Chattahoochee River.

Over time, the method of crossing rivers, especially the Chattahoochee River has progressed from foot traffic and wading or fording across to the contemporary method of motorized vehicles. The funding source for the ferries and bridges has also changed over time from private ownership with tolls to state owned being part of the Department of Transportation. Structure of the bridges also changed with engineering discoveries. The National Park at the Chattahoochee River has recognized the historical significance of the remaining early bridges found within the park boundaries.

1. 
   Recently, in the state of Georgia, the T- SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) referendum was authorized by the Transportation Investment Act of 2010. This bill was a means for Georgia to make the necessary investments into transportation and highway systems through an additional penny sales tax. The increase in sales tax to fund the systems, including the upkeep of aging bridges, was to offset the decrease of Federal tax gas funds by approximately 30%. The increased sales tax was aimed to benefit eleven economic areas across the state including the metro Atlanta area. The tax must be voted on by the citizens of the state to be put into effect. In the past the bridges were privately owned, as indicated in the article, and tolls collected by the people using them were used to maintain the structures. As the state of Georgia grew economically and population increased the private ownership was no longer feasible. As a citizen of Georgia research the pros and cons of the T-SPLOST. Create a debate for and against the T-SPLOST bill. Compare your results with the results of the hotly contested vote on July 31, 2012. What are the repercussions of a negative vote? What are the benefits of a positive vote?
   
2. 
   Research the current transportation systems of Georgia: Rail, Air, and Road. Create a state map, that shows our main existing systems. Pretend that you are a state planner. Propose three improvements that you see as necessary for our state to meet the needs of all Georgians in the next 100 years. Choose your medium of presentation: technology, diagram, cartoon, 3D model, etc.
   
3. 
   Write a letter to the editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) newspaper or your local newspaper. Take a stance with regards to the T-SPLOST and either support or be against the bill to fund road improvements. Within your letter defend your choice with statistics and indicate your sources of information.
   
4. 
   Using the pictorial artifacts found on the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area site, compare and contrast the means of crossing the river within a timeline showing the progression of the modes of getting people and goods from one side of the river to the other. What created the changes within the transportation systems over the Chattahoochee River?
   

Located on the northwest bank of the Chattahoochee River and near Johnson Ferry lies Hyde Farm. Originally known as Cherokee Indian territory, Hyde Farm was built by James Cooper Power in the 1830’s. Other Native American villages were located just upstream from the farm, but those villagers were forced to leave as well during the Trail of Tears. The original log cabin still exists within the Hyde farmhouse. This is the land that eventually became Hyde Farm. However, farmers borrowed Native American farming traditions to grow their crop which included sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, gourds, squashes, watermelons, beans, grapes, berries, pecans, black walnuts, peanuts, maple sugar, tobacco, and cotton.

In 1874 during cotton-picking time, James Cooper Power sharecropped with James Alexander Hyde, a Civil War Confederate veteran moving from South Carolina to Alabama. Hyde and his family move to the Mt. Bethel community east of Cobb County were they had four children. One of which, Jesse Clifford Hyde was born 2 miles from the Power cabins in 1881. During 1870’s the sharecropping system in the South replaced the old slave plantation system. Sharecropping occurred extensively in colonial Africa, Scotland, and Ireland and came into wide use in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877). The South had been devastated by war; planters had ample land but little money for wages or taxes. At the same time, most of the former slaves had labor but no money and no land; they rejected the kind of gang labor that typified slavery. The solution was the sharecropping system focused on cotton, which was the only crop that could generate cash for the croppers, landowners, merchants and the tax collector. Poor white farmers, who previously had done little cotton farming, needed cash as well and became sharecroppers. James Hyde and "Jim" Power relationship grew and they continued to work together for the next 25 years.

James Power died in 1901 and the Hyde’s continued to work on the farm thereafter. James Hyde’s son Jesse was one of the farmers and a construction worker. Jesse was able to obtain the title of the Powers homestead (Hyde Farm) in 1920, which encompassed 135 acres of land. Up until his death in 1972, Jesse Hyde continued his father’s work tending to the farm. Leaving the farm to his bachelor sons, J.C. and Buck sustained the up-keep of the farm with traditional methods, using tools like the mule-drawn plows, oxen and horses for power, crude wooden plows, all sowing by hand, cultivating by hoe, hay and grain cutting with sickle, and threshing with flail. As the east Cobb County developed and suburbanized in the mid-1960, the Hyde brothers began to make a name for their crop, selling fresh vegetables and other produce items off the back of their truck, in the parking lot of Bethel Methodist Church at the intersection of Power's Ferry and Lower Roswell Roads.

Hyde Farm is 95 acres of land consists of forest, fields, and several streams. The buildings of the farm were built from circa 1830 to 1950. Hyde Farm is in an important area of the Chattahoochee watershed (Mulberry Creek) which provides drinking water for the City of Atlanta and surrounding areas. Developing this land could seriously affect the quality of the water in the Chattahoochee. Hyde Farm has acres of old-growth forest and provides wildlife habitat to fox, coyote, deer, songbirds, beaver, and other species whose habitat has been destroyed by development.