Editorial: Rocky Face Ridge Park is a crown jewel for Whitfield County

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 27, 2022

When you visit Rocky Race Ridge Park off Crow Valley Road, you are immersed in nature. Lush trees cover the ridge. Blue skies are all around (hopefully). You may even spot a few animals. And the ultimate payoff — the 360-degree view atop the ridge — is absolutely breathtaking.

After more than 20 years of planning, securing funding, trail blazing, construction and more, Rocky Face Ridge Park finally held its official grand opening on Monday under a pavilion in the shadows of the ridge.

At the event, scores of people and groups were recognized for their parts in making this longtime dream in the making a reality. The 1,000-acre site has numerous Civil War fortifications and was the site of two Civil War battles.

The park has a hiking trail to the top of the ridge, a cross country trail around the park and about 10 miles of a mountain bike trail that circles the ridge. Representatives of the Northwest Georgia chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association helped design the mountain bike trail and provided $75,000 for its construction. The county received a $200,000 grant from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to build the trail. Whitfield County taxpayers paid only $600,000 of the park’s $3.4 million cost.

At the grand opening on Monday, Jim Ogden, chief historian of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, spoke about the historical significance of the park.

“The Atlanta Campaign begins here,” he said. “While there will be more and bigger battles to the south, the campaign that will allow (Union Gen. William T.) Sherman in early September (1864) to communicate to (Union Gen.) Ulysses S. Grant and President Lincoln ‘Atlanta is ours and fairly won,’ that campaign began here. This story is one that can now be better told.”

Kudos to the multitude of people, groups and organizations that came together to make the park a reality. We salute everyone who had a hand in the park. It’s a shining example of how a dream can come together despite so many moving parts.

We hope community members are able to take advantage of the amazing treasure that is in our backyard.