These mountains have their stories. All deal with the relationship between man, his relationship to the earth, and his cohabitation with others. Thousands of years before the Europeans found their way to the New World, pre-tribal Indians hunted the backbones of nascent mountains, using the atlatl and other weapons to harvest food. Thousands of years later still, their tribal ancestors shaped the marble into bowls and other tools. They were the first to discover the marble of our region.

History tells us that in 1835, a Scottish immigrant by the name of Henry Fitzsimmons was traveling by stagecoach along the Federal Road when after having imbibed a little too much alcohol, was made to leave a local tavern. It was on this walk that he recognized a shaft of marble rising from the earth. He had been a stonecutter in the Old World, and like one who strikes oil, he embarked upon a journey that would change the path of generations to come.

Eventually, the Georgia Marble Company took over. Much has been written in other books about the history of Georgia Marble in the county and of its sales of marble all over the world. But what has been left out is largely the visionary legacy of Colonel Sam Tate. From 1860 to his death in 1938 - Colonel Tate forged his empire in Pickens County with reverberations and effects that carried forward well into the future. This book is partially about that legacy: The thread of Colonel Tate's dream as it weaved in and out of sundry lives, enterprises, communities, and America itself.

In the macrocosm, this book contains all the elements of a good story: Heroes, villains, legends and folklore, land barons and shrewd mavericks, success and failure, tragedy, and triumph. I leave it to you to decide who or what fits each archetype.