Early Trading Post

Early Trading Post is a Georgia historical marker in White County, dedicated 1955.

On Unicoi Turnpike (Georgia Route 17) 0.7 miles east of Helen Highway in Helen.

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At this point, just north of the safest ford in the Chattahoochee River, the first white settlers in this area built their campfires in 1822. A trading post was soon established on the site and Indians traded gold nuggets and gold-dust to the settlers for merchandise. The first Nacoochee post office was established at the trading post with Charles Williams, son of one of the first settlers, serving as Postmaster for more than 50 years. To this same site in 1838 soldiers gathered the Indians from surrounding valleys and highlands to begin their "Trail of Tears" to the West.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1816 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1816 · The Southern States and Mississippi Territory (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1824 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1827 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1829 · Tennessee (A. Finley, 1829) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Georgia, 1816, covering the location of Early Trading Post, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Georgia, 1816, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Commission. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

Nacoochee Valley: Valley of the Evening Starunder 1 mi
Nacoochee Indian Moundunder 1 mi
White Methodist Churchunder 1 mi
The Unicoi Turnpikeunder 1 mi