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Lake
Allatoona Inn filled with history
By Shari Rathman
 If
only this Victorian Mansion could talk, Lake Allatoona Inn would
have so much to say. It was built in 1893 over the foundation of an
earlier home that had burned to the ground. J.C. Armstrong, an
architect, builder, and businessman at the time was the owner of the
property and soon rebuilt it.
The home made history when the
Battle of Allatoona Pass was fought there. There are 21 gravestones
between the Inn and the home next door. Civil war bullets are still
being found on the property.
Most recently, in 2006, David
and Lynn Smith bought the house. Lynn Smith, a real estate agent,
said, “I showed this house to a client and we bought it six months
later.” It was the perfect home for them because they are directly
across the street from Lake Allatoona. David has a love of the lake
and boating and there’s enough land for Lynn to have horses and a
stable. They now use it as a personal residence, a bed and breakfast
and events’ facility. It is located at 632 Old Allatoona Rd,
Cartersville.
Before the Smiths purchased the
home, it had changed hands many times over the years. There are
rumors that it was a nudist colony and a bordello. It also was a
health resort and a private farm. Another owner bought it to become
a retirement home but zoning would not allow that. The next owner
lost the home in foreclosure and the place was left abandoned with
much of the beautiful interior lost to vandals.
In 2000, a couple bought the
house on the courthouse steps. They completely restored it with
Victorian parts of other homes. “They went around the country to
redo the place.” said Lynn Smith. “They spent over half a million on
the inside”’ said Smith. The restoration took over two years.
When the couple put the property
up for sale, the Smiths bought it. They had to put in a new
sprinkler system. There is so much history in the home and area and
the Smiths like to share that information. In fact, one of the
neighbors is said to be the great grandson of Robert E. Lee. If
interested in learning more, the website is
www.LakeAllatoonaInn.com.
Allatoona
Pass Battlefield sits near inn
By Shari Rathman
 Across
the street from Lake Allatoona Inn, there is a rise in the land. It
is where railroad tracks used to wind through the area. The train
track was moved when Lake Allatoona was built in 1950. The land now
is a path that leads to the Allatoona Pass Battlefield. The
battlefield was just off the lake. It was one of the bloodiest
battles of the entire war. The Union lost 706 men and the
Confederacy lost 897. The area is now a park with walking and
jogging trails.
Most of the Allatoona Pass
Battlefield is now federal land under the operation of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The Etowah Valley Historical Society (EVHS)
maintained and improved the battlefield for 12 years and then last
year on October 6, 2007, EVHS turned its duties over to Red Top
Mountain State Park. EVHS will continue to work in an advisory
capacity and help to raise funds to erect monuments in the park
area.
At the park, which is within
easy walking distance of Lake Allatoona Inn, there is a monument to
soldiers lost, a railroad cut through solid rock, two well-preserved
earth forts, a classic antebellum plantation home and the “Grave of
the Unknown Hero.”
Allatoona Pass Battlefield is
located just off the western shore of Lake Allatoona, 1.5 miles east
of 1-75 on Emerson-Allatoona Road, Cartersville. For more
information, the website is
www.EVHSonline.org.
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