(Sautee)- The Sautee Nacoochee Community Association has announced a new research project to locate and map the Unicoi Trail in northeast Georgia.
In December, SNCA Board of Directors President Alan Hall collaborated with the University of North Georgia to find, digitize, and map what is left of the Unicoi Turnpike in Georgia.
Starting earlier this month and working into July, Professor Jacob McDonald and two interns are using various means to find, verify, and map what is left of the old road.
The Unicoi Turnpike was the first vehicular route to link East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and North Georgia with the head of navigation on the Savannah River System.
“Much of the 200 plus year-old Unicoi Turnpike has vanished under plows and bulldozers, but important sections remain,” says Hall. “We hope to engage citizens to help us find, verify, and map the remaining traces of the old road, ultimately through all of Georgia.”
Dr. McDonald is an assistant professor at the University of North Georgia’s Lewis F. Rogers Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis in Dahlonega. He chose two of his students, Brittany Mann and Katelyn Comer, to do nine weeks of research on the project. The SNCA History Committee and the White County Historical Society are funding expenses for the interns and providing research support.
The team began in Towns County at Unicoi Gap and are working their way southeast, doing ground-truthing “where data collected at a distance are confirmed by measurements made on location.” They’re also conducting interviews with local historians and property owners and precisely mapping potential routes.
Their findings will be used in conjunction with Lidar to compile maps of the trail.
Lidar, an acronym for Light Detection and Ranging, “is a remote sensing method that … allows scientists and mapping professionals to examine both natural and manmade environments with accuracy, precision, and flexibility.”
Once the project’s complete, the maps will be shared with the public via SNCA’s smartphone app The Heart & Heritage of the Northeast Georgia Mountains and with Google Earth Pro, which anyone can download and use.
