Cornelia, Georgia - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

Cornelia is located in North GA, in Habersham County. It is home to one of the world's largest apples, which is displayed on top of an obelisk shaped monument.


From Wikipedia (visit link)

Cornelia is a city in Habersham County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,674 at the 2000 census. It is home to one of the world's largest apples, which is displayed on top of an obelisk shaped monument.

History

The first white man to visit what is now Habersham County was Hernando de Soto, who came in search of gold in 1540. He came from the southeast, around Currahee Mountain, by way of Chopped Oak (which was called "Digaluyatunyib" by the Cherokee Indians). This place was the site of an ancient oak tree which was notched by the Indians after each scalping. De Soto is thought to have traveled through Nacoochee Valley, crossing the Soque River near Clarkesville, and continuing on his way. A small part of the southern end of the county was probably at one time held by the Creek Indians, while the Cherokee Indians inhabited the rest of the county. The old boundary line between the Cherokee and Creek nations ran below where Chenocetah Mountain and Hillcrest are located and now lies within the city limits of Cornelia. The white men soon persuaded the State of Georgia to take the lands from the Indians. The United States government held that the State could not do so; but the spirit of local self-government was still strong in Georgia, and the state defied the federal government and took the land despite the rulings of the Supreme Court. The first treaty affecting any part of what is now Habersham County was in 1804 and concerned a tract of land "four miles in width from the top of Currahee Mountain to the north ford of the Oconee River." (Stephens County was not created until 1905.) The area is now in Banks County near Wofford Shoals. Many of the old land grants to the head right lands, now largely in the government area around Nancytown Lake, were granted in this period. This Treaty of 1804 is called "The Four Mile Purchase Treaty" and, although the land was originally in Franklin County, the original strip now lies in Banks and Habersham Counties because of later redistribution of land in counties.

The Blair Line was the boundary between the State of Georgia and the Cherokee Nation (now Georgia hwy 115 at junction with Georgia hwy 105). lt was named for James Blair, the surveyor that identified the exact line. In 1817, the boundary line was established for the purchase of all lands east of the Chattahoochee River from the forks of the Soque and Chattahoochee Rivers in a direct northerly line to the Tallulah River. The Treaty of 1818 completed the purchase by the State of Georgia. Highway US 23 and US 441 runs along the divide between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. As previously stated, it was the boundary line between the Cherokee and Creek Indian nations. Along this ridge ran the Indian War Trail, from a Cherokee settlement on the upper Tugalo to what is now Atlanta. A branch went southeast into the Creek nation.

At the close of the Civil War in 1865, the section where Cornelia is now located was a typical mountain forest. The spot was so well secluded that a moonshine still was operated without interference at the site of what is now the center of downtown — the Southern Railway station (Tri-County Advertiser, June 16, 1927). Cornelia was first settled around 1870. lt was situated near the old boundary line between the Cherokee and Creek Indian tribes, the Cherokee land extending to the north and the Creek land to the south. ln 1872, workers of the Atlanta and Richmond Air-Line Railway (later Charlotte-Airline; today's Southern Railway) invaded the virgin forest. A roadbed was cleared and graded, and tracks were laid from Gainesville to Toccoa. In 1882, the Blue Ridge and Atlantic Railroad opened a line which extended northward from the Charlotte-Airline to Clarkesville and Tallulah Falls. The Tallulah Falls Railway, as it came to be called, carried passengers, freight, and mail from Cornelia to Franklin, North Carolina. Many of the passengers rode to view Tallulah Gorge, which was one of the most scenic spots in northeast Georgia. Later, the railway served a more utilitarian purpose, until after World War ll when the line was discontinued.

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