This is part of a story that was prepared by some high school students in 1947-48.

.....Mr. James W Walker, who came to Towns County in 1848, wrote a letter to the Towns County Herald in 1934, giving the following recollections of the early days of Hiawassee.

"Hiawasse being about 80 years old, I thought I would give you a sketch of its pioneer days. My father, Daniel Walker, moved from McDowell County, NC, to Georgia in the year 1848 and settled on Bell Creek. In a short time a strip was taken off Union County, and a strip off of Rabun County, forming the new county of Towns. The ground on which Hiawassee was built was at that time called The Old Muster Ground, where the militia was called out once a year to make a military parade, marching after the stars and stripes and the sound of the fife and drum. The county site was located here and called (this part is unreadable). Jim Burch and George Standridge were the first men to sell goods there. I helped saw the logs to make the shingles that covered their building---The third man to sell goods in Hiawasse was Bill McConnell. The first circuit court held there was held in a structure someone had put up. Howard Kerby, who lived on Hog Creek, was the first clerk of the court. Walter Foster, who lived on Hightower was sheriff. There being no jail, when Walter had to arrest someone, he put him in a cellar.

When they built the first jail, it was a huge log structure of two rooms each about 16 feet square with an alley between. The prison was made of double walls, the outer and inner walls being about 8 inches apart. This space was beaten full of rocks as the structure went up. The work on the courthouse went on slowly as the brick had to be molded and burned. In the years of 1859 and 60 the forebodings of war grew stronger and stronger until after the decision of the state convention to withdraw from the union, after which war was declared.

The volunteers were called for to form an army. About this time Burch and Standridge went out of business. But McConnell stayed on in business and held the post office during the period of the war. At this time the community was frequently called together to listen to red-hot war speeches. The stars and stripes were discarded, but the fife and drum stayed intact. The enlisted officer would begin calling "Fall in fall in fallin!" Columns of men and women would follow the fife and drum. Then the officer would go down the line taking the names of those who would enlist. A day would be set a short time hence to meet and march away to some designated place to swell the army. Crowds of men and women would be there to tell the departing one farewell, with aching hearts and tears streaming down their faces."

Sent to me in 1992
By Chuck Foster

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