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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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