Toccoa GA, Stephens County & Northeast Georgia

Georgia's Traveler's Rest Historic Site was built to accommodate adventurers on America's western frontier. East of present-day Toccoa, Georgia, the site includes the original Traveler's Rest and other original buildings as well as faithful reproductions of a well house and a meat house. The park was established in 1955 when the buildings and three acres of land were sold to the state by Mary Jarrett White, granddaughter of Devereaux Jarrett.

In the late 1700's, northeastern Georgia was Indian Country. Only the bravest souls ventured out into the frontier past Augusta. Tugaloo Valley was home to one of the largest and earliest Cherokee villages in the state. Tugaloo Old Town had been guarding this valley since 1450 AD.

White men destroyed the Tugaloo village during the American Revolution in response to the Cherokee siding with the British. Bitter fighting between the settlers and the Cherokee marked other battles in North Georgia, including General Pickens raid into Long Swamp (present-day Pickens and Cherokee County, Georgia), and The Battle of Lookout Mountain (1782). After the losses Georgia's Cherokee and Creek ceded the first land in the area we now know as North Georgia.

First white owners
Major Jesse Walton received a land grant from Georgia Governor George Walton (no relation) and moved to the frontier in 1784 with his wife and young child. Walton visited the general vicinity prior to establishing his home on the land that now encompasses Georgia's Traveler's Rest.

Jesse Walton was present when the Treaty of Hopewell was signed on November 28, 1785. Over the next five years relations with the Cherokee worsened, mostly because of white settlers repeatedly violated the treaty by encroaching on the land promised to the Cherokee. As the Treaty of Hopewell disintegrated in the late 1780's, tensions between the Cherokee and settlers increased. Over several weeks in the spring and early summer of 1789, settlers raided Cherokee towns and Cherokee raided the settlers' forts. The Cherokee caught the Major off-guard one day in 1789. Walton, who secured his family in a nearby fort for protection, stayed to work and defend his land. Jesse Walton, the first white owner of the property, was brutally attacked in July, 1789. His blood-covered body was carried to nearby friend's house, Revolutionary War hero Benjamin Cleveland, where he died. Walton's brother-in-law, Joseph Martin, was there when he died.

Walton's widow sold the land to Martin. At the navigable end of the Tugaloo River, the property was considered valuable to many. In these days the major form of transportation was by water, and the rivers were the first great roads inland to the heart of this new county, America. Martin's land was located near an old Cherokee Trading Path, and James Wyly knew this was where his future lay.

Over the next 6 decades Georgia expanded six-fold, and the strategically located Tugaloo provided the men and material to build much of the northeastern part of the state. He bought the land from Mr. Martin for $2000.00 around the turn of the century. Wyly was lead contractor on the Unicoi (Unicoy) Turnpike, running from the area of Maryville, Tennessee to the Tugaloo, and directly past the property he owned.

Traveler's Rest is built
Wyly began to build the southern end of the house that became known as Traveler's Rest in 1815, two years after the Unicoi Turnpike was completed. This wide road featured banked turns and tolls to repay investors for the improvements. Within a year this highway became a major north-south route. By 1819 the entire route was ceded by the Cherokee to the state of Georgia. Wyly built the business, expanding into other areas to serve the needs of travelers.

Devereaux Jarrett buys the inn
Over the next 14 years Wyly served these travelers in a variety of ways. Business and the inn expanded in a number of phases. Wyly served the state government as commissioner charged with improving navigation on the Savannah and Tugaloo Rivers. In 1833 Devereaux Jarrett bought the inn from Wyly and expanded on the services that Wyly offered. Over the next 20 years, Jarrett operated Traveler's Rest as a plantation, tanyard, cotton gin, blacksmith, gristmill, post office, sawmill, tavern, country store and an inn. Nearby, on what would eventually be 14,000 acres owned by Mr. Jarrett, were a gold mine, ferry, and toll. At his death in 1852, he was one of the richest men in North Georgia.

Jarrett has served a number of notables, including John C. Calhoun, who owned a number of businesses in the area of Dahlonega and was a major investor in a railroad that was to run from South Carolina to Cincinnati. Joseph E. Brown, governor and senator from Georgia is rumored to have spent his wedding night on the first floor of the inn.

The final days
Land owned by Devereaux Jarrett was divided among the family. Jarrett's son, Charles Kennedy Jarrett continued to run the inn well into the 1870's, but changing times began to eliminate the need for the inn. While the navigable Tugaloo was still a major shipping lane, the passenger traffic has been gone for years, disappearing with the advent of the railroads.

Tour the Grounds
Mary Jarrett White, who sold her great-grandfather's inn to the state of Georgia, was the first woman in the state to vote. In May, 1920, White was permitted to cast a ballot having registered as required by law. This was three months before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women in Georgia the right to vote. How her name got on the voter rolls is unknown.

The large main hall is two stories. At the south end of the building, under the porch, is a miniature of the estate that park rangers can use when discussing the inn and surrounding area. Among the other original buildings are the dairy house, slave cabin, and a 20th century home built by Devereaux Jarrett's granddaughter and her husband.

The dairy house, closest to Traveler's Rest on the north end, was also used to raise silkworms. Above the first floor are slaves or servants quarters now being used to house two looms, one of which is original to the plantation. The well house nearby is operational.

At the north end of the present-day grounds is the home built by Sally Grace Jarrett and her husband, Sam Adams. This is the only 20th Century building on the property, with the exception of the public restroom to the east of Traveler's Rest

Hours
Tuesday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sunday 2 - 5:30 p.m.
Closed Monday (except legal holidays), Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
Small admission fee. Group rates available with advance notice.

Information
Traveler's Rest State Historic Site
8162 Riverdale Road
Toccoa, GA 30577
(706) 886-2256

Directions
From downtown Toccoa, go east on East Tugalo St. towards Big A Road. Turn left onto Prather Bridge Rd. Go approximately 4 miles and turn right onto Old Church Rd. Traveler's Rest is on the left approximately one mile.

Scenic Attractions

Traveler's Rest