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October 14, 2009

Pleasant Valley historic district named to National Register of Historic Places

Submitted by the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society

The Whitfield-Murray Historical Society received notification last week that the Pleasant Valley Historic District in Murray County had been named to the National Register of Historic Places. This is one of the highest honors given to historic places in our country and has been a goal of the society for several years.

Consultant Bill Blankenship of Woodstock prepared the nomination assisted by Kevin McAuliff of the North Georgia Regional Development Center and members of the historical society.

The National Register was created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and is designed to provide recognition and some degree of protection to our historic resources. The designation also provides some tax incentives for property owners within the district.

The Pleasant Valley District is the first rural historic district in this area named to the National Register. Located just north of Eton, the district is bounded on the west by the CSX rail line and includes a historic 1908 railroad overpass. The northern boundary is the old Crandall city limits, while the Old Federal Road and land lot lines form the eastern and southern boundaries.

Centering around Old Federal, Loughridge and Crandall-Ellijay roads, the district includes the 1922 Mill Creek Bridge as well as 35 other historic buildings, sites and structures such as the Bates-Loughridge House, the O’Neal House, an 1882 Victorian house owned by the Pannell and Fincher families, barns, smokehouses, the C.C. Keith House and the Adair Cemetery.

According to the nomination, Pleasant Valley is “a distinctive place in the north Georgia mountains because it remains an intact historic agricultural landscape ... With the increase in residential and commercial development in the north Georgia mountains, there are very few intact valleys historically used for agriculture that retain their historic agricultural characteristics.” The district was also listed as significant in the areas of architecture, exploration and settlement and transportation.

Pleasant Valley joins Spring Place and downtown Chatsworth as historic districts in Murray County along with the Vann House, the Wright Hotel, Carter’s Quarters and Fort Mountain as individual listings on the National Register. Nominations are pending for the city of Eton and Oakwood Plantation in northwest Murray County, with several other properties also eligible for such recognition.

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