Concord Road Trailhead Preview

Located along the pathway at the Silver Comet Trailhead on Concord Road, Matilda’s Garden and the Toni Morrison Bench by the Road serve as a monument honoring Cobb County’s Black history.

The Toni Morrison Bench by the Road was established as part of a national memorial initiative launched by the Toni Morrison Society in honor of Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. Installed on the eve of Juneteenth in June 2024, the bench commemorates the memory, sacrifices, and contributions of both the enslaved and free African American citizens of Cobb County. The monument highlights historical figures such as James Johnson, a free black Marietta barber who covertly passed military intelligence to Union forces, as well as formerly enslaved local men who fought for the Union in the United States Colored Troops, including Silas Daniels and brothers William and Lewis Pace.

Adjoining the bench, Matilda’s Garden was dedicated during a special Juneteenth ceremony attended by family descendants. The garden is named in memory of Matilda Ruff, a formerly enslaved woman who, following emancipation, remained in Cobb County with her children—Calvin, Zeida, and Rhoda—on land that forms part of today's historic district. During the Reconstruction era, Matilda supported her family as a washerwoman while her son Calvin worked as a local farm hand.

Brought to fruition by the Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District alongside community sponsors, Matilda’s Garden and the Toni Morrison Bench offer a peaceful space for reflection. Together, they permanently honor the bravery, entrepreneurship, and enduring legacy of the area's African American resident.

Constructed in 1904 by the American Steel Bridge Company, the Trestle Bridge over Nickajack Creek is a rare surviving example of early steel engineering in America. Originally built for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, it carried passengers and freight between Atlanta and Birmingham, transforming a multi-day horse journey into a five-hour train trip.

The bridge was the scene of a tragic accident on May 14, 1913, when a rescue engine traveling in reverse derailed at its western end. The wreck, which killed Engineer R. B. Brooks and Switchman J. T. Allen, was reported by Mr. Johnson, the operator of the nearby Concord Woolen Mill. Allen, only 24, had recently moved to Atlanta to marry his fiancée before the fatal crash.

In the early 20th century, the intact downstream mill dam created a scenic lake that reached the base of the trestle. Today, the bridge is a centerpiece of the Silver Comet Trail, a celebrated "rails-to-trails" project. It offers modern visitors impressive views of Nickajack Creek and serves as a vital historical link between the area’s industrial railroad heritage and its recreational present.

Continue on the Silver Comet Trail to your next stop.

Established in 1832 in a log cabin schoolhouse, Concord Baptist Church stands as the oldest church in Cobb County. Led initially by Reverend Thornton Burke, its early congregation constructed successive wood-frame meeting houses along present-day Fowler Road in 1833 and 1842. The church site became hallowed ground during the Civil War when Union and Confederate forces engaged in the July 1864 Battle of Ruff's Mill. During intense artillery exchanges, flying shells ripped directly through the church building while troops sought shelter inside.

Rendered useless by wartime destruction, the congregation rebuilt after the war and later disassembled their 1889 sanctuary, reassembling it piece-by-piece on Floyd Road in 1909, where it still serves as the fellowship hall.

On the original hilltop, the Old Concord Baptist Cemetery remains a poignant symbol of spiritual resilience. Containing marked and unmarked graves dating from the 1830s to the 1920s, the cemetery holds the remains of prominent pioneer settlers—such as State Senator John Gann—alongside local families and enslaved African Americans. Now enclosed by a protective fence, the historic graveyard anchors the enduring heritage of Cobb County.

My name is Martin Luker Ruff, and this land holds memories far deeper than crops and timber.

The Civil War struck our home long before the armies arrived. My son, Colonel Solon Z. Ruff, went off to command men in battle and never returned. He was killed in 1863 near Knoxville, Tennessee. We brought his young son, Mathew, into our home to raise. War has a cruel way of forcing children to grow up without the fathers who ought to have been there.

Then war came directly to our doorstep. In the summer of 1864, General Sherman’s armies swept south toward Atlanta. From July second through fourth, our fields became part of the battlefield.

Imagine this peaceful ground filled with men digging earthworks, moving artillery, smoke, shouting, and the constant crack of rifles. Late on July Fourth, a fierce Federal assault struck the Confederate position here. In a matter of minutes, hundreds were wounded and roughly three dozen were killed across ordinary farm fields. Eleven Union soldiers were buried right here before being reinterred years later at Marietta National Cemetery.

