Corra Harris Personal Letters, 1913 – 1925 Transcriptions – Jordan Gentry
Personal Letters of Corra Harris Preface The following is a series of sixteen recently discovered, private letters written by Corra Harris to a close personal friend, Joy Akin of Bartow County. The letters reveal very private feelings and family matters that until this research have not been known to [...]
Corra Harris: Forgotten Contradictions – Jordan Gentry
Corra Harris: Forgotten Contradictions A Historical Analysis Revealed among Personal Letters and Archaeological Finds Martha Berry (on the left) and Corra Harris (on the right) at In the Valley, 1922 Jordan Gentry Honors Capstone Project, Kennesaw State University Faculty Advisor: Dr. Terry Powis EVHS [...]
The Ancient Rock Walls of Bartow County – William Phillips
The Ancient Rock Walls of Bartow County By William Phillips Bartow County has remarkable ancient stone structures that have a history every bit as exciting as the far more recognized mound sites (Etowah and Leake), and numerous ancient village sites scattered across the county. However, stone features are almost always [...]
The Sam Jones Female College – Joe F. Head
The Sam Jones Female College - Joe F. Head The college that never came to be, could be said for the Sam Jones Female Academy! Sam Jones Female College and First Cartersville High School, Circa 1950 AKA, Sam Jones College, Sam Jones Female Academy and Sam Jones Female Seminary. Upon [...]
Preston Rudolph “Rudy” York – Terry W. Sloope
Early in his career on the baseball diamond he was a man without a position. Luckily for him, the power emanating from his bat allowed him to hang around the major leagues long enough to settle into the only position he could play reasonably well. He came from Native American [...]
The History and Development of the Railroads of Bartow County – Giovanni Martino
Etowah Station, W&A RR Etowah River Bridge The History and Development of the Railroads of Bartow County By Giovanni Martino Bartow County, formerly Cass County, owes much of its success to the early construction of a state-owned railroad built between Atlanta and Chattanooga known as the Western and [...]
A Typology Analysis of Lithic Artifacts Recovered from a Middle Woodland Site in North Georgia (Lower Dig) – William Heflin
A Typology Analysis of Lithic Artifacts Recovered from a Middle Woodland Site in North Georgia William Heflin (Kennesaw State University) The prehistory of the Southeastern United States is divided into four broad periods: the Paleoindian period, the Archaic period, the Woodland period, and the Mississippian period. The Woodland period dates from [...]
Nitrate Mining in Bartow County – Joel M. Sneed
Mining in Bartow County has been an important facet of the county’s economy for much of its history. The iron industry was made possible by the early discovery of vast iron ore (limonite) veins in the southeastern part of the county, and the mining industry grew to include manganese, barite, [...]
The Beach: A brief history of the George Washington Carver State Park – Alexis Carter-Callahan
Alexis Carter-Callahan, M.A. Photo Credit: Atlanta Parks Department George Washington Carver State Park “this is about more than color. it is about how we learn to see ourselves. it is about geography and memory.” -the river between us in Mercy by Lucille Clifton (2004) Introduction The creation of the historic [...]
The Ghosts of Glen Holly – Amy Young
In the Lost and Drowned Town of Etowah, GeorgiaBy: Amy Young Rising from the red clay-stained waters of Lake Allatoona, Glen Holly teases a few times a year. When the water retreats, a home place appears. War, fire, nature and water have finished their work to dismantle the mansion. Gone are the [...]
Community Cornerstones: The Baptist Landscape in Bartow County, Georgia – Amy Young
By Amy Young Presented to the Etowah ValleyHistorical Society in Completion of an Internship Program under the Directionof Joe F. Head as EVHS Intern Field Supervisor and Dr. Jennifer Dickey and Dr.David Parker at Kennesaw State University December 3, 2018 For anyone who has traveled in thesouthernmost parts of the [...]
Cooking Schools, Canneries and Freezer Lockers – Joe F. Head
Ingredients for Cartersville’s Electric Age By: Joe F. Head As early as May 3, 1900 Cartersville entrepreneurs had launched their first Canning Factory to benefit its citizens. Additionally, an icehouse, freezer locker, two canning factories and local cooking schools were all made possible by electricity. As years followed the community [...]
