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Cumberland Island

Counting Bridges and Other Legends of the Road

7/21/2018

4 Comments

 
Sam Burnham, Curator
​@C_SamBurnham
PictureThe CCC Road: Historical & Natural Beauty, Some Mystery, & Many Legends
In Floyd County, just north of Rome you'll find (with a little direction and some luck) an old dirt road cut off from the world by a simple metal gate. Signs at the gate communicate that the road is closed to automobile traffic, that the road is an entrance to the Berry College Wildlife Management Area, that permits and permission are required for seasonal hunting, that hunters must check in at the GDNR station, and some generalized messaging to let you know that if you come out there acting a fool that you'll probably going to jail. It is typical of the many such entrances to Berry WMA properties throughout norther Floyd County but this one is still a bit different. 

I don't remember how old I was the first time I heard someone telling me of the horrors and frights that were somehow ubiquitous along the "CC Road." There was the apparently indisputable truth that you crossed three bridges going out and only two coming back (or 5 out and 4 back, depending on who was telling the story.) There was always some ghost sighting or other supernatural phenomenon that this group or that couple experienced. There was the ruins of an old church and cemetery that had been adopted and defaced by a band of Satanists (roving bands of Satanists form the spine of many spooky stories in the area) who used the property for all manners of frightening and unspeakable rituals and ceremonies.

To people in northwest Georgia, these stories were as big as coastal Georgia's Altamaha-ha. This was on the same level as Atlantis, Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, or Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The legends inspired the Georgia-based band Southgang song The Legend of CC Road which appeared on their 1992 album Group Therapy.  What made it even more real and foreboding is that it is right in our own backyards. You'd hear where  John or Sally had ventured out with older siblings or friends. They'd made it to the old church, seen the inverted crosses, heard chilling screams or voices. and, most notably, somehow crossed fewer bridges coming back out than they had going in. 

Because there just isn't much that can be scarier than a disappearing bridge. 

Picture
I have to admit that my skepticism is a recent development. When I was a kid, this was one of the most thrilling things to hear about. "What did you see? Was it really like they say?" I never went down the CCC Road before Berry (wisely) gated it off to cut back on the shenanigans. In fact, the first time I went down the road was in broad daylight and I don't recall noticing any bridges other than the one at the gate. That could explain why I'm more intrigued by the disappearing "C" in the name than I am the reports of a disappearing bridge. It leaves me wondering which word in Civilian Conservation Corps, who is credited with building the road, is being omitted. 

PictureA Quaint Church: Last Remaining Vestige of Mountain Springs, Georgia
Regarding the church, I have no idea if the church of legend still stands. Currently the only church I know of in that area is the old Mountain Springs Church, the last remnant of the community of the same name. Small communities used to dot the landscape that has since been absorbed by the Berry Wildlife Management Area. Occasionally a church may remain, perhaps a few weathered headstones in a neglected cemetery - Mountain Springs, Freemantown, Sand Springs - mostly just memories survive to the present day.

In the remaining churches periodic meetings may still be held. A sign at the gate advised a meeting being held at Mountain Springs Church at 4 and the gate closing at 6. In other words, feel free to attend the service but don't expect to get out if you are using the open gate as an opportunity for running amok in the dark. You'll return to find yourself locked in the with legends. Sweet dreams.

While I am skeptical about many of the stories and I despise vandalism of any kind, I'm thankful for these tales. We don't have enough mystery and intrigue in our days. Everything has to be logical, explainable, provable. In simpler times we could dream, fear, be wary of what may be lurking out an old dirt road nearby.  

I think there may be more to this story in general. I may need to look into this...

4 Comments
JadedBelle
12/11/2019 02:21:13 pm

I used to visit this place growing up. Honestly I think the scares we did experience were conjured by our paranoid young minds. Lol It was a fun urband legend and I'd love to look more into this as well. Thanks for this info..brought back memories.

Reply
Jonathan
3/20/2021 08:35:03 am

My friend used to live in the house at the beginning of the road. One day when I was around 14 or 15 we had heard that someone had died down the road the day before. We rode our bikes down the road and at the first bridge we found brains and blood piles and condoms still laying out where the authorities had not cleaned it up yet.

Reply
David
3/2/2022 07:05:48 am

I remember going down this road and the stories my father and uncle had told me. They stated they worked with a few friends to remove furniture (pews) and help clean from the abandoned church that was vandalized. My father said they would always count the bridges on the way in and out of the property and never had the same count. They also mentioned one time dropping a person off at each bridge and returning always missing one to be found roaming about lost and stating "you were taking forever" kind of talk. I just remember how creepy it was at night, and the stories made it worse. lol CCC Road is a definitely a legend!

Reply
Tressie Cambron
6/7/2022 04:02:10 am

I went to Berry in the late70s,and one Sunday afternoon a group of us went to CCC Road. First we drove down the road counting the bridges..7 in 6 out.Then we put a person on each bridge,and once again 7 in 6 out...We did this on many occasions with the same result...The scariest thing I ever experienced at Berry happened again on a Sunday around 77 or 78. A bunch of us we bored we decided to go riding..We went out Garden Lakes towards Huffacre,and at some point we turned on a red dirt road going up Rock Mountain. This was before it was developed.Anyway,the road was difficult to travel so we were going slowly.We got to the top of the hill,and all of a sudden we saw these people wearing capes with hoods covering there faces coming up from the left side of the hill towards the car.They began beating on the car and the windows while pulling on the door handles that we had thankfully locked. We were screaming for the driver to hit the gas.Finally we took off and got away,but I watched behind us as quite a few hooded figures crossed the road.Through the years I have been given information about this incident,but I prefer not to tell what I was told.It still scares me to this day.CCC Road doesn't scare me but Fouche Gap does!

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    Sam B.

    Historian, self-proclaimed gentleman, agrarian-at-heart, & curator extraordinaire
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