The Thicket

On June 3, 1850 in Inferior Court of Gordon County, Georgia Oothcaloga Depot was named the county seat of Gordon County. The fact that Oothcaloga Depot won the honor over Big Springs can be attributed to the philanthropy of John P. King. Mr. King graciously donated all of the land that was going to be used for public buildings. He also donated a strip of about thirty acres of piney woods. These woods separated the growing hamlet around the Depot from Oothcaloga Creek and a millpond. These bodies of water, in alignment with the scientific thought of the day, were believed to be the source of the “bad air’ that was thought to the causative agent of malaria.

It is said that the Gordon County Fairgrounds adjoined the pine thicket in southwest Calhoun. This is confirmed by the 1911 Sanborn Tax map in which the “Pine Grove” was noted as being east of West Pine Street. From what I can tell, West Pine Street approximates the route of present day Yellow Jacket St.

In the picture the red line approximates the Oothcaloga Street. This street extended out toward the Rome road. The green colored area is thought to be the “Thicket”