History Of Armuchee

Armuchee (

) was for a time a part of the Chatoogee (

) District of the Cherokee
(

) Nation.1 In 1832, however, the Georgia Legislature made this area a part of Floyd County, Georgia as a matter of law.2 Thereafter, it became exclusively a part of Georgia as a matter of fact by military might. That operation forced the Cherokees to travel the "Trail of Tears"3 or more literally "The Trail Where We Cried" (

); over the Trail of Tears in 1838 the Cherokees were forcibly removed to the Arkansas and Oklahoma Territory.3.5

Nevertheless, for a time Cherokees and Europeans lived in Floyd County as neighbors and some even as business partners.4 During this time of coexistence some of the more picturesque names of residents along the Armuchee Creek were the Cherokees, Double Head, Goard, and Gut Sticker.5

During the War Between the States a significant battle was fought at Farmers Bridge, Armuchee Creek 6 near the New Armuchee Baptist Cemetery. On May 15, 1864 Captain William Lokey’s Company G of the 12th Alabama Battalion Partisan Rangers dug in with no more than 50 men to defend the bridge against the advance of 3,000 Union cavalrymen under Colonel Robert H. G. Minty. The outcome of the battle was not in doubt. Captain Lokey was among the 10 Confederates killed and buried near the top of the cemetery. Historian Gilbert R. Smith identified the Confederate unit and those killed as well as the location of the graves. Suitable markers and a plaque commemorating the battle were unveiled at a ceremony in November, 1998. 6.5

Armuchee in its’ metropolitan downtown area had its’ railroad, the Rome and Northern,7 and the Armuchee Station was on Depot Street near the present site of New Armuchee Baptist Church; the community had a telephone exchange,8 and during World War I a pants factory, and later a wooden keg factory.9 Among the commercial establishments, besides Floyd County’s first automobile wrecker service,10 were automobile garages, filling stations, pool rooms, barber shops, groceries, meat markets, general merchandise stores, grist mills, laundries, and a tea garden.11 The remnants of the dam of Armuchee’s pre-1900 electric power generating plant remain on Armuchee Creek just below the "Iron Bridge" on Little Texas Valley Road.12 Many residents in the early to mid 1940’s remember that one of the vicinity’s first butane gas companies was located in Armuchee. Today, in downtown we have a fire station and nearby in the former courthouse there is an electronic circuit board manufacturer; further north is a doctor’s office. In (Lower) Armuchee we have a glove manufacturing plant, hardware store, automobile garage, grocery and meat market, filling stations and restaurants, a doctor’s office, and an airport with a 6,000 foot runway and an instrument landing system. On the airport site there is a counter top and cabinet manufacturer... no railroad though. In (Upper) Armuchee there is Image Carpet Mill and a counter top and cabinet manufacturer. Also, at the old Armuchee Consolidated School site, there are manufacturing operations.

Around 1910 the fraternal needs of Armuchee society were met by a lodge building which housed both a Masonic Lodge and an International Order of Odd Fellows Lodge.13 Sometimes in the 1920’s entertainment was provided to the community by the Todd Auction Company Band14 (with some slight change in personnel also known as the Armuchee String Band).14.3 One of the members of the band was young Kasper "Stranger" Malone. In February of 1999 a spry and alert 89-year-old Stranger Malone played a number of instruments again for a delighted Armuchee audience.14.4 In March 1999, Stranger was the subject of a feature article in the Rome News Tribune. 14.5

Currently, for more than two decades, each year on Labor Day weekend we have the Armuchee Blue Grass Festival;14.6 for the last several years the festival has been held at the Armuchee Saddle Club on Georgia Highway 140 between downtown and Image Carpet Mill.

During the 1930’s a Civilian Conservation Corps encampment was located behind the present day Armuchee Elementary School on property owned by Berry Schools. The road to the entrance to the CCC Camp remains visible to a traveler on the Scenic Road today. The CCC was a federal government answer to unemployment during the Great Depression, and numerous public works projects were undertaken by members of the corps.

