The History of Old Paper Mill

(Written by John Williams)
 

The Old Paper Mill Subdivision has been a prominent land mark in Cobb County since the 1970's. The residential area is bound by Paper Mill Road on the north, Sibley Forest and the Chattahoochee National Forest on the east and south and Terrell Mill Road on the west. The three plus miles that is Paper Mill Road has become one of the most exclusive residential areas in Cobb County. The Chattahoochee River forms a natural barrier separating Old Paper Mill from metro Atlanta.

 

Old Paper Mill has 154 homes, including an excellent swim and tennis area which also houses the Old Paper Mill Club House. Major renovations to the common properties have been completed recently (pool in 2010, the tennis courts in 2012, and the clubhouse in 2014).  The subdivision was developed by Foster Yancey of Yancey Development Company during the mid 1970's through the late 1980's. The lots are spacious and well proportioned. Residents move in and stay a long while enjoying the convenience to the Chattahoochee National Park and easy access to Interstate 285 (the Perimeter) and to Interstate 75 highways. Of course, one of the most prized features of Old Paper Mill is its neighborhood school, Sope Creek Elementary School and the higher Cobb County Board of Education schools including Wheeler High School.

 

One of the main geographical features of the area is Sope Creek which is a significant tributary of the Chattahoochee River. Sope Creek starts within the city of Marietta proper and crosses Paper Mill Road and Columns Drive, before emptying into the Chattahoochee River. Sope Creek falls nearly 300 feet over the course of approximately 12 miles of its length. Over the last two miles, Sope Creek cuts through the palisades that formed on both sides of the Chattahoochee, forming a distinctive gorge based around the creek.

 

Paper Mill Road crosses Sope Creek about one mile upstream from the point where the creek empties into the Chattahoochee River. Paper Mill Road has to wind down the gorge in order to cross over the creek. At this crossing, circa 1960, lay one of Cobb County's two remaining covered bridges; the other crossed Nickajack Creek near Smyrna. This stretch of Paper Mill Road is one of the more beautiful drives in the entire Atlanta Metro area.

 

The Sope Creek Bridge was a state declared historic structure and only had a weight capacity of 2000 pounds. In 1963, a grossly overweight truck crossed the bridge and damaged the support structure. That summer, the structure was reinforced with steel shanks. On March 29, 1964, the covered bridge burned to the ground, leaving behind only the steel shanks and masonry. Arson was suspected as the Nickajack Covered Bridge had been partially burned only a few weeks prior.

 

History lives at the intersection of Paper Mill Road and Sope Creek. Located here are old ruins which once were the center of an industrial complex based on the waterpower that the creek provided. During the period from 1850 to 1940, a paper mill, a twine plant, a flour mill and a hydroelectric power plant occupied an area about one mile long along the creek. The Paper Mill was run by the Marietta Paper Mills Company and supplied paper for a great many of the Atlanta area daily newspapers of that time.

 

During William T. Sherman's noted "March to the Sea" during the Civil War, Union troops first crossed the Chattahoochee at Sope Creek. On July 5, 1864, Union soldiers under the command of General Gerrard burned the paper mill and the flour mill as part of the process of wrecking the war making power of the Confederacy. The paper mill was rebuilt in 1865, only to burn again in 1870 and be rebuilt in 1871. The mill struggled to survive the years immediately following the second rebuilding and was sold at a public sale in 1873 and restructured as the Marietta Paper Manufacturing Company. Finally, in 1902, production at that location stopped.

 

Other interesting information about the area is that Cobb County, along with several other counties, was created December 3, 1832 by the Georgia General Assembly from the huge Cherokee "county" territory - land northwest of the Chattahoochee River which the state confiscated from the Cherokee Nation and redistributed to settlers via lottery, following the passage of the federal Indian Removal Act. It was named for Thomas Willis Cobb, who in the early 19th century was a United States representative and senator from Georgia. Marietta was named for his wife, Mary Moore Cobb.

 

In 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated there was 707,442 people living in Cobb County, and ranked Cobb County as the most educated county in the State of Georgia and 15th among all counties in the United States. Cobb County is consistently ranked among top 100 wealthiest counties in the United States.