Georgia Traveler; 602

This week on Georgia Traveler, we journey to the land of Noah's Ark. An amazing animal sanctuary in Locust Grove where lions, tigers, and bears live and play together. It was a dream of my mother-in-law and she wanted to rescue all the animals in the world. We then take the road less traveled to Durham Town, a hunting plantation and union point that's evolved into the country's largest ATV and dirt bike playground. I'll drive through whatever lake river he throws at. From rattling chains and haunting screams, we brave a Roswell ghost tour that delves into some of the town's history and most fantastic tales of the great unknown. It really took taking the Roswell ghost tour to have them learn about Roswell's history. We then celebrate the lives of many great Atlantans at Historic Oakland Cemetery, a beautiful garden-style cemetery that's also home to all kinds of fun year-round entertainment

from tunes in the tunes to fun runs. And we cross the border just a couple of miles into Tennessee to witness the gorgeous views of Point Park, the side of the Civil War conflict. They called it the battle above the clouds because the fog was so heavy that the soldiers didn't know if they were shooting against friends or foes. All that more on the next Georgia Traveler. Lions Tigers and Bears who happily lived together in the same habitat were often Noah's Ark and Locust Grove to witness this amazing sight. There's a magical place where Lions Tigers and Bears

lived together in perfect harmony. And no, we're not in Kansas anymore. Enter the wonderful world of Noah's Ark and Locust Grove, Georgia. Noah's Ark was started in 1978. It was a dream of my mother-in-law's. Her name is Jamie Hedgekoff and she wanted to rescue all the animals in the world. This family-run sanctuary takes care of exotic animals from Lions of the African Savannah. To the brilliant Macaws of the Amazon rainforest, nearly every continent on Earth is represented. We have 120 acres that are open to the public. It's open from 9 to 4 before the habitat opens. So at the welcome center, you can walk around and see birds and some monkeys, alligators, giant tortoises. And then when the habitat opens at noon, we have 81 acres up here. And they're paved trails. You know, you can just come here and in a sense turn the kids loose. I mean, we have kids running around and we have a huge playground that they can play on too. The philosophy at Noah's Ark is rescue and rehab first, creating a comfortable environment for the animal. We're not a zoo. We're a sanctuary first and foremost for these animals. We don't

charge any mission. We ask for donation. We're only open from 12 to 3 Tuesday through Saturday because we really want these animals to feel safe. We encourage people to come and see them, but if you don't see them, you know, it's because they don't want to be seen. These cages are safe environments for the animals. Almost every habitat having access to a natural water source. Allison and the crew show love for every new orphan feeding them high-quality food, which as every vet will tell you leads to better health and lower treatment bills in the end. So it's raw pot roast for Leo the lion and an omnivorous diet of fresh melon and steak for blue the bear, who both, of course, share a cage with share con the tiger, setting the stage for the park's main attraction. The BLT are bear, lion and tiger. They're all new to the males. They're 11 years old this year and they were found in a drug dealers basement. I think they might have peaked the basement door open and shut it real quick. And they weren't very big at this point that still, you know, pretty frightening to see. You know, they all live in habitat together,

they play together, they eat together, and they sleep together. And they love to be on camera and they love the public to come out and visit them. Unless you come in the heat of the day and the summer, you almost always see all three of them. Blue the bear is definitely the dominant one. Hands down, especially during food time. Blue is very easy going, but he will step up and assert his authority over them. Leo the lion is just so laid back. He most of the time can be found lounging on his porch. He sleeps at least 15 hours a day. And share con the tiger is definitely the little troublemaker. So it's really neat. They all have really cool different personalities. It's fun to watch. And the BLT combo is not an oddity around these parts. Meet Doc and Anne. Another bear tiger match made in heaven. And is doing something that a lot of baby bear cubs do when they nurse. It's also kind of just like a comfort behavior and so she's sucking on Doc's ear. She doesn't pull her hair out. It doesn't hurt it. You know, his ears are in you know, fine shape. Obviously we checked it, you know, for some of this happening. And Doc the

tiger doesn't seem to mind it off. So just kind of lay there and Anne will suck on one day for a while and then swap to the other and then swap back and then she'll be done. And surprisingly, even though Anne, the bear is smaller, it's definitely the box. Unfortunately for the animals, there are several people out there who enjoy having these animals as pets at a younger age, but once they grow up, the appeal is lost. And the maintenance of care is too high, especially for the snakes. They are very cute and very manageable when they're small. But then certain species like green iguanas or the big pythons like the reticulated or the Burmese pythons, they grow to be big enough to eat your other pets and they can be extremely dangerous. So we get calls on them all the time and unfortunately we're full right now. We have five large snakes and until we build another habitat, we just have to turn them away. As you stroll the grounds of Noah's Ark, you'll notice this wide variety of animals from bison and llamas to ostrich and lemurs

