The Lunsford Family Blog: Visiting Currahee and the WMA

A couple of weeks ago, Josh went scouting hunting sites with a buddy. They decided to check out the Wildlife Management Area in Toccoa, GA, which is right next to Currahee. Yes, the same Currahee from the "Band of Brothers" series. It's about 30-40 minutes from my house.

While he was there, he ran across a waterfall and sent me the photo. I promptly insisted that he take us there, since Mo is a huge waterfall fan. (Really, who isn't? But Mo definitely digs 'em, and since it's outside time, why not indulge him?)

It turns out that Josh also ran across a couple of really old graves, and since his Aunt Dianne is very interested in ancestry and genealogy and history, he decided to make a big afternoon getaway for all of us. He invited his mom, too, because he's a good son and she likes family togetherness. We went yesterday.

We decided to check out the top of Currahee first, and it's true that you can run three miles up and three miles down, should you so desire. We even saw someone doing just that. However, we drove to the top in the four wheel drive, thank you very much. The view was great!

After enjoying Currahee for a while, we headed back down and over to the WMA. There are about a hundred dirt roads through there, and luckily Josh had marked his GPS when he was there before, because he was able to navigate the labyrinth fairly easily. We parked at a place that was marked by an historical marker. It explained about the old home place that was there over 100 years ago and it talked about the graves. We had to hike to the creek to see the waterfall, which was on the way.

Right next to the creek, Mo spotted this lovely broken butterfly. I did feel very sorry for it. But the colors are just gorgeous! I had to take the photo. That was the first of hundreds of butterflies we saw. All the others were too quick to move for pictures.

Ah. Here's the waterfall! It was a very humid day, but the view...totally worth the sweat! Of course, it was nice and cool at the waterfall.

Mo couldn't resist the siren call of the creek. Every child of every generation must thrill at the sight and wonder of a creek, no matter how cold. We let him wade in it on the way back.

Josh headed to the top. As soon as Mo saw Daddy up there, he had to go up, too.

Must be a guy thing. I only went up to help Mo up the steep parts. And for the photo, of course.

Then we found this:

Cute little cave-like thing, isn't it? I should have taken a photo with a person in it, for perspective. It's not big at all. A hen-sized entrance, maybe. Anyone know what it is? Yes, it IS the fireplace for a moonshine still! No, I didn't know that all by myself. Josh told me. You build the fire under the rocks and the still sits on top. Water is piped over from the nearby creek. Mountain history, right there.

Here is the tiny graveyard. I think it's the people who had the home place originally.

If you look very carefully, you can see the date reads 1874. Wow.

Since a five-year-old can only handle "ancient" history for a limited time, we headed back to the creek for play. I let him take off the boots and socks and really have a good time!