Our family cemetery holds thirty-five loved ones who lived and died on this property. But the battlefield left its own quiet markers. For decades, the soil yielded bullets, shell fragments, and equipment. Long after my time, a great-grandson was plowing a sweet-potato patch when his plow struck a buried cavalry saber. A battlefield does not cease being a battlefield simply because the shooting stops.

Completed in 1904 by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, the line that became known as the Silver Comet Railroad was constructed to link Atlanta with Birmingham, the South’s booming iron and steel capital. Traversing a 26-acre right-of-way through the Concord Factory grounds in Smyrna, the railroad revolutionized local commerce. Crossing Nickajack Creek via an iconic steel trestle bridge, it serviced Rice’s Station, enabling nearby woolen and grist mills to import raw materials and ship finished goods nationwide.

In May 1947, Seaboard inaugurated the legendary Silver Comet, a luxury streamliner passenger train connecting Eastern Seaboard cities to Atlanta and Birmingham. Offering a swift, five-hour journey between the two southern hubs, the line thrived during the golden age of rail travel. However, declining revenues led to the end of passenger service on January 18, 1969.

Following CSX's abandonment of the line in 1989, the Georgia Department of Transportation purchased the right-of-way in 1992. Today, this historic rail corridor lives on as the Silver Comet Trail, a 61.5-mile non-motorized recreational path extending from Smyrna to the Alabama state line.

Martin Luker Ruff (1807–1876) was a pioneering industrialist and essential civic leader in 19th-century Cobb County. Born in Henry County, he acquired land along Nickajack Creek following the 1832 land lottery and settled in the region to harness its natural water power.

Beginning in the 1840s, Ruff partnered with Robert Daniell to establish vital community enterprises, including a gristmill in the creek's S-curve, a sawmill, and a lumber operation. Recognizing the need for regional infrastructure, he joined Daniell and State Senator John Gann in 1848 to build the area's first flat-decked wooden bridge—the early predecessor to the historic Concord Covered Bridge. Ruff also served as local postmaster, supplied wooden crossties for the Western and Atlantic Railroad, built the brick Smyrna Academy, and co-founded the Concord Manufacturing Company in 1867 to produce woolen cloth.

Despite his vast entrepreneurial success spanning milling, transportation, and manufacturing, Ruff remained remarkably modest. On census returns and tax records, he steadfastly identified his occupation simply as a "Farmer". Ruff's vision anchored the Nickajack Creek community, laying a lasting foundation for Cobb County's industrial heritage.

The Martin Luker Ruff Homeplace, located east of Nickajack Creek off Concord Road, has a rich history that spans nearly two centuries:

• Antebellum Origins: Constructed in the 1850s on land won in the 1832 land lottery, the original portion of the house is distinguished by a sturdy raised basement built from rough fieldstones. A two-story frame addition was later added in the late 19th century.
• Ground Zero in the Civil War: On July 4, 1864, during the Battle of Ruff's Mill, the homeplace stood at ground zero of the Union assault. Confederate soldiers dug infantry trenches across the ridge on the property. Although engulfed in intense fighting, the house miraculously escaped the wholesale burning that destroyed many local structures. Instead, Union forces commandeered it as a field hospital for the 4th Division, 16th Army Corps, treating wounded soldiers and burying at least ten Union fatalities near the house.
• Passing Through Generations: The property remained in the Ruff family for nearly a century following Martin L. Ruff, Sr.'s death in 1876. In December 1943, the farm was purchased by Ian Milroy, a worker at the Bell Bomber Plant, and his wife Virginia, a Red Cross secretary. In 1976, Harold and Janice Ivester acquired the property.
• Modern Preservation: Today, the homeplace is listed on the Cobb County Register of Historic Places. Preserved on a 10-to-12-acre parcel containing Civil War trench remnants and the historic Ruff family cemetery, it remains a private residence cared for by preservation-minded descendants like Philip Ivester, who helped spearhead archaeological research of the battlefield.

Established along Nickajack Creek in 1867 by Robert Daniell and Martin L. Ruff, Sr., the Concord Woolen Mill served as the centerpiece of a thriving industrial hamlet. The three-level factory was renowned as the “only facility in the South that processed raw wool into finished clothing all under one roof.

Managed over the decades by the Rice and Love families, it was purchased in 1907 by civic leader Annie Gillespie Johnson. Rising competition and changing power technologies eventually forced operations to cease around 1916. Today, supported by contemporary ghost-framing, its historic stone ruins endure as a landmark within Cobb County.

