The final leg of our trip into Haywood Valley, Georgia. 2014.

(Continued from here.)

We stopped on Highway #27 before reaching the Haywood Valley Road turnoff because I was attracted to the  beauty and charm of these old structures in the morning rain.

No longer inhabited, the property owners chose to keep and preserve these old buildings.

They were in the woods across the road from the Living Waters Ministries at Little Texas Road  and Highway #27. 

I took the picture of the street sign below to help me later remember and identify where we were when we discovered these buildings.

Later when Mr. Campbell of Haywood Valley talked of this intersection, gave me a copy of his Georgia Church History map, and explained how to pronounce the word Armuchee [Ar-moo-chee], I realized we'd stopped at the site of the earliest Armuchee branch on our drive into Haywood Valley Road that day.                        

We were met at the intersection below by a kind friend of my Rex cousins who drove north from Atlanta that morning to chauffeur us into Haywood Valley and the Campbells' home there.

The Haywood Valley Road looks exactly like the pictures cousin Geraldine M. sent me in 2008 and I posted here and here.

This is the land Thomas "Jetter" Lawrence's, Haywood Valley, Georgia, home stood on in the late 1870's.

All that remains of Jetter's home site is the large rock in the foreground that marks his well. The Campbells presently own and live on the land Jetter Lawrence frequently welcomed John Morgan to during his years in the Southern States Mission.

The Campbells' map illustrates their knowledge and respect for John Morgan's service in their valley and the northwestern Georgia hills. The map is immensely helpful as I recall our travels to Georgia and Tennessee coupled with the history I've learned from the John Morgan journal.

Armuchee, Georgia is first mentioned in John Morgan’s journal on May 7, 1877, Armuchis [sic] Branch: Returned to Chatooga County, crossing some terrible rivers on the way, swift and rapid. Held a general conference of the North Georgia and Alabama Saints [see History of the Southern States Mission here] at Haywood Valley Church. Well attended and good spirit prevailing … Brother Lisonbee and I started on a trip to this branch [Armuchee] and the Beechcreek. Found the brethren generally  enjoying the spirit of God and feeling well the spirit of emigration is taking hold upon the Brethren generally and I am much in hopes that all will try and emigrate this Fall.

"Armuchee, was for a time a part of the Chatoogee District of the Cherokee Nation. In 1832, however, the Georgia Legislature made this area a part of Floyd County, Georgia as a matter of law. Thereafter, in defiance of the United States Supreme Court, it became exclusively a part of Georgia as a matter of fact by military might. Government troops forced the Cherokees to travel the “Trail of Tears”, or more literally “The Trail Where We Cried”. Over the Trail of Tears in 1838 the Cherokees were removed to the Arkansas and Oklahoma Territory." 

Note: According to Mr. Campbell's research and the deed of the land he purchased and the people who lived on it in Haywood Valley, the land originally belonged to Thomas Lawrence, who was called Jetter. The nick-name Jetter was given to his grandfather, a "fine shooter" whose grandson, Thomas, was also an excellent shot and was called Jetter—"Uncle Jetter"—by John Morgan. An extra "thank you" to the Campbells for their hospitality and permitting my use of their map here. The John Morgan Journal and papers are now a part of the MWDL. Click John Morgan's picture in the right hand column of this blog for a link to the MWDL site.

(To be continued.)