Athens Factory — 279 Williams Street

Home to the University of Georgia School of Social Work since 2015, the old Athens Factory— also known as the Athens Cotton & Wool Mill, the Athens Manufacturing Company and the Lower Factory— was first built in 1833 to turn slave-produced cotton and wool into thread and cloth. During its years as a cotton mill, the factory was seriously damaged three times: twice by fire, in 1834 and 1857, and once by flood in 1840. Each time, investors rebuilt and the factory recovered. The current building was built on the foundations of the old factory after the 1857 fire. The factory continued operating as a textile mill until the 1920s when it closed permanently. 

The building later served as a warehouse, a call center, a gymnasium, and a saloon before being renovated in 2008 to house the college’s Medical Partnership. Today, visitors to the site can peer down into the historic mill race from a small bridge leading to a deck that overlooks the river, as well as view a portion of a historic dam that was constructed at the shoals in the 1840s. During the school's hours of operation, visitors may enter the lobby to view images and artifacts on the walls. Please respect that the factory is now a busy workplace where students, professors, and staff are teaching, learning, etc. 

This history of the Athens Factory has been adapted from Complex Cloth. To learn more, visit: www.complexcloth.org.

Note: The School of Social Work parking lot is open to UGA permitted vehicles only. Parking is encouraged at the nearby North Oconee River Greenway trailhead located at 470 Oconee Street. From here, head NE on Oconee Street to Williams Street. Take a left on Williams Street. The School of Social Work will be ahead on your left. 

Easley Mill — North Oconee River Greenway

Circa 1796, while indigenous tribes were being forcefully pushed west, Daniel Easley purchased 693 acres on the North Oconee River— all but 30 of which he would later sell to John Milledge for the establishment of the University of Georgia. By 1801, Easley was operating a "successful mill complex" of grist and lumber mills here at Cedar Shoals. Athens newspaper The Southern Watchman reported on December 21, 1870, that Robert Lee Bloomfield had "overhauled, rebuilt, and rejuvenated" Easley's mill for a flour mill, which is said to have produced "extra nice flour." Less than 25 years later, Bloomfield once again overhauled the mill for a new use. On December 12, 1893, Athens newspaper The Weekly Banner announced the removal of machinery from the flour mill for its adaptation as a power plant which would supply electricity to local factories.

A portion of this history has been adapted from Complex Cloth. To learn more, visit: www.complexcloth.org.

Note: From the trailhead at 470 Oconee Street, follow the Greenway until you reach a small deck overlooking the river on your right. To the right of this deck is a path that leads to remnants of a stone foundation wall. 

Southern Manufacturing Company — 355 Oneta Street

Founded in 1902 as the Southern Manufacturing Company, this mill served as a catalyst for economic development in early 20th century Athens. The facility has been home to several different forms of manufacturing throughout the years, with the most prominent being Wilkins Industries. Wilkins bought the property in 1953, and his was the first business in Athens to integrate Black women into the industrial workforce. The facility primarily produced overalls, slacks and blue jeans. At one time, Wilkins was considered one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of women’s jeans. Today, “Southern Mill,” one of Athens’ many historic adaptive reuse projects, is home to offices, restaurants, a luxury hotel, and the second location of Creature Comforts Brewing Co. Many homes built to house the millworkers still stand today, and some of the best examples can be found on Hiawassee and Nacoochee Avenues. 

Note: Visitors can enjoy a meal here, at Osteria Olio or Puma Yu’s. Visitors can also contact Creature Comforts to inquire about tours of their production facility. 

Georgia Manufacturing Company — 585 White Circle

Often called the “Whitehall Mill,” this site was originally known as the Athens Manufacturing Company when it began operations in 1830. Later, a different mill by the same name would be established at Cedar Shoals. In 1839, the mill at Whitehall was reincorporated as the Georgia Manufacturing Company, and it was purchased by John White in 1848. He would be one of three generations of Whites to own the mill. The first mill was replaced with a turbine mill in 1854, and in 1892 that mill was destroyed by fire. The following year, a new mill was constructed on the same site. Georgia Manufacturing Company declared bankruptcy in 1929 and the mill was purchased by Thomas Textile Company in 1930, which operated here until 1988. Not long after closing, extant mill buildings were adapted as private residences. The site as a whole includes the original 1830 mill race, the 1893 main mill, a secondary mill, two power plants, two office buildings, two cotton warehouses, a storage building, a pump house and a water tower. 

Note: Non-residents are not permitted to park and walk around this site. Please plan to observe the site from inside your vehicle.

Chicopee Mills — 1180 East Broad Street

The history of Chicopee Mills begins with the Cook & Brother Armory. In 1862, Cook & Brother purchased this property at the junction of Trail Creek and the North Oconee River to build a manufacturing facility that would supply Enfield-model rifles to the Confederate Army. The armory closed at the end of the Civil War, and in 1870 it was purchased by the Athens Manufacturing Company, who moved their weaving operation from the nearby Athens Factory to this location. This mill, called the Upper Mill or the “Check Factory”— so named for a fabric they produced called Georgia check— prospered during World War II and survived the Great Depression. 

In 1947, the factory was sold to Chicopee Mills, a division of Johnson & Johnson. The University of Georgia acquired the factory in 1980 and adapted it for use as their Physical Plant Division and Small Business Development Center. The complex still serves this function today. Within parts of the complex not visible from the public right of way, extant elements from the complex’s time as a factory still remain, including: storage buildings, a fuel tank and a brick smokestack. 

