Talonega

My research took me back into the town of Dahlonega today. Dahlonega is a 15 mile ride from my house along some of Georgia’s most beautiful winding roads. I put over 100 miles on the bike today. I can’t help but think what a small amount that really is compared to what I will be doing next week.

The town of Dahlonega plays a large role in the story I’m writing. More specifically, the Federal mint that was located in Dahlonega from 1835 until it burned down in 1871 and the coins produced by that mint in 1838 play a large role in my story. Dahlonega is very significant in the Tragedy of the Cherokee removal.

In 1828 Benjamin Parks discovered gold while deer hunting in a place that was then called Licklog Georgia. The legend says Parks literally tripped over a large piece of quartz laced with the yellow metal. The Cherokee called the metal Talonega. Within months, word of Benjamin's discovery had spread worldwide and the 1829 Georgia Gold Rush was on. The town of Licklog was renamed Dahlonega which was the English spelling for the Cherokee pronunciation of Tah-Lon-Ega, and a new reason existed to remove the Cherokee from Georgia.

You may have never heard of Dahlonega or knew there was a gold rush in Georgia, but your probably heard the saying “there’s gold in them thar hills”. It’s likely your attributed those words to the 1849 California gold rush or the later Yukon gold rush. Actually, the saying, or a variant of it, was first proclaimed by miners during the 1829 Georgia gold rush.

Thousands of miners swarmed across northern Georgia in 1829. They illegally entered the Cherokee nation and setup mining and panning operations. The Cherokee referred to the gold rush as “the Great Intrusion”.

The removal of the Cherokee from Georgia was inevitable, but if it was not for the discovery of gold, it may likely have been a more gradual and less complete process. It’s probable that some Cherokee would have remained in possession of their Georgian lands into modern days. There are pockets of other indigenous people in several of the states along the eastern sea board. There’s even a small band of Cherokee in North Carolina, but the gold discovered in 1828 gave the Federal government a reason to remove the Cherokee quickly.

The onslaught of miners who paid no attention to borders or agreements set up the conditions for violence between Cherokee and the whites. The 1830s was a time of lawlessness in the north Georgia wilderness. The gold found in Dahlonega created a reason for whites to migrate in numbers to Georgia, the accelerated migration lead to the speedy annexation of the Cherokee nation by Georgia in 1832, and ultimately to the Cherokee removal in 1838 by the Federal government.

Today, Dahlonega is a great place to visit. On weekends and holidays, it is a bustling tourist center with dozens of little shops and restaurants. The town square is a living antique with well maintained 150 year old buildings surrounding what was once the Lumpkin County court house, but is now the Dahlonega gold museum. The winding roads that lead to Dahlonega make it a prime destination for Atlanta area motorcyclists.

This picture is of my bike in front of the North Georgia College Administration Building which sits on the foundation of what was the Federal mint.

The Bag

I bought a large bag for the bike today. The bag mounts on the new back rest I put on yesterday. I could not find a luggage rack for the Bonneville so I had to mount the bag backwards. The bag faces front and sits on the seat instead of facing back and sitting on a rack.

The bag is made by Tourmaster. It's actually a 2 piece bag system. The bottom bag is large and rectangular. It should fit most of what I will take on the trip. The top piece is a smaller barrel bag. I'm sure I will have plenty of things to store in there as well. I paid 149.00 for the bags.

Even with this new large backrest bag and my tank bag, I'm concerned I will not have enough storage for the trip. I'm working out how to strap one of my backpacks to the Tourmaster bag. If I cannot make that work, I may need to buy some throw over saddle bags.

I've been weighing the pros and cons of staying a few nights in camp grounds instead of hotels. If I decide to camp, I will need storage for a tent, a sleeping bag, and some cooking equipment. Camping will add to the challenge of the trip, and make it feel more adventurous. It will reduce my costs, but it will also drive up my storage needs. I'm concerned that most campgrounds are not designed for motocycles. I need to keep the bike on paved areas.

