Currahee Mountain

Currahee Mountain is a mountain located in Stephens County, Georgia, near Toccoa. The name appears to be derived from the Cherokee word ᏊᏩᎯ (quu-wa-hi) meaning "stand alone."[2][3] Technically a part of the Georgia Piedmont or "foothill" province, Currahee Mountain rises abruptly about 800 vertical feet (240 m) above the local topography and is the highest peak in Stephens County. Part of the mountain is in the Chattahoochee National Forest. On clear days, the peak's 1,735-foot (529 m) summit is visible for many miles and is a prominent landmark to the southeast of Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountain crest.

Currahee Mountain
Currahee Mountain
Highest point
Elevation1,735 ft (529 m)  NAVD 88[1]
Coordinates34°31′45.21″N 83°22′33.18″W[1] 
Geography
LocationStephens County, Georgia, U.S.
Parent rangeBlue Ridge Mountains
Topo mapUSGS Ayersville 34083-E

Currahee Mountain is one of the landmarks[4] used in the Treaty of Hopewell.[5] It was also used by Benjamin Hawkins to run the Hawkins Line.[6][7]

On October 12, 1864, Confederate troops defeated Union troops at the Battle of Narrows, also called the Battle of Currahee, during the Civil War. The Confederate victory is said to have saved the area from pillage by Union troops. Casualties were small and the wounded were cared for by neighbors.[8]

View from Currahee Mountain

The mountain was made famous internationally by Tom Hanks' and Steven Spielberg's television miniseries Band of Brothers, in which it was featured as a training site of the American Paratroopers at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, where they ran up and down Currahee.[9] The name of the mountain became a motto for these paratroopers, and inspired the quote "Three miles up, three miles down."

The Colonel Robert F. Sink memorial trail follows Currahee Mountain Road from the site of former Camp Toccoa to the summit of Currahee Mountain.[10] The start of the trail is marked by a commemorative plaque dedicating the trail to "Col. Bob" Sink from the Five-O-Sinks (506th Parachute Infantry Regiment Association). The trail is currently the venue for the Annual Currahee Challenge, a three- and six-mile race on the mountain that occurs in the fall.[11]

It is also a popular destination for rock climbing and rappelling.

One of the radio towers at the top holds NOAA Weather Radio station WWH24, serving parts of northeast Georgia and upstate South Carolina from NWS Greer.

References
  1. "Currahee RM 4". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  2. Krakow, Kenneth K. (2002). Georgia Place-names. Macon, Ga: Winship Press. ISBN 0-915430-00-2. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  3. "The Names Stayed". Calhoun Times and Gordon County News. August 29, 1990. p. 64. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  4. Kappler, Charles J. (1904). Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Vol. II. Washington: Government Printing Office. p. 9. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  5. Twohig, Dorothy (1993). Washington's Memoranda on Indian Affairs, 1789. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. pp. 468–494. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  6. "Hawkins Line". GeorgiaInfo: an Online Georgia Almanac. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  7. Hawkins, Benjamin (2003). The Collected Works of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796-1810. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780817313678.
  8. Cooksey, Elizabeth B. (2014). Habersham County. New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  9. "Currahee Mountain". Georgia.org. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  10. "Col. Robert F. Sink Trail - City of Toccoa". www.cityoftoccoa.com. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  11. "Currahee Challenge". Retrieved 2015-02-06.
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