Fort Mountain State Park

This week I toured the states in GA, TN and AL. This picture was taken between Blue Ridge GA and Chattanooga, TN on State Road 52 north and west of Ellijay, GA at the Fort Mountain State Park overlook. The park is also famous for it's wall!

Enigmatic. Puzzling. Mysterious. These words are frequently used to explain a nondescript stone wall at the top of a mountain in Georgia. The wall runs 855 feet and varies in height from two to six feet. When built, it was probably significantly taller. Why was it built? Who built it? When was it built? These are the questions puzzled researchers ask. The time frame for construction ranges from 500B.C. to 1500A.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 worshiped than to the shape of their eyes.

Another myth revolves around the Welsh prince Madoc. He arrived in Mobile Bay around 1400 AD 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 1600's and this may be a product of somebody's fertile imagination. Currently, most scholars believe that the wall originated about 500A.D. and 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 worshiped 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.

For more visit: http://chieftainstrail.com/sites/fort_mountain.html