My current working list of things to bring includes:

• 2 changes of clothes (jeans, shirts, underwear)


• Running shorts and shirt (I will run)


• Running shoes


• Hiking shoes


• Bathroom kit (toothbrush, razors, deodorant, contact supplies, shampoo, soap)


• Eye glasses and case


• Gloves (half and full)


• Rain gear


• Riding boots (I'll be wearing those)


• Warm sweater or heavy shirt


• Denim Jacket and leather vest


• Leather Jacket


• Belt


• Notebooks


• Compass


• Still Camera


• Video Camera


• Laptop (after all this is a writing trip)


• Route maps


• Camera Tripod


• Single person tent


• Winter sleeping bag


• Tent stakes


• Fire starting supplies


• Flash light


• Toilet paper


• Knife


• Hatchet


• Bug spray


• Cooking equipment


• Thermos


• Collapsible water bottle/container


• Towel


• Cooking clean up supplies (soap, sponges)


• Coffee pot


• Oven mitt

This is a lot of stuff....

My Bike

I always wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle, but it took me 44 years before I actually did. In May I finally decided to stop dreaming about riding and learn how. I took the Honda Riders Safety Course in Alpharetta Georgia. It's a three day intensive training program that teaches new motorcycle riders how to operate a bike and ride it safely. I knew the minute I sat on the little 250 cc Night Hawk trainer that I would love to ride. My only regret is that I put off taking the course for so long.

After completing the course I had a huge problem. I had a new motorcycle license and a passion for riding, but I had no motorcycle. To make matters worse, I had never ridden a bike larger than 250 cc and I had no friends with motorcycles. These are not insignificant things when you are trying to decide on what kind of bike to buy.

At first, I was dead set on getting a Harley. I had been watching the guys at my gym pull up on their Springers, Softtails, and Fatboys for years. I really liked the way the bikes looked and sounded. The whole Harley mystique resonated with me. Heck, I even got a tattoo. I had the Harley bug bad.

After I got my license I rushed right out to the Harley dealer, and that's when it really hit me. I had never ridden a bike that was larger than 250 cc. I quickly realized that in addition to being cool, all the Harleys I wanted were expensive and big. The only Harleys I was not nervous about sitting on were the ones they showed the women. I could not buy a girl sized Harley and still be cool. I knew I would get over the initial intimidation factor, but Harleys are not cheap, and I was pretty sure I would drop whatever bike I bought at least once in the first 6 months. I needed a reasonably priced bike I could learn on, and that I would not be ashamed of riding two weeks after I left the showroom.

One Saturday morning near the end of May I walked into the Triumph dealer in Cumming Georgia. I explained my issues to the salesman and he walked me around all the different Triumph models. He was not going to let me test ride anything with my limited experience and lack of confidence, but he had me sit on everything. I sat on Rockets, Tigers, Daytonas, Speed Triples, Speedmasters, and finally Bonnevilles.

The Bonneville is Triumph's street entry model. It has an 850 cc engine so it's not exactly dainty, but it's not a big bike. It has a very retro look about it. The 2006/2007 Bonneville looks just like the 1968 Bonneville. When it comes to vehicle styling, I am very much old school. I bought a 2006 Mustang GT because it looks so much like the Mustangs of the 60s. One of the Bonnevilles the salesman showed me was a basic black model they call the Black Bonnie. They call it that because it is all black with a minimal amount of chrome. I like Black. This Bonnie was a demo bike that already had 500 miles on it, and it was trimmed with some accessories like a wind screen and engine guards. I figured I need those.

I sat on it, and I was instantly comfortable. It had mid controls and the same handlebar rake as the Night Hawk I just finish training on. It was not a small Harley wannabe like the HondaYamaSuzukawaskis bikes. It had it's own distinctive, old school, look about it. It was cheap, and I knew I could easily ride it. I bought it.

