The Unicoi Turnpike

Year Erected: 1956

Marker Text:  The Unicoi Turnpike passed here. The turnpike was the first vehicular route to connect North Georgia and Tennessee with the head of navigation on the Savannah River system. Beginning on the Tugaloo River to the east of Toccoa, the road led this way, across Nacoochee Valley, over the Blue Ridge through Unicoi Gap and past Murphy, North Carolina, to Ninemile Creek near Maryville, Tennessee. The Cherokee granted permission to open the route as a toll road in 1813. Tennessee and Georgia granted charters to the concern. Prior to its opening as a road in 1819, the way was part of a trading path.

Re-erected by the Georgia Historical Society in 2022