Please continue on the path upstream to walk above the creek to your next stop.

A hundred years ago, this area was fertile farmland, where on Tuesday, April 24, 1923, Isaac Warren, 35, a farmer of the Concord community, was shot by federal prohibition officers attempting to place him under arrest on a charge of moonshining.

According to the Cobb County Times, Warren was at work in his field, directly opposite the woolen mill, when the officers came to arrest him. Seeing them approach he plunged into Nickajack Creek, swimming to the other side to escape. The officers, determined to catch Warren, started shooting as he rose on the opposite bank of the creek, where he was wounded. The wounded man was taken to Grady hospital by the officers, where he recovered.

It was said, that Warren was a well-known farmer in that section of the county, and for several years has been living at the old factory site. He had an excellent reputation among people in that vicinity. He had a wife and three small children at the time of this incident.

The prohibition officers are said to have been armed with a warrant for his arrest. A. C. Soull and C. H. Forbes were the arresting officers. The officers claimed that the shot which struck Warren was not fired by them, where an Atlanta newspaper carrying the following story:
Ike Warren, of Rice's Station, alleged whisky maker is in Grady hospital with a serious wound in his right lung. Federal prohibition agents were wondering where, why and how, the wound got there.

The two agents headed a raiding party of four to Warren's place, to search for a 300-gallon still, which was reported to be there. According to the arresting officers, Warren had been arrested several times for distilling whisky. When he appeared in federal court, he entered a plea of guilty to charges of violating the prohibition law of 1920. He was sentenced to three months in prison and was permitted to make bond until his farm work was done for the summer.

Pause under the large Beech tree overlooking the grist mill and house in the distance.

Born in 1854 along the banks of Nickajack Creek in Cobb County, Georgia, Henry Clay Ruff grew up in an area defined by the vital milling enterprises established by his family. His father, Martin Luker Ruff, Sr., was a prominent pioneer settler and industrialist who partnered with Robert Daniell in the 1840s and 1850s to construct sawmills, gristmills, bridges, and local schools. Raised alongside ten brothers and sisters in their historic homeplace, Henry spent his youth immersed in the community's agricultural and milling life.

As he reached adulthood, Henry Clay Ruff learned carpentry and took over as the primary miller at the family's overshot gristmill, which ground wheat and corn into flour and meal using water funneled from a stone dam. He and his wife, Minerva, made their home in the tall, narrow Plantation Plain miller’s house standing immediately adjacent to the gristmill. On July 4, 1864, the mill and residence became ground zero during the fierce Battle of Ruff’s Mill. Union artillery damaged the gristmill's walls and left its fieldstone facade pockmarked with bullet holes, yet the miller's house was spared destruction when officers converted it into a field hospital for wounded combatants. Henry and Minerva continued to reside there until his death in 1907.

Throughout the post-war era, the broader Ruff family continued to anchor Nickajack Creek. Following Martin Sr.’s death in 1876, his widow, Judith Lovejoy Ruff, managed the gristmill, while Henry’s brother, John Wesley (J.W.) Ruff, worked as a contractor, rebuilding the Concord Covered Bridge on stone piers in 1891 and reconstructing the ruined woolen factory after a fire. Through industrial craftsmanship, wartime endurance, and community leadership, Henry Clay Ruff and his family forged an enduring heritage across Cobb County.

Cross Concord Road with caution, looking for busy traffic through the covered bridge, to reach the next stop.

Spanning the winding waters of Nickajack Creek, the Concord Covered Bridge stands as an enduring monument connecting Cobb County’s 19th-century industrial heritage with its modern community landscape. Its origins trace back to 1848, when pioneer settlers Martin L. Ruff, Sr., Robert Daniell, and State Senator John Gann constructed a flat-decked wooden bridge to facilitate local travel and trade. Following the destruction of the span during the July 1864 Battle of Ruff’s Mill, a replacement was erected in 1872. In 1891, contractor John Wesley Ruff rebuilt the covered structure atop sturdy stone piers, giving it a lasting "appearance of durability".

Measuring 133 feet in length, the bridge features traditional vertical board-and-batten siding, a heavy wood-planked floor, and a distinctively low seven-foot entry clearance. As the only surviving covered bridge in Cobb County and one of just 16 remaining in Georgia, it holds the unique title of being the busiest covered bridge in the state, continuing to support active daily motor vehicle traffic.

