Rydal was the name given to the railroad station established upon the completion of the L & N Railroad between Cartersville and Knoxville in 1906. This flag station was designed to serve the needs of the surrounding Pine Log community established in 1833. Pine Log was an agricultural community which had been granted a post office upon its founding. The Pine Log post office, which was last housed in the Bradford store, was closed in 1979. The Rydal station was also designated as a post office in 1908. The depot no longer exists but was located west of the tracks near the intersection of Vaughan Dairy and Old Tennessee Roads. At some point, the post office was moved east several hundred yards to the intersection of Vaughan Dairy Road and U. S. Highway 411, and was housed in a community store. The year 1975 saw the completion of a new modern post office building located at the intersection of GA Highway 140 and U. S. Highway 411, just north of the old location. The old community store over time became vacant and was burned by the Bartow County Fire Department in a training exercise.

As to the name Rydal, it is the name of a hamlet in the Lake District of England where the house of William Wordsworth (a romantic poet 1170-1850) was located. His home was also named Rydal Mount. Early residents of the area have stated that the depot was named Rydal by an individual associated with the L & N Railroad. Many of the new residents today call the surrounding community Rydal instead of Pine Log, identifying with the Rydal post office. For additional information, refer to the history of “Pine Log”.

Source: United States and Worldwide Postal History by Jim Forte; Verbal conversation with Bartow County resident, Michael Garland