The society has released its first list of "Sites Worth Saving" in the community. Local residents nominated more than 20 historic sites in the county that should be preserved, according to Stefanie Joyner, society executive director. The list was whittled down to the dozen now posted online at www.rockbarn.org/sites worthsaving.
"The main goal is to bring attention to these sites, which are all in danger in some way," Ms. Joyner said.
The properties include the Canton Grammar School, Conn's Creek School, Donaldson's Furnace on Shoal Creek northwest of Canton, Old Etowah Elementary School in the Hightower community, the Hickory Flat Store, Roberts Building in Ball Ground, the Shingle House in the Hightower community, the Stripling-Lovelady house in Ball Ground, the Native American-Early Pioneer Fish weirs in the Etowah River, the Gramling House in Sutallee, the Reeves House in Woodstock and the Fort Buffington site in the Buffington community.
Residents can go to the Web site and vote on which sites are the most important to save.
"The public will help us determine which three get our attention," she said, adding the society will focus its efforts on the three sites receiving the most votes. Voting will run through Oct. 15.
She said the owners of the properties listed on the Web site have been contacted by mail, noting the society hopes to work with the owners to preserve the sites.
"By no means do we want to be threatening. We want to show the property owners how much the public wants to see these sites preserved," she said.
The society, she said, can offer assistance to the chosen site owners with preservation tools and partnerships to stabilize the properties. Assistance would include organizing community cleanup days to paint or clear overgrown vegetation, getting community partners to volunteer their services or finding a preservation-minded buyer for the property.
Ms. Joyner said the society already has received commitments to help with the properties from contractor Richard Wright, architect Roy Taylor and Bates Building Materials.
"These are very important things to hold on to," said Taylor of Canton, a lifetime member of the society. "Maintaining historical structures is a way of holding on to a sense of place in a community."
Taylor added that preserving these buildings also was the "green thing to do."
"A lot of energy went into creating these things in the first place," he said. "To lose them would be a waste of energy."
Since the recent posting of the list, the Stripling-Lovelady house in Ball Ground has received the most votes, with the Canton Grammar School second and the Fort Buffington and fish weir sites just behind.
The Stripling-Lovelady house is the largest neo-classical house in the county. It was built in 1912 by D.C. Stripling, who was manager of the Bank of Ball Ground.
The Canton Grammar School was built in 1914 to replace Etowah Academy, the first school in Canton.
The fish weirs, or traps, were used by Native Americans and early settlers. Stones were stacked in V-shaped dams in the river to trap fish. They are located throughout the county, especially in the Canton, Keithsburg and Buffington areas.
Fort Buffington was built in the 1830s and used as a stockade during the Cherokee Removal of 1838.
Conn's Creek School was built in 1909 and is one of the last one-room schoolhouses in the county.
Donaldson's Furnace was constructed during the beginning of the Civil War by Judge Joseph Donaldson.
Etowah Elementary was built in the 1930s to consolidate the older Creighton and Oakland schools in the Creighton-Hightower community.
The Hickory Flat Store was built in 1950. The former store and gas station is the last historic building at the Highway 140 and East Cherokee Drive intersection, the epicenter of Hickory Flat.
The Roberts Building was built in 1923 as a post office with a Masonic lodge on the second floor.
The Shingle house is the last remaining building from the Creighton/Franklin gold mine complex. It was built in the 1880s.
The Gramling House is a landmark on Highway 20. It was built in 1919 and has an unusual pyramid-shaped roof.
The Reeves home was built in 1898 and at one time included gardens, a barn, a corn crib, wood shed, hog pen and hen house.
was built in 1865 from bricks made on the Etowah
River. The outbuildings are still there. The large rock at the Funk History center was removed from this plantation in 1940. It originally sat
atop an Indian Burial ground. Wake up Cherokee
Coubty, this is the most important site.