Designated in 1986 as the focal point of Cobb County’s first historic district, the Concord Covered Bridge serves as a vital portal to the past, preserving local history amidst ongoing regional growth.

Constructed in the 1850s by business partners Martin L. Ruff, Sr. and Robert Daniell, the rock dam across Nickajack Creek served as the industrial backbone of Cobb County's early milling community. Engineered of piled field stones without mortar or smooth facing, the dam impounded the creek to form an expansive mill pond just upstream from where the 1891 Concord Covered Bridge stands. This waterworks system diverted streamflow through a stone-lined head race to turn the heavy overshot water wheel at Ruff’s Grist Mill, grinding thousands of bushels of wheat and corn annually for local residents.

Beyond its industrial utility, the mill pond blossomed into a vibrant social center during the late nineteenth century. Accounts from June 1874 describe day-long community picnics along the banks, where local couples rowed across the calm water in wooden boats bearing whimsical names like the "Happy Go Lucky", "Blue Tale Fli", and "Cic Ada," capping off the evening with spirited dances as darkness fell.

However, after commercial milling operations ceased around 1930, the unmaintained structure fell into steady decay. The dam became increasingly vulnerable to both natural erosion and human interference; vandals dislodged stones from the crest, and evidence indicates the structure was eventually blasted out after abandonment. By 1964, the dam was officially breached and mostly destroyed, sending its heavy field stones downstream.

In a notable act of adaptive reuse, local residents later reclaimed many of those original stones to construct the protective wall that encloses the historic Miller’s House property. Today, the dam’s northern terminus remains visible as a quiet, soil-covered stony mound upstream from the covered bridge—a silent monument to the water power and community life that once defined Nickajack Creek.

Continue upstream to your next stop.

Perched upon a scenic, wooded promontory overlooking Nickajack Creek and the Concord Covered Bridge, the “Rock House"—officially known as the “John W. Rice Summer Cottage”—stands as a distinctive turn-of-the-century architectural landmark in Cobb County. Constructed in 1900 by John Woodson Rice, a patented inventor and the owner-operator of the nearby Concord Woolen Mill, the stone dwelling was created as a seasonal retreat for his family.

Architecturally, the Rock House is celebrated by preservationists as a rare Georgia example of an unconventional, rustic seasonal residence that deliberately discarded traditional period design conventions. Built directly into the rising hillside, the two-story square structure exposes both full stories on the downhill side while revealing only a single story on the uphill slope. Constructed of thick fieldstone masonry with prominent mortar joints and a pyramidal roof, the cottage features an informal interior layout anchored by post-and-beam timber framing reminiscent of the region's textile mills. Its seemingly random arrangement of variously shaped and sized windows conveys a playful, whimsical charm. A short distance down the hillside rests the rusted shell of an early 20th-century Marietta-to-Atlanta trolley car, which Rice placed on the property as an entertainment pavilion and "man cave" for hosting guests.

In 1907, upon his retirement, Rice sold the Rock House and the surrounding woolen mill complex to Annie Gillespie Johnson, a prominent New York-born editor, civic leader, and former president of the Georgia Federation of Women's Clubs. Over the decades, while the adjacent woolen factory fell into ruin, the Rock House retained its exterior and interior historic integrity.

Recognized for its artistic design and historical ties to Cobb County's industrial heritage, the Rock House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, it remains an enduring stone sentinel along Nickajack Creek.

The Battle of Ruff’s Mill, July 2–4, 1864, was a pivotal engagement during the Atlanta Campaign. Following the retreat from Kennesaw Mountain, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston occupied formidable earthworks along Nickajack Creek that had been prepared by impressed slave labor.

On July 4, Union General William T. Sherman ordered a direct attack to break this "Smyrna Line". At 6:40 PM, the 27th and 39th Ohio regiments of Fuller’s Brigade launched a "brute force" bayonet charge across open cornfields. This assault achieved the rare distinction of being "the only Confederate line successfully overrun by a charge" during the entire Atlanta Campaign.

The victory came at a heavy price, with over 140 Union soldiers killed or wounded in the final minutes. Notable casualties included Colonel Edward F. Noyes, who lost a leg, and Corporal Silas Gibboney, who was killed on his twenty-first birthday. The breakthrough forced Johnston to abandon his six-mile defensive line and retreat toward the Chattahoochee River. Today, the grist mill's fieldstone facade remains pockmarked with bullet holes, a silent witness to this fierce struggle.