week of 11/13/02
 
 
 

Truths about Fort Mountain’s mysterious wall
By George Ellison

Anyone with an interest in this region’s natural and human history as they relate to topography should set aside a day to visit Fort Mountain State Park near Chatsworth, Ga. The site affords one of the finest high vistas in the Southern Appalachians and one of the region’s ongoing mysteries.

Fort Mountain derives its name from an ancient rock wall that surrounds the highest point of the mountain, which is located in the Cohutta Mountains of northwest Georgia. Extending 885 feet, this wall is presently seven feet in height at its tallest point, but shows evidence of being much higher when first built. Up to 12 feet wide, with 29 pits scattered at regular intervals along its length, the structure is unsurpassed in southeastern archaeology and anthropology.

Built on land donated by former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen, much of the original work in the state park was completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s. The workers used local materials whenever possible to construct buildings and pavilions as well as the stone steps in the park. A fire tower at the tallest point in the park allowed the rangers to spot fires up to 40 miles away.

A platform constructed just off the Wall Loop Trail on the western side of the mountain affords stupendous views up the western front of the Blue Ridge Province and down into the Ridge and Valley Province where Chattanooga is situated. On a clear day, one can distinguish the Cumberland Plateau on the western horizon. No better place to build a stone wall. But why?

Information provided by the Georgia State Parks system puts forth several theories:

“Enigmatic. Puzzling. Mysterious ... Who built it? When was it built? These are the questions puzzled researchers ask. The time frame for construction ranges from 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D. The current commonly accepted date for construction is 500 A.D. The myths of the culture who built it abound. Local Indian culture speaks of a race of ‘moon-eyed’ people. Some choose to interpret this as ‘white people,’ inferring that the dark eyed Indians would select this as a description for a light skinned blue eyed race. If the ‘moon-eyed’ people myth can be believed, it would more likely be a reference to the god they worshipped than to the shape of their eyes.

“Another myth revolves around the Welsh prince Madoc. He arrived in Mobile Bay around 1400 A.D. and moved north from there. Several petroglyphs support the existence of this legend. Critics of this theory quickly point out that the English were trying to lay claim to the land in the late 1600s and this may be a product of somebody’s fertile imagination.

“Currently, most scholars believe that the wall ... has a religious purpose. Many early cultures built structures related to astronomical events. In this case the wall runs east to west around a precipice. The effect is that the sun illuminates one side of the wall at sunrise and on the other side at sunset. Native American cultures worshipped the sun and all things in nature. The absence of religious artifacts supports this theory since it was common practice for Native Americans to take ceremonial objects with them when they moved.”

Let’s say you don’t really suppose that Prince Madoc ever arrived in Mobile Bay, much less that he made his way inland to this isolated spot to build a wall. The astronomical musings also aren’t very convincing either. Sure, native Americans did build such sites throughout North America. But where’s the value in building an 885-foot wall to confirm that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. They already knew that.

Here’s my theory. Let’s start with the simple supposition that no full understanding of the history of a given region can be had without coming to some understanding of its spiritual landscape. And when we speak of the “spiritual landscape” of the southern mountains, we necessarily enter the realm of Cherokee sensibility and understanding of place.

There are many examples one could turn to. My favorite is the Uktena serpent because it persists as an informing presence in Cherokee lore. The Uktena, as you may recall, is (or was, or might have been, depending on your viewpoint) a very large and curious snake. When James Mooney visited the present Qualla Boundary during the late 1880s, he collected Uktena data subsequently published as part of his classic study Myths of the Cherokee (1900).

According to Mooney’s informants, the Uktena — which was born of envy and anger — was “as large around as a tree trunk, with horns on its head, and a bright blazing crest like a diamond upon its forehead, and scales glittering like sparks of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length and cannot be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from the head, because under this spot are its heart and life.”

The most compelling feature of the Uktena was the diamond-shaped crest on its forehead that emitted flashes of light like a blazing star. Those persons encountering the serpent were doomed, moth-like, to become so dazzled by this light that they ran toward sure death.

According to Mooney’s sources, Uktenas resided in the deep pools of rivers or haunted isolated peaks throughout Western North Carolina and north Georgia. Such places were carefully designated as “Where the Uktena stays” from generation to generation. You guessed it ... Fort Mountain was one of these places.

Mooney was told that a lone hunter insisted on going into the Cohutta Mountains to see the Uktena that resided on Fort Mountain. But upon confronting the great serpent at the base of the mountain, he lost his courage and fled straight up the mountainside toward the summit. Upon almost being devoured, he started running along the sides of the mountain in a circle. This strategy caused the Uktena to lose purchase so that the hunter barely escaped.

Returning to the base of the mountain, he started a fire that burned upward, causing the Uktena “to make all speed for a high cliff near the summit ... but the smoke choked it and its hold loosened and it fell among the blazing pine trunks and lay there until it was burned to ashes.”

So, there you go. The serpentine rock wall at Fort Mountain is clearly an effigy commemorating the death of the great beast. As such, it has served as a reminder to subsequent generations of the dark powers that reside on the earth to this very day. I’d bet my bottom dollar on it.

For more information on Fort Mountain State Park call 706.695.2621 or visit the web site: http://ngeorgia.com /parks/fort.html

George Ellison is a writer who lives in Bryson City. He wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Readers can contact him at P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, N.C. 28713, or at ellisongeorge@cs.com