Note: Parking is encouraged at the lot for Cook & Brother’s Plaza and the North Oconee River Greenway, located across the street from the Chicopee Complex at 1177 East Broad Street.

Georgia Brick Factory Ruins — 205 Old Commerce Road

The Georgia Brick Factory, which began operations circa 1906, is believed to have been the first factory to use the Shaw process for firing bricks. The Shaw process involved the use of a tunnel kiln, which was patented by Frances Shaw in 1913. This process allowed for production of both glazed and rough bricks, and it took about a week for bricks to be dried and baked in the tunnel kiln. The factory’s furnace was located near the road, and the kiln may have spanned from there to the present day rubble pile. The dryer ran from the rubble pile to the low arch at ground level. Bricks were stacked at the opposite end of the furnace, and heat was pumped through flues in the floor of the dryer and the kiln. The kiln is believed to have been situated at a slight incline from the loading end to the unloading end. Clay for bricks was dredged out of what is known today as the Clay Pit Pond. 

Note: Follow the Pine Ridge Trail from the Nature Center parking area to the Claypit Pond Trail. Keep right to reach the Brick Factory Loop. Trail maps can be picked up at the Nature Center. 

Sandy Creek Pump Station — North Oconee River Greenway

The pump station at Sandy Creek was designed and built by civil engineer John W. Barnett in 1916. By that time, daily water consumption in Athens was up to two million gallons per day, and the plant at that time did not have the means to handle it. Barnett recommended that the city’s water intake be relocated to Sandy Creek, and that a large reservoir and pump station be constructed at this site. Though it was planned for the reservoir to hold 80 million gallons of water, it ended up holding 123 million gallons. The pump station, itself, allowed for the transport of water out of the reservoir. Among his many accomplishments in thirty years as Athens’ chief engineer, the construction of this pump station was one of the most significant improvements that Barnett made to the city’s water system. 

Note: from Sandy Creek Nature Center, follow the North Oconee River Greenway Trail past Walker Hall and across a bridge spanning Sandy Creek. Due to its condition, please view the pump station from a reasonable distance. This section of the Greenway will be closed through Winter 2024-25 for repaving.

Tallassee Shoals Dam Ruins — 615 Mitchell Bridge Road

The Tallassee Shoals hydroelectric dam was constructed in 1896 and was in use until 1964 when Georgia Power donated the property to Clarke County in response to then-Mayor Julius Bishop’s interest in acquiring the site for the benefit of Athens citizens. At this time, most of this historic dam was dismantled. The park established here was named for Georgia Power vice president, Ben W. Burton, who shared Mayor Bishop’s desire to see this recreation area created. Remnants of the dam remain on the banks of the Middle Oconee River, and a careful climb offers a view of the shoals. 

Note: Enter Ben Burton Park park through the granite pillars, cross the pedestrian bridge and follow the path toward the woods to pick up the trail along the Middle Oconee River. Follow the orange blazes.

Star Thread Mill Ruins — 1350 Old Barnett Shoals Road

Historic Barnett Shoals has a rich history that spans millennia, from early indigenous habitation to nineteenth century industrialization. The site’s most recent history involves the Star Thread Mill, a project of Robert Bloomfield and the Athens Manufacturing Company. This mill was built in 1887 of stone sourced on site, and it produced “star thread”– a smooth and lustrous cotton thread. A wing dam and canal raceway channeled water from the Oconee River into the mill’s wheelhouse to power the machinery before the construction of the larger dam and hydroelectric power plant down river in 1911. This power plant was designed by James White, brother of the Georgia Factory’s John White, and is now owned by Georgia Power. Historically, the power plant powered not only the mill but also the City of Athens and its streetcar system.

Much of the community has vanished over the decades since the mill shut down. Overall, all that remains of this mill and the community that came up around it includes: the ruins of the mill and the payroll office, the cemetery where millworkers and their families were buried, one chimney that was attached to the home of the mill foreman, the foundation stones that supported their church, a brick bowl-shaped water collection cistern, the Barnett family cemetery, and scattered evidence of former homesites. Many homesites are only identifiable by the daffodils that grow around them annually, but some retain scattered foundation stones and bricks from collapsed chimneys. Archaeological work has been done on site to locate and mark many of the lost homesites.

Note: Visitation without appointment is not permitted at this time. To inquire about access, contact Oconee Joe at 706-614-8928.

Puritan Cordage Mill — 1120 Macon Highway

The industrial history of this site dates back to 1847 with the establishment of the Pioneer Paper Mill by Albon Chase and Dr. John S. Linton. This was the first paper mill to be constructed south of the Potomac River. By 1848, this mill was producing around 600 pounds of paper each day. It prospered until 1858 when one section was ravaged by fire, followed by a second fire in 1861 that resulted in the entire mill being fully reconstructed. On August 2, 1864, the “Battle of Barber Creek,” Athens’ only Civil War skirmish, was fought just adjacent to the site. According to the Southern Banner, mill employees received word that an attack on Athens was imminent, halted work and took up arms. 

The mill continued to produce paper until 1887, and it sat empty until 1893 when the Mallison Braided Cord Company moved in and began manufacturing cordage. In the early 1900s, records show that the cordage mill ran 24 hours a day and employed at least 100 people at any given time. After many decades of neglect, this historic mill complex succumbed to two more fires in 2015 and 2019. What remained of the structures was demolished in 2021 for the construction of the Puritan Mill apartment complex, named for the Puritan Cordage Mill division of Mallison Braided Cord. Developers preserved the historic water tower, making it the centerpiece of the complex, and bricks were collected from the historic structures to be reused in the foundations of the new buildings.