are living in comfortable, less restricted quarters, but as always, visitor safety still number one. It's always done very safe. I love the animals, but you know, human safety is definitely number one. I think once people come to the property, you'll kind of feel the love that we have here, you know, for our family and for the animals. And it's just hard to describe it until you actually come out to Noah's Ark. Let's now rev up our engines and union point and hit the over 150 miles of motor cross trails at Durham Town Plantation. Dirt trails and motor cross, over 150 miles of trails make it the largest course in the entire US. Over 30,000 total acres, 8,000 dedicated to recreation. The Durham Town Plantation sits on land given to owner Mike McCommons and sisters from George Washington himself during our country's beginnings. Revolutionary, were they awarded all the soldiers a land grant and Georgia of 200 acres and of course my grandfather ended up right here

in this area, Northeast Georgia. Over the years, we have been, we've called it being harassed by ATVs and dirt bikers, warning to ride on our property and we weren't hunting and the two do not mix by any means. So dear seasons over January 1st, let's let these guys come ride. And on January 1st, 2002, we had about 100 riders show up and we just thought, wow, this is just unbelievable. And from there, the Durham Town Motorbike and ATV crazed began. So it was time for me to suit up for the trails of Durham Town. I don't have much experience on two wheels but I have done a little on four. Four is a little easier for the beginner. Absolutely. All right. Taking care of. You can bring your own ride and gear if you want but there's a pro shop and rental shop on site and just like a ski resort, they set you up with boots, pads and a helmet. One of the things we want to do here was making the safest possible. I feel like a super hero. This is cool. It feels good. How many hours do people usually ride out here?

Where we off our rentals in a half a day, which is a three and a half four hour opportunity. We do a four a day, which is some nine to four thirty. Okay. So on the average, they'll put in four to five hours a day of actual seat time. And believe it or not, after that, you're pretty much shot out. And off I went and again, like skiing, you start off slow and easy and once you get the hang of it, there are nine motocross tracks on the property from the P.W. track for the little one up to the professional track for professional racing. We have a drag strip from hill climbers to playing in the mud to high speed racing. We designed it like six flags where everything's nine in one location. We made these entertainment areas. And when Mike mentioned driving in the mud, I didn't realize he was talking about a swamp. Okay. So there's a lot of water here too. Mike's telling me when I see it, just drive through it. He's like a doll getting out of a bat to get to go shake it off.

I'll drive through whatever Lake River he throws it. Marcia. He's pretty entertaining, but that's about 20 red things down there. Well, that makes me once. So I came for the ATV adventures, but just watching the talent on the motorcycle courses was worth a visit of its own. The trails have expanded through the years, offering beginner and advanced rides, same with the motocross courses. You can bring the entire family for a getaway, offering relaxing overnight accommodations. I could see the value of generating a facility that allowed the entire family to be together, stay together, and have fun together. So by allowing the hunting and the riding on the same facility, which is unheard of, I started noticing that the more more families were coming, and the more you can entertain a family, the more stability you have in your business. Oh, it's again, Mike. All right. I think I'm ready

for the next day, right? Oh, you ready to go back? So ride in the daytime, spend the night in the cabins, and wake up the next day, ready to tackle a brand new adventure in the woods, be it dry or wet. It's time for a visit with the supernatural lord, so we're told we're off to the cemeteries and haunted ruins of Roswell. Georgia is quite popular in the realm of paranormal activity. From pirate haunts in Savannah, two more friendly ghosts like Floyd the Bellman at the Windsor Hotel in America. So now we enter Roswell and the brave tour guides who share tales of apparitions and unexplained happiness. Our interest in the paranormal is definitely around. We definitely deal a lot of with Roswell's history. We love that people we hear from all the time, they've lived here for decades and decades, but it really took taking the Roswell goes to have

them learn about Roswell's history. That's the way I was describing it. It's like we're walking back in time. It's not something Diana can quite put her finger on, but this paranormal investigator feels it here at the Roswell meal. I just get just a heaviness. It's just a heaviness and I just feel like that's an imprint in what a lot of people who were living here and working here at the time may have felt. We have people telling us that they have heard like chains clanging and screams. So what happened in this part of Roswell that makes the air so uneasy? There's a strong emotional imprint in this area of Roswell, particularly during the Civil War. We had a lot of loved ones ripped apart during the Civil War, unable to reconnect here before death. So we do feel that many of the stories are explainable that we're experiencing here is those energies coming back to try to find one another after death. Of all the traumas that Georgia experienced during the Civil War, Roswell has a uniquely sad chapter. The town's textile mills happened to produce Roswell Grey. The fabric used for Confederate uniforms. General William T. Sherman

