North Georgia has a lot of funny names - Suches, Sautee Nacoochee, Dahlonega, Yonah, Enota, Chestateee... well you get the point. Many of them came from Native Americans, including Cherokee tribes, that stuck around.
Another one of those kind of unusual names is Trahlyta - but you probably know this Cherokee Princess better by the name of her grave, Stone Pile Gap.
We've talked Indian Burial Grounds before, but this one is a little different. Princess Trahlyta's grave is at the intersection - literally - of Highways 60 and 19. Supposedly, if you leave a stone as you pass, it will bring you good fortune. As you can imagine, every good luck charm comes with a bad luck curse - if you take a stone from Trahlyta's grave, you're destined for bad luck.
Princess Trahlyta was the most beautiful Cherokee princess, as she drank from what is now known as Porter Springs to maintain her beauty. She did this per the request of either a medicine man of the Witch of Cedar Mountain, according to RoadsideGeorgia.com. Whoever it was came to her as a voice, told her to follow a path to the springs and drink from the springs for eternal life and beauty.
Because, who wouldn't do that, Trahlyta followed the directions and the story of her renowned beauty spread. A Cherokee warrior, Wahsega, heard of her beauty, but was a little more than disappointed when he was rejected as a suitor for the princess. In a fit of rage, Wahsega kidnapped Trahlyta, taking her far from the springs.
Each day she was away, she suffered. She grew weaker and began to die. She begged to be buried back by the mountainside from where she came and asked for strangers to leave stones at her grave for the youth and beauty she once had.
As Indian burial grounds are known to be "cursed" if they are disrupted, this legend has it's own story: construction crews have tried twice to move the pile of stones, only to reportedly have a person in the crew die in an accident both times.
To get to Stone Pile Gap, take Highway 60 from Gainesville and go straight up until you get to the intersection of Highway 60, 9 and 19. The intersection at Stone Pile Gap is triangular. If you plan on passing by, bring a stone to add for good luck, but don't dare take one. Also, be super careful, as it is a busy intersection.
Join me next week as we stay closer to home and look for a sign - a lot of signs - that are sprinkled around North Georgia.
Until then,
Stay curious.
The intersection from a distance. Photo: Rob Moore
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/6/405215/stonepile-gap