Scull Shoals National Register Historic Site

Today, only three partial walls of this c. 1846 brick warehouse and store remain. Image courtesy of Jack Wynn, friends of Scull Shoals.

with David Hally and Bob Skarda

Sunday, August 22 at 2 pm CANCELLED

Sunday, September 19 at 2 pm

The Scull Shoals village site in northwest Greene County is rich in pre-historic, Native American and early American history. After the Revolutionary War, land-hungry settlers pressed against the Oconee River frontier, and a settlement was established at the site in 1782. The treaty of 1802 pushed the Creek Indians west and cotton then dominated the land. The town prospered, with a large textile mill, boarding houses, stores, a warehouse, a distillery, a toll bridge, and other enterprises employing more than 500 people. Throughout the 19th century, a series of events including devastating floods (augmented by erosive farming methods), serious droughts and the Civil War wreaked havoc on this company town. By 1900, the mills had closed and most people had deserted this once thriving community. Today, only the remnants of the past glory remain. Haunting stone foundations of the old mill’s power plant and warehouse along with the scattered stone and brick chimney bases can be found in the cleared downtown village and in the surrounding Oconee National Forest. Tour-goers will explore the ruins, hear about the fascinating lives of several notable former residents, learn how hydraulic power was harnessed and how the factory led the region’s social and economic growth. Information will also be provided on the nearby Scull Shoals Indian Mounds Archeological Area, which is listed on National Register. The site is located 20 miles from Athens (transportation is on your own), and the tour will last approximately two hours.

Your tour guides:

David J. Hally, emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Georgia, has conducted archaeological research on the late prehistoric and early historic aboriginal cultures of Georgia and the southeastern U.S. for over 40 years. His research interests range across the full spectrum of aboriginal life and culture including households, communities, chiefdom polities, and regional systems. He has published numerous articles, book chapters, and monographs on these subjects as well as an edited book on the archaeology of Ocmulgee National Monument and a recent book on the social archaeology of a mid-16th century aboriginal town located on the Coosa River in northwestern Georgia. Hally was principal investigator for archaeological research conducted by the University in the Wallace Dam basin prior to the creation of Lake Oconee. This research included large-scale excavation of the Curtright factory and village which provides valuable insight into the nature of water-powered textile mills and mill communities in the mid-19th century Georgia Piedmont.

Bob Skarda is a former computer field service technician and award-winning jewelry designer, who is also an avid student of Native American and early American history. He and his family have been active members of the non-profit Friends of Scull Shoals, Inc. for over 10 years. Skarda currently serves as president of that organization, which protects the nineteenth-century Scull Shoals mill village and educates the public about rural life in that time period. Under Skarda’s direction, the group has produced an eighth-grade educational curriculum supplement and is developing a nature trail with plants representative of those in Dr. Lindsey Durham’s nineteenth-century herbal medicine recipes. He is the author of two books about this historic area: Scull Shoals, Mill Village That Vanished in Old Georgia and Early Oconee Indians, A Rich Life by the River.