Sope Creek Ruins: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, National Park Service

Byrd, Beth

The Sope Creek Ruins cultural landscape is located in the northern portion of the Cochran Shoals unit of Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area along Sope Creek, a tributary of the Chattahoochee River. The site lies between Marietta, Georgia to the northwest (7 mi.) and the City of Atlanta to the southeast (15 mi.). The cultural landscape straddles Sope Creek and includes the ruins of two nineteenth-century mills as well as various outbuildings, retaining walls, an historic road bed, rugged natural topography, and prehistoric resources. The cultural landscape is significant to the history of local industry and for the prehistoric occupation and Civil War association. The component landscape includes the footings of the original Sope Creek covered bridge, which was replaced in 1964 by the current steel bridge structure of Paper Mill Road; a historic road bed on the east creek bank; a modern culvert to the main paper mill with a historic retaining wall supporting the filled slope; a fieldstone storage building; and the ruins of the main mill and several outbuildings, including a boiler room, oil house, and office clustered to the east of the paper mill, which are all associated with the Marietta Paper Company. The mill setting includes a natural oak-hickory forest with pines abundant along the historic road bed. The west bank of Sope Creek includes the remains of the pulp mill and related outbuildings. The stone base for a waterwheel survives on the floodplain just below the Paper Mill Road Bridge. The mill foundation rises to the west, paralleling the creek, similar to the east bank paper mill. The pulp mill has portions of the exterior walls surviving almost two stories tall. An unidentified building foundation, likely an annex, sits to the west of the main mill with one corner forming an acute angle. The small foundation of a possible oil room or chimney is located upslope from the mill. Rubble and sections of retaining walls and corners also exist to the north, east, and west of the pulp mill foundation. The natural drainage of the area is diverted from Paper Mill Road to an outlet just north of the main pulp mill building. The cluster of mill structures remains intact and receives frequent visitation. Footpaths wind between the pulp mill buildings leading from the slope above. The first documented commercial enterprise was Marietta Paper Mill, incorporated in 1859. The mill produced paper and paper products until the Union army burned the buildings in 1864. The Federal army crossed the river at Sope Creek on July 8, 1864 heading south to end the Atlanta Campaign. The Civil War halted operation at the mill, but it was rebuilt and reopened in 1866 and continued production during Reconstruction. The Marietta Manufacturing Company expanded in 1888 when a pulp mill was added to process wood for paper production. The mills operated until 1902, despite another fire and sale to a different owner. After the mills were abandoned, the site became a popular picnic spot in the 1930s. When threatened by suburban development in the 1960s, Sope Creek ruins were studied as a cultural resource. The ruins were later included in the park designation of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. In 1973, the Sope Creek Ruins were added to the National Register of Historic Places for prehistoric, military, and industrial significance on the local level. The period of significance of the nomination, 1855 to 1902 spans the era of industrial use along Sope Creek. The prehistoric period should be added to the nomination to include the archeological remains uncovered after 1973. The integrity of the landscape remains intact. Despite the ruinous buildings, the spatial organization, topography, and natural features convey the integrity of location, materials, setting, design, feeling, and association.

Sope Creek Ruins: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, National Park Service

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