Until the late 1940’s local baseball teams played the teams of surrounding communities in an ample field behind Rosemont (Scoggin’s Store) on the Old Summerville Road across from the former Armuchee Courthouse. 15

Of course, another form of entertainment in the 1940’s were the Saturday night fights many times involving the locals on one side and folks from a certain neighboring county on the other.15.4 One of the more unusual subjects of these fights came to light just after WW II; after a few libations often a veteran of one branch of the military would patiently explain to a veteran of another branch how the former branch was responsible for wining the war. After some disagreement the vets would commence to have their own war. Many times, purely out of a spirit of community involvement, several other vets would join in the melee, and it would be World War II Armuchee style.15.8

Few water parks today have the purely swimming amenities of the Yarborough swimming hole on Armuchee Creek. There the natural slope of the creek bed forms a gradually deepening pool from an island in the center of the creek to depths sufficient to allow diving from swings attached to trees and from the cliffs on the south side of the creek. The swimming hole was reached from downtown by cutting through the pasture behind Rosemont. There are numerous survivors of excursions to "Yarboroughs" who are alive today; some are even reasonably competent.

The schools in Armuchee have been located at various sites. The first location known to the author was directly across Little Texas Valley Road from the Armuchee United Methodist Church. The site was approximately 100 yards from the road, and the school’s hand powered water pump and its’ cement base remain today. The next school location was on U. S. Highway 27 just south of the intersection of Highway 27 with Georgia Highway 156. There were two separate sets of school buildings constructed at different times at this location with the student body moving into the later structure in 1956. The present high school building on U. S. Highway 27 adjacent to Northwoods subdivision was first occupied in 1982, and the Armuchee Elementary School opened in 1996. It is located on U. S. Highway 27 north of the high school.

Basketball has been a part of the sports program of the high school much longer than has football. Even so, the first Armuchee Indian football team took the field in 1951, and being first is about the most flattering thing to be said about that team.16

Churches have long been a part of life in downtown Armuchee. The Midway Primitive Baptist Church, which was founded in 1897,16.4 is located on U.S. Highway 27 just south of Georgia Highway 140. Further south is the present site of New Armuchee Baptist Church. Still further south in Highway 27 is the Armuchee Church of God. Originally, New Armuchee Baptist was located adjacent to the present United Methodist Church on Little Texas Valley Road.

The Methodist congregation was organized in 1900 a few months before the Baptists, and was first named Shiloh Methodist Church.16.8 The First Baptist Church of Armuchee was also organized in 1900; the church was built in 1901, and the name was changed to New Armuchee Baptist Church in 1903.17 The present structure of the Baptist Church was completed and occupied in 1960.18

In July, 1999 it was announced that the Armuchee United Methodist Church was closing its doors on July 18, 1999 to reopen as the Mount Berry United Methodist Church. Upon completion of a new building the congregation is to move from the original location at 26 Little Texas Valley Road (between Old Summerville Road and US Highway 27) to a location approximately ½ mile away on US Highway 27 near the Armuchee Church of God. 18.5

The meaning of Armuchee in the Cherokee language has long been a subject of comment. The sign at the entrance of Armuchee High School indicates that the word means, "Land of Beautiful Flowers". Others have said it means, "much water" or "much fish".19 Perhaps the real meaning was lost on the Trail of Tears.

"Just where is Armuchee and what size place is it"? This was the derisive question posed to a young witness of this community who was called to give evidence in a court of another state. The reply was, "Well sir, Armuchee is more a state of mind than a place".

Yes, indeed, a great part of Armuchee is a state of mind, a very wonderful state of mind. May it ever so remain.

6.5. North Georgia Journal, Spring 1999, The Graves at Farmer’s Bridge by Daniel M. Roper

14. Rome News Tribune, July 16, 1976, p. 11 and Rome and Floyd County, an Illustrated History, p. 189

16.4. Herman Yarborough’s repoort of his review of a copy of the Minutes of the Midway Primative Baptist Church.

17. New Armuchee Baptist Church, Armuchee, Georgia, A Brief History 1900-1978, p. 7


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