Old Mountain Home in Union County, GA

This is a home and setting that jumped out at me and insisted that I stop and take a photograph. It has seemingly been several years since anyone has called it home, and yet the owner of the property is obviously fond of the old house. Every time I've passed it, the lawn is cut, with no weeds or vines running rampant. The location is on Gaddistown Road near the unincorporated community of Suches, GA.

This part of the county is remote, even by today's standards. So remote, that Woody Gap School (the nearby public school) opened in 1940 and serves grades K-12. The winding mountain roads that must be traversed in order to get to the location of the county's other schools (all located in Blairsville) are still considered a travel hardship, thus the school remains open. It is the smallest public school in the state of Georgia, with an enrollment of 67 students, all taught by 11 teachers, according the the schools website. If you want a small classroom and student to teacher ratio for your child, this is the place to be. The school sits upon the former farm of Joseph Brown, Georgia's Civil War Era Governor. He served from 1857-1865.

This house sits just a few miles north of the Appalachian Trail where it crosses Woody Gap.