The Unicoi Turnpike
The Unicoi Turnpike, first vehicular route to connect North Georgia and Tennessee with the head of navigation on the Savannah River system, passed here. Beginning on the Tugalo River to the east of Toccoa, the road led this way, thence across Nacoochee Valley, over the Blue Ridge through Unicol Gap and past Murphy. N. C., to Nine Mile creek near Maryville, Tenn.
Permission to open the route as a toll road was given by the Cherokees in 1813 to a company of white men and Indians. Tennessee and Georgia granted charters to the concern.
Prior to its opening as a road, the way was part of a trading path from Augusta to the Cherokees of Tennessee.
GHM 068-9 Georgia Historic Marker 1997
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.