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News
Dedication, Ride the Rails celebrated in Mineral Bluff
BY CYNTHIA MAUDE, STAFF WRITER
Monday, September 17, 2007 3:31 PM CDT
News Observer photo/Cynthia Maude
The third annual Ride the Rails festival was held inside the renovated Mineral Bluff Depot this year. Fascinated by the model trains was 7-year-old James Ellis, shown here with Gary Ricksgers of the Tri-State Model Railroaders, who answered James’ questions and told him all about the trains.
News Observer photo/Cynthia Maude
Completing the renovation of the Mineral Bluff Depot took dedication on the part of many people, said John Nichols, who called Elma Ettman “the inspiration” for getting the project done. Among the people he recognized was the former Fannin County Commission Board and current Commissioner Tommy Ledford, from left, DOT Rail Program Manager Steve Yost, Fannin County Comission Chairman Howell Bruce Jr., Ettman holding the plaque about the Sept. 15 renovation dedication, Nichols, and Tri-State Model Railroaders President Gordon Tuenge.
News Observer photo/Cynthia Maude
Those who attended the Ride the Rails festival last weekend had the opportunity to take the five-mile ride on the train tracks between Mineral Bluff and Murphy Junction. Montana Meersma, 9, from left, is shown in a motor car with his mother Kathy Meersma and Del Kittendorf, owner of the car, who was at the festival promoting the Southeastern Railway Museum, Georgia’s official transportation history museum, in Duluth.
The Mineral Bluff Depot, built in 1887 by John W. Baugh and his three sons, is the oldest public building in Fannin County, John Nichols told those gathered for the ceremony on Sept. 15. It took eight to 10 years to build the depot, he said.
“It was the only brick depot on the Marietta-North Georgia line,” which traveled from Canton to Murphy, N.C. “People can’t visualize - in 1887, this was like having an airport. It took three to four days to get to Marietta by wagon. By rail, it took four hours,” Nichols said.
He recalled his great aunt’s stories about how during World War I people would meet the afternoon train at the depot to get the newspaper so they could read news of the war.
The train hauled freight and provided passenger service. In the late 1800s, the train from Mineral Bluff brought students to Young Harris College, Nichols said.
“The depot opened this part of the world up - it was a window on the world. The railroad was very instrumental in the development of the community.” The first bank in Fannin County opened in Mineral Bluff, as did the first high school, he said.
“We want to dedicate the building to the continued enrichment of the community, to the promotion of rail transport and to the Tri-State Model Railroad group,” Nichols said.
Completing the renovation of the depot took dedication on the part of many people, he said. Elma Ettman was “the inspiration, the push and the shove” who was instrumental in getting the project done, Nichols said.
Initially, the city of Mineral Bluff was the government entity which made it possible to apply for a $104,000 Department of Transportation contract for the renovation. When the city dropped its charter in 1995, the Fannin County Commissioners took up the project.
“Thank goodness for John Foster, former Commission Chairman Dr. Richard Vollrath and commissioners Yvonne McNelley and Randy Collins,” said Nichols, who also thanked the current administration.
Local funding provided $26,000 - which included local labor - for the renovation project. Nichols recognized Cecil Owenby, who supervised a lot of the work, Betty Milsaps, who helped with fund raising, and people from the business community: Bill Little, Roy Quintrell, Darrell Mann and Wilds Pierce of the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.
The Tri-State Model Railroad group helped by donating the proceeds of the Ride the Rails festival, now in its third year, to the project. Members also donated labor on the project.
Architect Milan Vancura helped with the plans for the depot renovation and DOT’s Lou Chastain, Hal Wilson and Steve Yost helped make the project possible, Nichols said.
The late artist Richard Low Evans did a painting of the Mineral Bluff Depot entitled “Resurgence” to raise money for the project.
The state of Georgia has leased the footprint of the building to Fannin County and the Tri-State Model Railroaders have a sublease on the depot, Nichols said.
He expressed hope that the depot will be “dedicated to the preservation of our heritage and the development of the community.”
“I’d like to think that a hundred years from now they will still have a Ride the Rails Festival,” Nichols said.
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