Today
we decided to go back into Augusta. We had reservations for the Canal Boat
ride. When we made the reservations yesterday, they said to come early and see
the Discovery Center. The Augusta Canal Discovery Center is an award winning
exhibit space located in Enterprise Mill. Inside this revitalized 19th
century textile mill we saw authentic mill machinery and learned about the
Augusta Canal’s vital role in America’s story.
The
Augusta Canal launched an innovative economic development that created the
first multi-user, multi-purpose, industrial district in the Agrarian South. It
was the first canal in the US built for multiple purposes of water power, water
supply and transportation.
It is
the only existing canal continuously operated for all of its original uses. The
Augusta Canal a “Civil” engineering masterpiece of sustainability. That makes
it a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It was constructed in 1845
and enlarges 30 years later.
We
enjoyed the sights, sounds, and stories we heard as we cruised along the
Augusta Canal in a Petersburg Boat. I will try and recount as many as I can! Sue
was our well-informed and entertaining guide. Anita was our fearless boat
Captain.
Sue
narrated the open-air trips, highlighting the 19th century textile mills, the
Confederate Powder Works and two of Georgia's only remaining 18th Century
houses as we floated by.
There was abundant wildlife including a heron and turtles … we
did not see any otter and not the occasional alligator.
By
the time of the American Civil War, Augusta had become one of the South’s few
manufacturing centers. At the beginning of the Civil War gunpowder supplies for
the Confederate armies were insufficient.
In 1861 Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, charged Colonel
George Washington Rains with solving this issue by creating a local supply of
gunpowder. Rains chose the flat lands by
the Augusta Canal as the most suitable site for making the much needed
gunpowder. He named Major Charles Shaler
Smith as architect to design the Confederate Powder Works. The only buildings
ever constructed by the government of the Confederate States of America, the 28
Powder Works structures reached along the Canal for two miles. Unlike some
other Southern cities devastated by the Civil War and General Sherman’s march
through Georgia and South Carolina, Augusta ended the war in “better condition
than any other cities in this section of the South,” reported the Augusta
Chronicle in December 1865. Work on the plant commenced in 1862 with materials
gathered from the southern states including Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee,
Virginia, and North Carolina. When
completed, the powder works lined the banks of the Augusta Canal for two miles.
The
plant was organized for manufacturing efficiency. Raw materials entered at the first of 26
buildings and exited as gunpowder at the last. The most prominent of the
buildings was the refinery, which resembled the British House of
Parliament. Constructed directly in
front of it was a tall smokestack in the shape of an obelisk, the only
structure remaining today from the powder works. The Confederate Powder Works was
in operation until April 1865. During
its lifetime, the facility produced approximately 7,000 pounds of gunpowder per
day for a final total of 2,750,000 pounds.
The Augusta Powder Works produced enough gunpowder to fully meet the
needs of the Confederate armies and still retained a surplus of 70,000 pounds
at the end of the war. The Federal Government confiscated the powder works land
and sold it between 1868 and 1871. By 1872, the buildings and structures
remaining were deemed useless, and a project to widen the canal caused the
demolition of most. At the request of
Rains, the smokestack was left standing as a memorial to those who fought for
the Confederacy.
As an
early economic development project, a group of local business men formed the
Sibley Manufacturing Company in 1880 and procured the site of the former
Confederate Powder Works along the Augusta Canal. Brick from the demolished powder works was
used in the construction of the Sibley Mill between 1880 and 1882.
With
the appearance of a medieval castle or fortress, the mill resembles the powder
works it replaced. Designed to the specifications of Jones S Davis by local
architect Enoch William Brown, it is architecturally impressive and distinctive
with its crenelated facade and corner towers, its massive size and its Sibley
Family Coat of Arms emblazoned on the towers.
Soon
after the mill began operation, it became one of the largest and most
successful cotton mills in the region, a model of good management and worker
relations. Eventually, Sibley Mill
became a part of the Graniteville Mills. Modernized in order to compete in an
ever-increasing world market, the mill continued in operation until 2006,
making denim used by major clothing manufacturers. Although no longer used for
textile production, the mill's water-driven turbines still generate electricity
which is sold to Georgia Power. Local businessman Clayton Boardman, who successfully
rehabilitated the Enterprise Mill in the 1990's as living and office space,
acquired the Sibley in 2007. Work continues at Sibley Mill to create what
they're calling Augusta Cyberworks, a cyber tech campus with a data center and
office spaces. The same developer at Sibley Mill has just bought the even
larger King Mill right next door. They have plans to turn that old mill into
apartments. Monuments to the past sit right at the doorstep to downtown
Augusta. Sibley and King Mill, once a hub for employment, sat empty for years
until Cape Augusta came in with their big plan. While work continues on Sibley
Mill, the even large King Mill is next in line. Cape Augusta officially bought
the property from Augusta's Canal Authority.
