Fort Attaway Press Release  April 17, 2007

Fort  Attaway
rome’s  only  connection  to  the
chickamauga  campaign  heritage  trail
and  900,000  civil  War  Tourists per year
greatly enhances
Fort  Attaway’s
economic  Potential
for 
Rome,  Floyd  county
and
The  State  of  Georgia
forcing  governer
Sonny  Perdue
to
request  a  formal  response
from  the
Georgia  Department  of  Transportation Commissioner  
Harold E. Linnenkohl

On January 8, 2007, the Fort Attaway Preservation Society sent out a Tourism Package to State Senator Jeff Mullis and State Representative Barbara Massey-Reece. We also sent this Tourism Package to Governor Sonny Perdue. The package focused on the excellent tourism potential of Fort Attaway if it is not destroyed. Fort Attaway is Rome’s only connection to the Chickamauga Campaign Heritage Trail and the Chickamauga Battlefield’s 900,000 tourists per year. The Tourism Package also focused on the facts that have repeatedly proven the irreversible damage the GDOT’s project will needlessly impose onto Fort Attaway and virtually eliminate its ability to generate tourism dollars.

On January 18, 2007 Governor Perdue notified us that he had forwarded our package to GDOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl, and had requested a formal response from the GDOT Commissioner. Our Tourism Package, Governor Perdue’s letter, Harold Linnenkohl’s formal response and our Fort Attaway Preservation Society’s opinion letter on Commissioner Linnenkohl’s formal response can be viewed on our home page under the heading “Governor Sonny Perdue requests formal response from Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner.”

www.fortattaway.com

Fort Attaway Preservation Society, inc.
Officially becomes a  501(c)(3)
non-profit corporation

On February 26, 2007, the Fort Attaway Preservation Society became a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation making all future donations tax deductible. Accountant Ansley Rice, of Rome, Georgia based accounting firm Howse & Rice, filed the application six weeks earlier. Already, the tax deductible donations have started coming in. Our very first tax deductible donation came from Linda and Robert Baker. Linda is the secretary for the Georgia Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association whom we met at our first membership meeting after we (David and Cailey Fowler) joined the association.

During our historic research on Fort Attaway we have learned that the Fort Attaway Preservation Society and the Georgia Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association have similar missions. That similarity is in location. Cherokee Indian, Major Ridge, who was instrumental in the treaty of New Echota, lived in Rome. The only thing separating his home and property, known as the Chieftain’s Museum, from Fort Attaway is the Oostanaula River. Fort Attaway is located on DeSoto Hill which was in the Town of DeSoto (Town of DeSoto predates Rome, Georgia).

Major Ridge’s house (Chieftain’s Museum) is on the east side of the Oostanaula River along with the City of Rome’s Ridge Ferry Park that is also named for Major Ridge. Fort Attaway is located on the west side of the Oostanaula River, in an area known as DeSoto, and is directly across from Ridge’s house (Chieftain’s Museum) and Rome’s Ridge Ferry Park. The DeSoto area, also formerly known as the Town of DeSoto predates the City of Rome, and was named for the Spanish Explorer Hernando DeSoto. August 31, 1540 Hernando DeSoto traveling on the Coosa River stopped here in his search for Native American gold, thus forever leaving his mark on the Native American Town of Chiaha through disease. Hernando DeSoto also left his mark on the land because it was known there after as the Town of DeSoto. We have attached Appendix J from our Historical Marker Package to provide a little more information on the DeSoto area.  Our Historical Marker Package can be found on our home page at www.fortattaway.com).