2019 Rally Route - Wednesday September 18th, 2019 – Day 10

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 19^th 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 13^th and 12^th 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.