Old Federal Road
The first vehicular and postal route of Georgia to Rossville was the Federal Road across the Cherokee Nation. Beginning on the southeast Indian boundary in the directions of Athens, Georgia, the thoroughfare led this way toward Nashville via Tate, Jasper, Talking Rock and Spring Place.
Formal permission by the Cherokees to open the road was granted in the 1805 Treaty of Tellico, Tennessee. Prior to that time the trace served as an Indian trading path to Augusta.
The Earliest post office in northwest Georgia was established on this route at Rossville, on April 5, 1817, with John Ross as postmaster.
GHM 146-14 Georgia Historical Commission 1992
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.