The most famous landmark in the Shoal Creek area of Hart County, Georgia is the shoal itself. A shoal is defined as a shallow place in a body of water. The shoal at Shoal Creek is named because the meandering path and water movement of the creek exposed a wide section of solid granite rock which the water flowed over thereby becoming a shoal.
When I was a small child, with few exceptions in Hart County, most of the roads outside of the town of Hartwell itself were dirt. Thankfully, over the years most of the dirt ones have been paved. But back then dirt roads in the county were the rule.
The dirt road that swept by the house that I grew up in also traveled past several protestant churches and Shoal Creek’s namesake school and church. It also crossed, via a ford (the topography, not the vehicle) Shoal Creek itself at its signature shoal. Because the creek was shallow at the point of the shoals it became quite wide there and the water moved swiftly. It was interesting to see our dirt road as it disappeared into the creek only to re-emerge on the opposite side.
The location of where our road and the shoals crossed was a source of enjoyment for my family and me. In addition to being a really good place to cross the creek and get to Lavonia it had other uses. We found that because of the water depth, velocity and volume we could safely drive the family car out into the middle of the creek, stop, get out and wash it. There was an abundance of rinse water and the rinsed soapy water disappeared instantly.
On the near side of the creek the granite became further exposed on the down slope side of the road. In fact, it was almost flat in some places and that made for an ideal place for a wiener (we called them weenies) roast. My father would build a fire on the rock and we roasted the wieners using straightened wire coat hangers in place of sticks to secure them. You had to hold the coat hangers over the fire for a minute or so before inserting it into a wiener in order to burn off all the paint, thus eliminating the possibility of ingesting toxins. Smart, huh?! You had to be careful not to allow the wire to get too hot, though. It might burn your fingers.
And then there was the plain old fun of playing in the creek. My father would park the car some place that was both out of the way of others but not so far away that it wasn’t convenient. I would then take all my clothing off except for my underwear (I didn’t have a bathing suit back then) and walk out into the fast moving creek water. It wasn’t deep enough for swimming, but we did a lot of slipping and sliding and just sitting on the granite, all the while as the fast moving creek water rushed by.
Immediately downstream of the creek fording area was an old grist mill. In order to operate the mill a sluice gate was built utilizing dammed water from a small upstream reservoir. I once had occasion to station myself beneath the mill as it operated and watch the gears turn and the water as it poured over the large vertical waterwheel. A gentleman whom I simply referred to as Mr. Martin operated the wheel. He once gave me a kitten. I named it Marty.
All of the above activities had to be performed, including fording the creek, during more or less dry periods. If there was a heavy multi-day rainy period the creek would swell and would become impassable.
Little thought was given to the creek’s water quality, though. The snakelike wandering of the creek wound its way through several dairies, pig farms, chicken farms and other assorted farming activities. I never heard of anyone getting sick, though…at least not because of tainted creek water. You never know, though.