In
the 1890's the city replaced its old water pumping station with the impressive
structure at mid-canal that is still in use today. As the electric age began to
dawn, the city turned to the Canal’s falling water power to drive the first
electrical generation equipment. By 1892 the city boasted both electric
streetcars and street lighting – the first Southern city to have these
amenities.
We
passed under the Butt Memorial Bridge. The small ornate bridge is decorated
with sculptures of four lions and four eagles. The white bridge that spans the
Augusta Canal on 15th Street was built in 1914 to immortalize Major Archibald
Butt (1865-1912) an Augusta native who was military aide to Presidents Theodore
Roosevelt and Howard Taft, but is remembered as a hero of the Titanic who died
saving women and children on the doomed ship.
There
is relief of Major Butt is set into the apex on the east side of the bridge.
Butt appears in proper right profile. He has a mustache and is dressed in a
military uniform with a number of medals on his chest. A dedication plaque is
below the relief and two more plaques are set into the west side of the bridge.
A tan-colored lion is mounted atop each pier, two on each end of the bridge.
Each lion sits facing out and raises its proper left paw, resting it on top of
a shield in front of it. On the shield is a circular medallion containing a
coat of arms.
One-third
of the way in from the ends of the bridge, on each side, is a 40 foot high lamp
post topped by a globe light within a cage-like structure. Atop each globe is a
bald eagle with its wings spread. Each bald eagle faces out and turns its head
to the outside. A "Save Our Butt" campaign was started in the 2000's
to keep the state of Georgia from demolishing and replacing the bridge. It received
complete restoration starting in late 2016.
By
the mid-20th Century, the Canal entered a period of neglect. Textile mills
began to close and the center of Augusta’s industrial activity shifted south of
the city. Although still the city’s drinking water source, the Canal was no
longer the driving force for development it had been 100 years before. At one
point in the 1960s, city officials considered draining the Canal and using the
dry bed as the course for a superhighway. Flickers of interest in reviving the
Canal for recreational use began to appear by the mid-1970s. A state park was
proposed and efforts made to have the canal and its 19th Century mills declared
a National Historic Landmark. While the state park never materialized, growing
public interest in the Canal’s historic and scenic potential led to several
important developments. The Canal and mills were listed on the National
Register of Historic Places and later declared National Historic Landmarks. In
1989 the Georgia State Legislature created the Augusta Canal Authority, the
body that has jurisdiction over the Canal today. In 1993, the Authority issued
a comprehensive Master Plan, outlining the Canal’s development potential. In
1996, the U.S. Congress designated the Augusta Canal a National Heritage Area.
We
ventured to the Savannah Rapids Park, which is home to 33 acres and the
Historic Augusta Canal Headgates.
Our
first stop was the Savannah Rapids Regional Visitor Information Center located
in the old Lockkeepers Cottage. The center offers information about Columbia
County attractions and other interesting places in Georgia to visit. The
consultant on duty was very informative and helpful.
This area
overlooks the picturesque Reed Creek Falls as it flows into the Historic
Augusta Canal. There is a pedestrian bridge that begins the 7 mile trail that
takes you all the way to Augusta. The original towpath was used by mules to
pull the canal cargo boats upstream to the locks. No trees grew along the path
in earlier times. This area has been a destination for nature lovers for more
than 150 years.
The
Augusta Canal National Heritage Headgates Area, the canal and its mills were
listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In 1978, they were
declared a National Historic Landmark. The United States Congress designated
the Augusta Canal and adjacent land a National Heritage Area in 1996.
The
Augusta Canal begins here at the Headgates. The V-shaped diversion dam directs
Savannah River water into the Headgates. From here the canal flows 13 miles
through Augusta where it supplies the city with drinking water and powers
several small hydroelectric plants. The average depth of the Canal is 11-15
feet and the average width is 150 feet. There are three levels to the canal,
the first level is from the Headgates to 13th Street, the second level is
between 13th and 12th Street and the third level is from 12th
Street to Hawks Gulley and Beaver Dam Creek.