The salesman was more nervous about my first ride than I was. I have that uncoordinated look about me. He counseled me to ride around the parking lot a few times and then go to some deserted area and get the feel of the bike. I put 150 miles on it the first day. I've put over 5000 miles on it since May, and now I intend on riding it for 2000 miles over the course of one week.

I included a picture of my bike and me. I just put a back rest on it. I need that to support a large travel bag I've bought for the trip. The back rest cost me 400 dollars installed, and I still have buyers remorse over that. I'm not sure what they make Triumph back rests out of, but I suspect there's some precious metals involved.

The Big Idea

About a year after I purchased my home in Cumming Georgia I became interested in the history of the forced removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia.

I think what initially sparked my interest was that you can live here in northern Georgia and be oblivious to the fact that the Cherokee people were ever here. In fact, you can know about something called the Trail of Tears and not realize that it may have started in your back yard.

There are very, very few markers.

There's a beautiful park near my house with a stream running through it. The stream flows swiftly over and around an incredible rocky shoal area where swimmers and sun bathers can lounge on large gray water smoothed boulders. Over the stream spans an old woodened covered bridge that the people of the area are rightly proud of.

The bridge is the centerpiece of the park. Most people who live here believe it is the bridge that makes the park significant. Most people either do not read the historical marker in the park or chose not to understand the significance of what it says.

The marker says that the park, called Pooles Mill Park, was once the site of a mill owned by Cherokee Chief George Welch. It goes on to say the mill passed to Jacob Scudder when Chief Welch was divested of the property when the Cherokee were removed from North Georgia and sent on the Trail of Tears.

I remember when I first read that plaque it took a few minutes for me to reconcile in my mind that Indians owned mills; let alone the fact that a mill could be taken away from someone simply because he was part Indian (Welch is hardly a Cherokee name). Weren't Indians savages that lived in tents sewn from buffalo hides.

Now, I had heard of the Trail of Tears before I had moved to Georgia, but I had always assumed it was out west somewhere. All I knew about Indians I had learned from movies - Suffice to say I knew nothing. I was shocked to read this plaque in what is basically my back yard and realize how much history had occurred around my new home, and I was struck by how little evidence remained of this history.

It seemed to me it was like living in Gettysburg and never knowing there was a battle fought there. Of course, that's absurd. Everyone knows what happened at Gettysburg, and if you do not you surely would know after driving through the town. There are markers, monuments, signs, shops, and tourists everywhere to commemorate what happened there, but there's almost nothing in my back yard that tells anyone what happened here.

Now, as far as numbers go. It is true, that what happened to the Cherokee seems less tragic than what has happened to many other cultures throughout history. For example, the tragedy of black slavery impacted far, far more people than the Cherokee removal. At the time of their removal, the Cherokee numbered fewer than 18,000 in Georgia. Some sources place the number closer to 14,000. And at their height in the 15th century, before they met Destoto and lost half their numbers to small pox, they probably numbered not much more than 35,000.

No matter how you rank the removal of the Cherokee Indians in the list of sad and cruel things man has done to his fellow man, you'd have to agree that it is somewhat odd that you can live on the very land where U.S. soldiers forcibly drove over 13,000 men, women, and children from their homes, herded them into stockades, starved and beat them, then marched them 1000 miles north west on a brutal trek where over a third of them died, and not know it may have happened on the very ground where your house now stands.

I can not get this thought out of my head. Even now, nearly 8 years after I moved into the area, I still bore co-workers with my rants about the amazing forgotten story of the Indian removal. In my obsession with the subject, I've developed the idea for a novel that has as it's back drop the story of the Cherokee removal. Before I can write the story, however, I need to understand a little more about where the Cherokee went and what their life is like now.

I need to go to Oklahoma.

I've decided I will go alone, and I will get there, and back, on my little Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. Also, as a form commemoration and to satisfy my curiosity, I plan on following the northern land route of the Trail of Tears out. I'll take a more direct route home.

My plan is to depart Cumming Georgia on Sunday October 7th and return the following Saturday.

I will use this blog to chronicle the trip from preparation and departure to return.