Let’s recap the activities of the year for the Historical Society. We tried for two months to host the hike into the Coke Ovens in the remains of the old city and community of Cole City. After the rain abated, the hike was a great success in March.
We planned and executed our second annual Cemetery Walk at the Brock Cemetery in Piney in May. In April, we started working on a book of articles written by the late Myrna McMahan in the 1950s about Dade history and are working on organizing and retyping them. That work continues through early fall as we prepare for printing a volume to be ready for Christmas gifts.
Our next activity is just two weeks away. On September 5, from 7-9 p.m. at the Dade Public Library, we will host a Symposium on Caves in Dade County.
Why do you people want to do that, you ask? There are several reasons. One reason is that the average Dade County citizen is uninformed on the prevalence of caves in north Georgia and specifically in Dade and Walker County. We do not recognize how many people come to this vicinity to explore the underground wonderland. Many, many of our citizens have come to live here because they first came to explore the caves in our area.
According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia: “Georgia's two northwestern most counties, Dade and Walker, host 164 and 149 caves respectively. Bartow County and the eight counties to the north and west (Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Murray, Walker, and Whitfield) combine to host 448 of Georgia's 513 known caves.” Whether you realize it or not, you live in the “Cave Capital of Georgia.”
(Photo: File shot of a G3 Adventures caver.)
Another reason for hosting this Cave Symposium is to soak up the knowledge of local and regional experts in the science, art and history of caving in this community. We are lucky to have a wealth of caring and knowledgeable organizations and individuals willing to assist us by speaking at our symposium.
Marion O. Smith, Marty Abercrombie, Steve Davis, Joel Sneed, Ken Pennington, Jerry Wallace, Kathy Mackay and several other noted spelunkers have been invited. Marion O. Smith will give his presentation on his field of expertise and his experiences caving since the 1960s. Others will be part of a panel discussion on their experiences in the caves of Dade and TAG (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia) area.
Please put it on your calendar and attend the next Dade County Historical Society event: The Cave Symposium on Thursday, Sept. 5 at the library from 7-9. There is no charge for this event.
--Donna Street
donnam.street@gmail.com