At
the Headgates, we found another roadside oddity. You may have heard of the
famous "love lock" bridges scattered around Europe. Lovers sign a
padlock, attach it to the bridge, and throw the key into the water. But, you
don't have to travel across the big pond anymore to be a part of the romance.
The tradition has made it all the way to Columbia County. Couples have started
placing locks along the pedestrian bridge at the Headgates to the Augusta
canal. With the initials and dates, lovingly etched into the locks along the
canal just started to pop up, without any fanfare, as if the tradition started
overnight.
The
trend started more than seven years ago with only 30 locks along the dam's
railing, which now holds hundreds of locks lovingly signed by couples marking
wedding anniversaries and birthdays. The trend's founder says Augusta's Canal
Authority was not feeling the love when it first started in 2012, but most
members have come around to the idea. Some, however, still haven't had a change
of heart and talks of removing the railings are still being brought up.
It's
been going strong for more than five years thanks to Michael Johnson, the
founder of Love Locks in Columbia County who has two locks of his own here. A
blue lock celebrated the beginning of the love locks trend while a somber
silver one underneath marked the final Mother's Day he spent with his mother a
few years ago.
They're
locks of love and they greet visitors every day at the Savannah Rapids
Pavilion. There are camel locks, there are ones that look like lions, owls,
turtles, lock shapes you normally wouldn't see. There are some interesting
locks, like some of them are engraved and its cool seeing that. Some are really
old and rusty with no character.
That
need to do something resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of locks lining
the railing above the dam. He says he wanted to bring an extra bit of flair to
the Augusta area, which he says has paid off after the locks were featured on
several Georgia tourism websites and videos since it began. But some members of
Augusta's Canal Authority still aren't in love with the idea. Johnson has had
talks with members of the Authority and says some still see the locks as
vandalism, a potential environmental hazard and an issue waiting to happen
years down the road.
From here
the guys headed back to the campground and the girls went to Good Earth Produce
& Garden Center started as a small market in Augusta, Georgia in 1992,
owned then (and now) by Rick Catts, who got started in the business of produce,
seasonal items, and garden plants in 1986. The market, at that time called
Rick's Produce, outgrew its location and moved to Aiken, SC in 1995. At its new
location in Aiken, Rick set up a large lot, eventually transforming it into a
permanent building. Rick's Produce was hugely popular in Aiken and once again
outgrew its location and customer base.
At
that time (2010) Rick expanded the business to Augusta, GA where he is
currently located on Davis Rd, now under the name Good Earth Produce &
Garden Center. The market is known for its fresh, local produce, beautiful
plants, pumpkins in the Fall, and gorgeous Fraser Firs at Christmas time.
Rick's Produce remains open in Aiken from September through December with
seasonal items.
What
exactly is Good Earth? It’s an enclosed farmers market offering fresh produce,
unique local products, seasonal plants, and more for all year round. They find
produce and plants that are grown here locally according to the seasons. They
do business with local farmers who provide the highest quality products and
hire local people to be a part of their team. They have known their growers for
years, and they hold them to a very high standard.
Their
covered facility houses row upon row of seasonal flowers, indoor and outdoor
plants, hanging baskets, potted flowers, ferns, gardening supplies and pumpkins
in the fall. Whether you are a seasoned gardener or merely a beginner, their
garden center staff are eager to take your questions, offer advice, and listen
to your tips as well!
Back at the
campground, we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner, thanks to Sandy & Paul.
Naturally, we ended the day with a few games of Five Crowns. Five Crowns is a
five-suited rummy-style card game that is played with an extra suit. The deck
has no aces or 2s and there are two of every card which increases the players'
ability to go out quickly by grouping their cards into books and runs. For each
round, the wild card and the number of cards dealt changes, from 3 to 13. Each
round has a different wild card (the 3's in the 3-card hand, 4's in the 4-card
hand and so on until the King is wild in the 13-card hand). The rest of the cards
are placed face down to form a draw pile and the top card is turned over to
form the discard pile. Players draw one card from the top of the draw or
discard pile, add it to their hand, and then discard one card to end their
turn.
