Road

Society Events

Manny Carvalho

The Gold Digger's Road

In 1829 gold was discovered in North Georgia. Quickly after the discovery several thousand prospectors arrived in the area initiating the first major gold rush in the United States. The search takes the miners across the Chestatee River boundary into the Cherokee Nation. Within a year miners establish a well defined path into the gold region. The path became known as the Gold Digger's Road and was the subject of the February 2012 Society meeting presented by Chris Worick.Today that path is largely gone or incorporated into existing roads. Using maps of the era Chris was able to define the old road and superimpose it on a current map. This new map combines land lots and all known gold mines in Lumpkin County. With the aid of the map one can discover whether or not a gold mine ever existed on your property.Chris has kindly donated a map to the Lumpkin County Library where it may be viewed in the reference section. His presentation is below: