Sawnee Mountain is a low

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

between the

piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

and

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hill ...

of the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, north of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Average rainfall/46.26in/yr/ average snowfall/5.7in/yr/. The name Sawnee Mountain actually refers to the entire

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

of approximately five miles (8 km) in length. At its summit, the

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, and is roughly above the surrounding

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

. The Sawnee Mountain range runs southwest to northeast, and consists of five knolls and three gaps (Chamblee, Sawnee, and Bettes). Located only a few miles north of

Cumming, Georgia Cumming is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, Georgia, United States, and the sole incorporated area in the county. It is a suburban city, and part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. In the 2020 census, the population is 7,318, up fro ...

(the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

), the mountain is the highest point in Forsyth county at 1,946 ft (593 m) above sea level. One of the highest peaks of

metro Atlanta Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixt ...

, it is taller than its more well-known neighbors

Stone Mountain Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome Inselberg, monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Ge ...

and

Kennesaw Mountain Kennesaw Mountain is a mountain between Marietta and Kennesaw, Georgia in the United States with a summit elevation of . It is the highest point in the core ( urban and suburban) metro Atlanta area, and fifth after further-north exurban count ...

by 260 ft (79 m) and 138 ft (42 m) respectively. Compared to other mountains in the area, however, Sawnee Mountain sits behind Bear Mountain and Pine Log Mountain, both in neighboring Cherokee County to the west.

Sawnee Mountain Preserve

The Sawnee Mountain Preserve protects 963 acres of the mountain and is managed by the Natural Resource Management Division of Forsyth County Parks and Recreation. The Visitor Center features interactive exhibits about the natural and cultural histories of Sawnee Mountain, and a resource library and lounge. Environmental education programs are offered for school, scout and other groups, and a summer camp program is operated by the County.

History

It is believed that Native Americans may have used a natural clearing atop the mountain called the Indian Seats for ceremonial purposes. As white settlers migrated to the area, now known as Cumming, a local

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

named Sawnee helped them adjust to the native land. As a well skilled carpenter and farmer he was known throughout the land. He was later driven away from their native lands by these white settlers and died while traveling on the Trail of Tears. The range was named in his honor. In 1829

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

was discovered in Georgia in Auraria at the site of America's first gold rush. There are also mines in the ridges of Sawnee which is downstream the

Chattahoochee The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It ...

from the major strike. Current uses of the mountain are as a nature preserve park and a

Radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

WWEV-FM WWEV-FM (91.5 MHz) is a non-commercial Christian radio station licensed to Cumming, Georgia, and serving the Northeast Atlanta metropolitan area. It is owned by RLN Global, Inc. and calls itself Victory 91.5. The station has a contemporary Chri ...

91.5, which transmits from a

radio tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-m ...

at the top of the mountain. Originally, the station staff actually drove recorded

program Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

ming to the top where it played from

broadcast automation Broadcast automation incorporates the use of broadcast programming technology to automate broadcasting operations. Used either at a broadcast network, radio station or a television station, it can run a facility in the absence of a human oper ...

equipment, but it now uses a live

studio/transmitter link A studio transmitter link (STL) sends a radio station's or television station's audio and video from the broadcast studio or origination facility to a radio transmitter, television transmitter or uplink facility in another location. This is accom ...

. The Sawnee Mountain Visitor Center is located at 4075 Spot Road and is one of the trailheads.

References

External links

Sawnee Mountain Preserve
- official site {{Coord, 34, 14, 12, N, 84, 09, 38, W, region:US-GA_type:mountain_source:GNIS, display=title Mountains of Georgia (U.S. state) Landforms of Forsyth County, Georgia Ridges of Georgia (U.S. state) Protected areas of Forsyth County, Georgia Nature reserves in Georgia (U.S. state) Nature centers in Georgia (U.S. state)

Sawnee Mountain Preserve

History

See also

References

External links