With another major road construction project set to begin on Taylor’s Ridge, it’s a reminder that keeping roads open and passable across the mountain has been a challenge for generations. In fact, long before the Georgia Department of Transportation existed, Chattooga County residents were required to help maintain the roads themselves.

Today, the Georgia Department of Transportation is preparing for another round of repairs to U.S. Highway 27 over Taylor’s Ridge. The approximately $7.4 million project will include construction of an anchored retaining wall designed to stabilize a section of the mountainside where the highway has experienced shifting and settling for decades.

But the problems associated with crossing Taylor’s Ridge are hardly new.

Historical accounts indicate that the road between Summerville and Rome was notoriously difficult to maintain throughout the 1800s and into the early 1900s. Before the road was paved, heavy rains frequently washed away gravel and chert, leaving deep ruts that could trap wagons and break wheels and axles.

Local historian Robert Baker documented how travelers sometimes encountered ruts so deep that the animals pulling their wagons could not free them. Even after automobiles became common, residents of Gore, Dirttown and Subligna complained about road conditions that sometimes prevented mail delivery and made travel to Summerville difficult.

The problems were serious enough that road maintenance was an obligation placed directly on local residents.

An extraordinary collection of records from 1886, preserved by the Chattooga County Historical Society, provides a glimpse into how that system worked.

During that period, able-bodied men could be required to spend a certain number of days each year maintaining public roads. Those who did not perform the labor could pay a fee to help hire someone else to do the work.

The 1886 records identify men assigned to work on 16 different sections of road in the Gore and Dirt Town area, including roads crossing Taylor’s Ridge and extending toward the Floyd County line.

Each section had its own roster of workers, along with notations indicating whether individuals performed their assigned labor, paid the required fee or were excused from service.

Among the names appearing in the records are members of families still familiar in Chattooga County today, including Gore, Millican, Johnston, Cheney, Perry, Couey, Shropshire, Dunaway and Scoggins.

The records also identify contractors responsible for particular sections of road, including Hix and McLeod, W.S. Kilgo, George Perry and W.W. Mount.

Some entries provide interesting glimpses into everyday life. Certain men were listed as too young or too old to work. Others had moved away, while some refused to work or pay the required fee. One man was identified simply as a preacher.

Without modern road graders, dump trucks or paving equipment, workers relied on hand tools, wagons and animal-powered equipment to clear obstructions, improve drainage and repair damaged road surfaces.

For families living in rural Chattooga County, those roads were essential connections to churches, schools, farms, mills and trading centers.

The difficulties of maintaining roads over Taylor’s Ridge continued well into the 20th century.

It was not until 1933 that the Taylor’s Ridge portion of Highway 27 was paved. The improvement made travel easier, but the narrow roadway and sharp curves eventually became a concern as automobiles grew larger and traffic increased.

In 1958, the highway was rebuilt and widened, with some of the sharp curves eliminated. However, according to Baker’s historical account, the roadbed began sliding even while construction was underway.

Crews dumped large quantities of rock and earth along the roadway in an effort to stabilize the mountainside, but the underlying problem was never completely solved.

Decades later, another major episode of roadway movement led to the construction of a concrete retaining wall. More recently, significant settling in 2018 and 2019 forced lane restrictions and emergency repairs.

The Georgia Department of Transportation completed an earlier phase of stabilization work in 2021, but the continuing movement of the slope has prompted the latest project, which will use a permanently anchored retaining wall in an effort to provide a more lasting solution.

The history of Taylor’s Ridge itself extends much further back. The ridge takes its name from Richard “Dick” Taylor, a prominent Cherokee leader who operated an inn and trading establishment near present-day Ringgold in the early 1800s. His name became associated with the long mountain ridge that stretches through Northwest Georgia.

The 1886 road records were rediscovered during a preservation project involving volunteers from the Chattooga County Historical Society and the Georgia Archives.

Local historian Thomas Weaver Weesner helped document the records, which are especially valuable because much of the 1890 federal census was destroyed. The old road rosters preserve the names of numerous residents who might otherwise be difficult for genealogists to trace.

For anyone interested in local history, the Historical Society has published the records on its website at chattoogahistory.org under the title “1886 List of Men to Work on Roads in Gore Area.”

As motorists prepare for another round of construction on Taylor’s Ridge, the history offers an interesting perspective.

The equipment has changed dramatically, from picks, shovels and horse-drawn wagons to modern earthmoving machinery and engineered retaining walls. But the challenge of keeping a reliable road across Taylor’s Ridge has remained remarkably consistent for well over a century.

And the men listed on those old road rosters would probably recognize at least one thing about the modern highway: keeping a road in good condition across Taylor’s Ridge has never been an easy job.

Sources:

• Chattooga County Historical Society — 1886 Road Work Records.
• Chattooga County Historical Society — Dick Taylor’s Ridge.
• Historical accounts by Robert Baker concerning the Summerville–Rome road, including the 1933 paving and 1958 reconstruction.

• Georgia Department of Transportation, Taylor’s Ridge Phase II, Project 0015413, and WZQZ’s October 30 report on the planned retaining wall.