The Unicoi Turnpike

Habersham County · dedicated 1997 · At the intersection of Hollywood Highway and Buckhorn Road in Clarkesville.

The Unicoi Turnpike passed here. The turnpike was the first vehicular route to connect North Georgia and Tennessee with the head of navigation on the Savannah River system. Beginning on the Tugaloo River to the east of Toccoa, the road led this way, across Nacoochee Valley, over the Blue Ridge through Unicoi Gap and past Murphy, North Carolina, to Ninemile Creek near Maryville, Tennessee. The Cherokee granted permission to open the route as a toll road in 1813. Tennessee and Georgia granted charters to the concern. Prior to its opening as a road in 1819, the way was part of a trading path.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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The Unicoi Turnpike

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