Bartow’s Tunnel Mining Era Unearthed – Joe F. Head
By Joe F. Head A sincere word of gratitude is extended to Mr. Stan Bearden for his civic mindedness to help bring these finds to the attention of the Etowah Valley Historical Society in the spirit of historic preservation Following the discovery of gold in north Georgia and the 1838 [...]
Ascension Church’s Beginnings: 1844 to 1907 – Peggy L. Brown
By Peggy L. BrownSenior Warden, Church of the Ascension, 2019 On the occasion of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension’s 175th anniversary as a congregation, I asked our rector, the Very Rev. Mary K. Erickson, how the church today is connected to the one in 1844. “We have been proclaiming [...]
Amos T. Akerman – Guy Parmenter
by Guy Parmenter Many of our forefathers who endured the hardships of a time we can now only read about can still be found today resting peacefully in the numerous cemeteries which dot the landscape throughout Bartow County. Nowhere else is it possible to look so deeply into our past. [...]
Silent Voices from Salt Peter Cave – Joel M. Sneed
Joel M. Sneed Entrance to Kingston Saltpeter Cave (Linda Pye photo) As a part of our study of Kingston Saltpeter Cave in the 1980s, inscriptions were recorded from the walls of the cave, and these – nearly 500 names, some with dates and other information – were [...]
TINSLEY PARK: Cartersville’s First Park and Golf Course – Guy Parmenter
The following article was published in The Tribune-News, June 27, 1929, under the title “Local Golf Course Has Important and Noticeable Niche in Sportdom”. As wheels of progress turned their cycles towards greater industry and business for Cartersville and Bartow County, they made an extra revelation in order that sports [...]
The Life and Times of Henry Clay Smith – Alexis and Chistopher Mazique
A man out of slavery overcoming and achieving the extraordinary. Sponsored By: Etowah Valley Historical Society Date: 8/28/2019 Written By: Alexis MaziqueChistopher Mazique Field Supervisors: Joe F. HeadSam Graham Acknowledgments First and foremost, we are indebted to Mr. Sam Graham who rediscovered Henry Clay Smith. He not only found this [...]
An Efficient Fire Department for the City of Cartersville – Sam Graham
Sam Graham This brief paper covers the changes in Cartersville’s fire service from 1867, when there was no fire department, until 1918, when the fire service included a municipal water system, full-time professional firefighters and a motorized engine; the basics of the system which is still in use today. Early [...]
COVID-19 Not Bartow’s First Social Distancing Epidemic – Joe F. Head
By Joe Head April 12, 2020 Homemade masks during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 Never in a hundred years! How often have you heard or uttered that phrase meaning you will not see such an event in your lifetime? Well, it is now the 100 years! Twenty years into [...]
Cartersville’s COVID Chronicles – Debbie and Joe F. Head
April 2020 - by Debbie and Joe Head The Show Will Go On In 2020, Bartow County, along with the rest of the nation, added a chapter to our local heritage as the community navigated its way through the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is intended to provide a snapshot [...]
Walnut Grove and the Young Family – Jennifer Billingsley
An Archival Study of Walnut Grove and the Young Family A directed study under the supervision of Dr. Terry Powis at Kennesaw State University By: Jennifer Billingsley Introduction The Walnut Grove Plantation is situated near the confluence of the Etowah River and Pettit Creek in Cartersville, an area rich with [...]
Patriotism and Place: Community, Commemoration, and Confederate Identity in Civil War Bartow County – Matthew Gramling
By Matthew Gramling The namesake of a community can provide profound insights into the communal identity of its early residents and their relationship to the landscape in which they lived. Place names often describe a topographical feature, signify a kinship relationship to a particular locale, or commemorate a person, place, [...]
The Vinnie Cabin Excavation – India Daniel
The Material Wealth of Slaves in the South An Excavation of a Former Slave Cabin Uncovers a Piece of Bartow County’s History India Daniel Kennesaw State University In today’s world, we are curiously reaching back into the past more than ever, in search of not only our country’s history, but [...]
