McLemore Cove: Part 4

Daugherty Gap Road, Mountain Cove Farm

Canon EOS 5D Classic, 70-200mm f4L lens

(Click to enlarge)

 

This is the fourth and final installment of my article about McLemore Cove, originally published in Georgia Backroads Magazine. The first, second, and third parts were posted on my blog on Monday, December 28th, Wednesday, December 30th, and Friday, January 1st.

Although there have been both mining and industry in the Cove in the past, it is now almost completely given over to farming, primarily raising beef cattle. There are also a few dairy farms. The railroad tracks that once ran to the Reichold Chemical plant and the Barwick-Archer carpet mill were featured in scenes from the movie Water for Elephants but have now been abandoned 

The 1840s Daugherty Manor House, Mountain Cove Farm

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OISII lens

Mountain Cove Farm, located at the south end of the Cove where it narrows to a point, is a remnant of the land bought up after the 1832 Land Lottery by William Dougherty, an attorney from Athens, Georgia.  He resold much of it, but by the 1970s, when the farm was owned by Wayne Rollins, owner of Orkin Pest Control and other companies, it still covered 10,000 acres. After Rollins's death, some the land was sold in 15- to 30-acre plots and a number of fine houses have been built.  Walker County now owns what's left of the land. The Mountain Cove Farm Manor House, built by Dougherty in the 1840s, has been leased as a restaurant by several different entities, but so far no one has been able to make a permanent go of it. One of the barns is operated by the county as a wedding venue and the former farm workers cottages have been renovated as vacation cottages. There is also an RRV campground on the property. The farm has also been home to an annual Walker County Fair. The county recently changed to a different form of government with multiple commisioners, however, so what will happen to Mountain Cove Farm remains to be seen.

Polled Herefords graze along West Cove Road

Fuji X-T20, Fujinon 1F 18-135 f3.5-5.6 lens

 

We have lived in McLemore's Cove for 33 years now, which means we're still newcomers, but the natives accept us graciously. We call our home Deer Run Farm because, of course, the deer run through it, to my wife's continuing delight. We raised beef cattle for more than 20 years, but sold our herd in 2012. We miss them, but it was time. 

Chickamauga Creek and Pigeon Mountain, Winter, 1993.

Our house is built on a ridge that runs down the center of the Cove and so oriented that we can watch the sun rise over Pigeon Mountain in the morning and watch it set over Lookout Mountain in the evening. 

There may be more beautiful places than McLemore Cove in this world, but probably not many. 

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(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone