The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Steam Passenger Train returns to Chattooga County this weekend and the Chattooga County Historical Society says that the historic Couey House, near the Summerville Depot, will be open for visitors.

This weekend’s passenger train will feature not just one – but two – historic steam locomotives.

Passenger trains were a mainstay in Chattooga County from 1888 to 1951 and now, the historic steam engines bring passengers from Chattanooga who get a taste for what railroads were like during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries.

The Couey House was built in the 1840’s. Originally, the house was located nearly seven miles from this site in Dirt Town Valley near Tidings, Georgia. As the home of the family of Andrey and Fereby Couey, the house was once surrounded by a profitable 400 acre farm which produced corn, cotton and livestock.

Also known as the Couey-Owings-Knowles House, this historic structure was the home of Andrew Couey until his death in 1882. Later, in 1904, it became the home of Couey’s granddaughter, Flora Couey, who married William H. Owings. After the farm was subdivided and sold over the following decades, the house was last owned by Billy Knowles prior to being acquired by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Due to the widening of U.S. Highway 27, the original site of the Couey house was needed. The relocation to Dowdy Park in Summerville was begun in 1995 and, though modern additions to the house had been added, only the original log structure was moved.

Come out Saturday and enjoy the historic trains, the Historic Summerville Depot and the Historic Couey House.