Road Construction Continued

Transylvania County "chain gang", 1931.

For years I have wanted to pin down where the chain gang 1931 Road Construction Photo was taken. I felt that it was taken along Hwy 276. I hiked to the two spots that I considered most likely.  One ended up being rejected do some terrain differences.

Probable location of 1931 photo, 2014.

However, I believe the second site is a good match. I cannot say that the site is definitely where the photo was taken but I feel that it is highly probable. The terrain matches. There is some minor difference in the excavated cut profile but you can see from the old photo that the crew was not finished excavating the cut - the steam shovel is still at work on the cut. I was unable to get to the exact spot that I think the photo was taken due to view blockage by rhododendrons. Nonetheless, I got reasonably close. I also walked the original road bed in two places. It is quite well preserved. I believe that the chain gang 1931 Road Construction photo was taken near 35.167729, -82.732357

In addition to the remnants of old Mill Hill Turnpike, at that spot there is a second road coming up from the Gwynn Valley area that joins Mill Hill Turnpike. It cannot be seen from the road.

This mark-up of a topographical map shows the area where I think the 1931 Road Construction photo was taken - where the GPS coordinates are. I have marked in blue the approximate location of the Mill Hill Turnpike in that section as existing remnants in solid and destroyed roadbed in dotted blue.

New photograph, topographical map and information provided by Ed Comer.