found out about it in the summer of 1864 and ordered the mills destroyed. On top of that outrage, he ordered that all mill workers, mostly women and children, were to be arrested, charged with treason and shipped north to uncertain things. There weren't letters written or diaries found or there was literally no way for them to reconnect. So we feel many of them have come back to reconnect here after death. Bullock Hall is the birthplace of Miri Bullock, mother of 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, but also provides a much warranted stop for ghost tour. We have a lot of stories about Bullock Hall. A lot of strange things going on with the lighting that's unexplainable. Rocking chair on the on the porch that will rock by itself. Lots of figures in the windows in this location as well. I was facing the house as the tour was going on and all of the sudden I saw a very sharp image. It was a silhouette type and it floated across the window that's behind me now and it went very slowly across kind of in this motion.

It appeared to be about my height but when you put my head up there I would have had to been floating about three feet above the floor to make the image that I had seen. And what would any journey seek in the supernatural be without a cemetery? What is the significance of this cemetery to Roswell? All right well this is Founder Cemetery and a lot of the founding families are buried here. It's a really cool, very quiet cemetery. We're surrounded by private homes and a lot of people who live in Roswell don't even know that this is where Roswell King is buried, that Founder Cemetery is even back here. We feel that Founder Cemetery is relatively active. For two of ours we've had several different people over several different nights to say that they've seen what appeared to be a child peeking around a tree at us. We've had even media come to interview us here and they'll have malfunctioning with cameras and with their batteries being drained. For us no technical anomalies and after watching the footage no visual apparitions but

there was a feeling in the air be it paranormal presence or my imagination at work that made this ghost tour in Roswell a chilling adventure. Still to come on Georgia Traveler historic Oakland cemetery. Basically the the history of Atlanta lies beneath our feet. We stroll through this garden style cemetery and discover how the lives buried here are celebrated with high spirits. We then head to the same scenic overlook on lookout mountain used by General Grant during the Civil War. Because he was coming up from the bottom of the mountain and trying to conquer the upper part of the mountain. Explore the lookout mountain battlefields at Point Park. Georgia Traveler will be back in 30 seconds. Welcome back to Georgia Traveler. From fun runs to a little tunes in the tunes let's discover

the unique barrel grounds of historic Oakland cemetery in Atlanta. Here lie the residents of Oakland cemetery. Basically the history of Atlanta lies beneath our feet. Can you imagine a wedding on these hallowed grounds or even a birthday party? About a concert for even a race? More says that most families of Oakland's residents embrace using the park as an ongoing celebration of life. The cemetery began in 1850 and was Atlanta's first graveyard known as the city burial place. It started as a six acre site but nearby Civil War casualties created a rapid demand for plots. They rest on the high ground of Atlanta. The site where Confederate General John B. Hood watched the city of Atlanta burn on July 22nd 1864. I think when it started out the original six acres were more like a grid but because of the rain of Queen Victoria there was something called

the Victorian rural garden cemetery movement. Expanding the cemetery to the 48 beautifully cultivated acres we see today. So rather than a scary graveyard where you you buried your dead and then never return the Victorians like to create a space that was welcoming for people to come back and visit for families to tend to the graves of their fathers and grandfathers and family members and at the same time picnics throw their kids enjoy life honor life and to do so they was created this wonderful garden-like atmosphere with the walls and the walkways and the beautiful flowers which entice people to come back and enjoy this spot. And honoring these souls with a celebration of life continues today. Many of Atlanta's most iconic figures chose Oakland as their final resting place. Gone with the wind author Margaret Mitchell is buried beneath the tombstone bearing her husband John Marsh's last name Atlanta mayors Maynard Jackson and Ivan Allen and the most celebrated amateur golfer and founder of Augusta National Golf Club Bobby Jones can be found along the memorial street wall

and his plot is quite easy to spot. People come and leave golf balls at his gravesite in homage to him he was a wonderful man of high integrity high standards and again one of our most visited graves. However Oakland is not only about the big names it's celebrating people of all cultures. For religious purposes there's an historic Jewish section actually Jewish sections that represent the individuals that lived here in 1860 the south was segregated so there is an historic African American section. There are four monuments at Oakland that are on the Smithsonian register for beautiful art pieces. There's the angel who symbolizes Mary Glover Thurman who brought meals and flowers to the sick and needy. Jasper Newton Smith welcomes you into the cemetery with a tip of his top hat Smith was a builder who helped reconstruct post-war Atlanta. There's the iron and bronze children statue known as out in the rain which sits right next to the iconic bell tower and finally

