Today modern subdivisions like Cobblestone Farms are replacing the splendid agricultural land in Northeast Forsyth County, Georgia, and in the process erasing memories of what this beautiful area once was like. Let’s not forget about the rich history of our area by learning about the past, and why when you look at a modern-day Google Map, you’ll see a “village” east of Cobblestone Farms named Chestatee, an unincorporated place in the northeast part of Forsyth County.

This seemingly ordinary crossroads serves as a remarkable repository of American history, a place with four historical puzzles: the linguistic legacy of a Cherokee place name, the 24-year life and quiet death of a rural post office, the story of a road named for a bridge that vanished beneath the waters of a man-made lake, and the peculiar origin of another road name, Jot ‘Em Down.

Two miles to the east of Chestatee, the Chestatee River and the Chattahoochee River converge, the two rivers flooded in 1956 to create Lake Lanier. The Chestatee River’s origin is north of Dahlonega at the intersection of US 19 and US 129 where Dicks Creek, Frogtown Creek, and Boggs Creek converge, just south of Blood Mountain. The most widely accepted theory for the name “Blood Mountain” is a fierce battle between the Cherokee and Creek Native American tribes, which historians think occurred sometime in the 15th or 16th centuries near Slaughter Gap on the Appalachian Trail. It’s believed that the mountain was stained red with the blood of the fallen warriors.

Chestatee is a Cherokee word meaning “pine torch place” or “place of lights,” and it originates from the practice of Cherokee people who built bonfires along the riverbanks to light their torches for nighttime hunting. The Cherokees called this area Atsunsta Ti Yi.

The Cherokee people had a deep-rooted connection to the land around the Chestatee River, as it was a central part of their culture and livelihood, providing a source of food and traveling by canoe. This land was their land until the 1829 discovery of gold in the area resulted in the influx of settlers seeking their fortune.

In 1832 Forsyth County was founded, so named for John Forsyth, Georgia’s governor from 1827 to 1829. The Georgia Gold Lottery of 1832 was a controversial event that further exacerbated tensions. The lottery distributed land grants within the Cherokee territory, leading to increased conflict.

In 1838, the Cherokees were forced to abandon the sacred land they had lived on for hundreds of years. They were rounded up at Fort Campbell in western Forsyth County, where today’s Old Federal Road begins, which was the start of what we know as the Trail of Tears, upon which the native Americans walked all the way to an Oklahoma Indian reservation.

The history of the Cherokees who lived on the very land where our homes are today is sadly erased, except for that wonderful place on the Google Map named “Chestatee” and just to the east Chestatee Elementary School.

Chestatee is where two main roads converge: Jot ‘Em Down Road and Keith Bridge Road. Chestatee once boasted a U.S. Post Office, a hub of community life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Opened in 1880, the rural post office did not have mail carriers visiting homes, so residents came to the post office to get their mail.

In 1904, the post office was closed when the postal service established the RFD (Rural Free Delivery) system. Because rural carriers drive great distances between home mailboxes, to save time and money, the post office makes subdivisions within RFD areas have community mailboxes where residents pickup their mail, so the carrier doesn’t waste time going door to door, explaining why at Cobblestone Farms our mailboxes are all at our clubhouse.

When the Chestatee post office closed in 1904, all mailing addresses to the west of Chestatee were thereafter served a rural carrier operating from the Cumming post office, 13 miles to the southwest.  Oddly,  addresses east of Chestatee are served by the Gainesville post office, so eastside residents must say they live in Gainesville, not Cumming, even though they actually live in Forsyth County!

Jot ‘Em Down road is a nod to the popular radio show, Lum and Abner, that ran from the 1930s to the 1950s. It was a comedy centered around the lives of two bumbling but lovable characters, Lum and Abner, who owned and operated the Jot ‘Em Down Store in the fictional town of Pine Ridge, Arkansas.

The Jot ‘Em Down Store was more than just a place of business; it was the heart of the show. It was where Lum and Abner would engage in their humorous antics, interact with the colorful characters of Pine Ridge, and dispense their own brand of homespun wisdom.

The store was a general store, meaning it sold a little bit of everything, from groceries to hardware. This provided endless opportunities for comic situations and misunderstandings. It was a place where the community gathered to share news, gossip, and the occasional tall tale.

Older citizens near Chestatee say there indeed was a Jot ‘Em Down store where the post office was located, since nearby farmers had to come there to pick up their mail.

Today along Jot ‘Em Down is Lanierland Park, once a popular country music venue known as Lanierland Music Park where country music fans saw top-tier musicians in a relaxed, open-air setting. Concerts at Lanierland Music Park began in 1970 and continued until 2006. Some of the most famous musicians who performed there included Hank Williams Jr. (who performed at the venue’s opening), Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Kenny Rogers, and the Charlie Daniels Band.

Today, Lanierland Park is a far cry from its former life as a country music venue. After a multi-million dollar investment in 2024, the park now features six tennis courts, four pickleball courts, and a brand-new football and lacrosse fieldhouse. For baseball and softball enthusiasts, there are four new fields, including a state-of-the-art Miracle League field that is all-inclusive for athletes with disabilities. Families enjoy two playgrounds, with one being an all-inclusive “purple playground” designed for children of all ages and abilities. The park also boasts a network of paved and natural walking trails, including a 2.6-mile out-and-back trail that meanders through open fields, wooded areas, and alongside a creek, offering a scenic spot for a walk or jog.

Crossing Jot ‘Em Down Road in Chestatee is GA 369, known as Keith Bridge Road. It originally ran east following what today’s map calls Old Keith Bridge Road to cross the Chestatee River just before it merges into the Chattahoochee River, near where the map image above shows  Keith Bridge Park. A pioneer of  Hall County, George Keith, owned a plantation on the Chestatee River, where the wooden Keith Bridge burned down in 1953.

Just east of Chestatee on Keith Bridge Road is Chestatee School, which opened in 1931. The creation of the school was a community effort, with the Forsyth County Board of Education providing half of the funds and the local community providing the other half. Community members, with their own mules and scoops, prepared the site for construction, and men contributed labor and materials to build the new school. Initially serving as a high school, in 1967 it transformed into the elementary school that exists today.

Just west of Chestatee lies a prominent geological feature: a mountain ridge called Pea Ridge stretching from the Country Land Golf Course seven miles to the southwest to Sawnee Mountain. The name “Pea Ridge” is believed to have a simple, botanical origin. It comes from the abundance of a type of wild pea, sometimes called “turkey peas” or “hog peanuts,” that grew on the ridge, a food source for the Cherokees who  considered this high ground to be a sacred spot. Today, the ridge immediately west of the Cobblestone Farm subdivision is topped by a Forsyth County radio tower and the water tower serving residents in the northeast part of the county. From here you can view the north Georgia mountains.