the lion of Atlanta which was carved in 1894 from the largest block of marble quarried in Georgia up to that time. There's 6,900 Confederate soldiers five Confederate generals there 3000 unknown Confederates who were buried beneath the lion of Atlanta which is a beautiful structure that was carved in 1890 and it is emblematic of the of the old south. It's a city park so it's open from sun up to sundown you can just walk in and enjoy this place for what it is. You can look through the books and find who's buried here you can take a walking tour self-guided walking tour map of the cemetery but better yet we give 14 different tours of Oakland. There are also a few opportunities a little out of the ordinary. We put on Victorian festivals we tour we even have nighttime Halloween tours we have a road race that runs through here it's called Run Like Hell we started this a year ago we named it tunes from the tunes we have five different natural

staging areas where a hundred bands come in and play over a two day period we had several media folks that would come and said oh there'll be dancing on grades that's disrespectful we said well no they won't be dancing on grades and I would imagine that our residents enjoy the company during that music festival but it is said that you die three deaths the first is when your when your body dies the second is when your body is interred in the ground and the third death is when your name is no longer spoken on this earth so we here at the Oakland foundation try to ensure that that third death does not occur to any of our residents as we continue to tell their stories and the history and the significance they have had on our city on our state and on our region. Just a few steps away from the resting place of golfer Bobby Jones lies a building known as the Jane coincidence that Bobby Jones had a trusty old putter known as calamity Jane and the restaurants and shops that make up the residents of the Jane embraced this trendy location including its

anchor resident in long time Atlanta staple six feet under they actually chose the name six feet under because it's located across the street from a cemetery so it was a perfect time in there and it's also interesting that the best place to eat at six feet under is on the rooftop several feet above the cemetery six feet under owners Tad and Nancy Mitchell have always had a strong bond with the cemetery and the rest of the Jane residents frequently bond together and fundraise for the beautiful city park every October we actually participate in a save the souls program and our patrons purchase one or five dollar two stones of mausoleums everything that's raised goes to Oakland and I know that lots of restaurants in the area have several things that they do to help them out they're just it's just a huge attraction for the neighborhood so we really try to support them every great city has one great cemetery that reflects the soul of the cemetery and that's Oakland and I think that a city that takes care of its cemetery that maintains it preserves it and and uses it says a lot about the people that live there

let's now take a peek into the Chattanooga Valley from lookout mountain and learn about the civil wars battle above the clouds the whole majestic lookout mountain this plateau rises nearly 2400 feet above sea level and stretches over 80 miles from Alabama eastward across northwest Georgia and to lookout mountain Tennessee and it's this easternmost point where we find the incredible views and rich history of the lookout mountain battlefield otherwise known as point park this beautiful destination holds the nation's only memorial to both union and confederate soldiers a towering 50 foot monument overlooks the now healed battlefield of the Chattanooga Valley in 1863 union and confederate forces fought for control of Chattanooga known as the gateway to the deep south the confederates were victorious and nearby Chickamauga in September however renewed fighting in Chattanooga that November provided union troops victory and control of the city after the

fighting a confederate soldier anonymously wrote this is the death knell of the confederacy when the civil war was fought here they called it the battle above the clouds because the fog was so heavy that the soldiers didn't know if they was fighting against or shooting against friend or foe general grant to see what was happening because he was coming up from the bottom of the mountain and trying to conquer the upper part of the mountain a hard fought and much needed victory for the union and to learn all about the strategic positioning and how this decisive battle was turned in favor of union forces the battles for Chattanooga Museum located at the park's entry is the perfect starting point sit back and watch this impressive three-dimensional electronic battle map presentation featuring five thousand miniature soldiers 650 lights sound effects and this presentation extends beyond the battle above the clouds to general Sherman's assault

on nearby missionary ridge setting the stage for his historic march to the sea this point park section of lookout mountain has impressive trails weaving all around the eastern edge of the mountain side offering spectacular views that are a photographer's paradise so after viewing the museum's presentation take the stroll along the mountain side imagining the scene general grant witness 150 years prior this slightly challenging half mile hike is quite rewarding in the end here you encounter the oaks memorial a museum virtually hanging on the mountain side you see Adolf Oaks was the publisher of the Chattanooga Times and went on to buy the New York Times in 1896 oaks is actually much of the reason this entire national park exists in the first place this photo taken at a reunion barbecue on lookout mountain on September 18 1889 features oaks with union general William Rosecrans among others this event he helped organize what's instrumental in the eventual preservation of the battlefield and the creation of the park

until next time pleasant journeys i feel pretty cool even if i go down i'm protected here hey Georgia Travelers produced in partnership with the Georgia Department of Economic Development this is a GPB original production