The History of Vickery Creek and the Covered Bridge

The History of Vickery Creek and the Covered Bridge. . Now named Big Creek, this waterway was historically known as Vickery Creek. The creek was named for Charlotte Vickery, a Cherokee woman, who owned a farm along the creek’s headwaters in Forsyth County during the 1830s., For over 140 years, the creek was the site of numerous mills in the Roswell area: Lebanon Mills (located north of Holcomb Bridge), a flour mill and the Ivy/Laurel Mills (located further downstream at the confluence of Vickery Creek and the Chattahoochee River) and three cotton mills on this site., The covered bridge directly ahead was built by the City of Roswell to connect Old Mill Park with the Vickery Creek Unit of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Former councilmember Sally White first proposed a pedestrian bridge over the creek. Mayor Jere Wood suggested it be constructed of wood and roofed in the “covered bridge tradition”. The bridge was fabricated in Oregon of Douglas fir and assembled on-site in two sections. A large mobile crane was used to set the bridge place. The bridge was dedicated on September 22, 2004., (captions) , Roswell in the rough. First view of Mr. Roswell King near “Lover’s Rock” (1835). Sketch by Henry Merrell , Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Archibald Smith Family Papers, oc 1988-0012, Lover’s Rock on Vickery Creek, ca. 1900 , Courtesy of the Roswell Historical Society, McNeely Family Visual Arts Collection, Crossing at Vickery Creek, ca. 1900 , Courtesy of the Roswell Historical Society, King, Baker, and Simpson Families Papers, Covered Bridge Construction, 2004 , Courtesy of the City of Roswell, Recreation and Parks Department, Covered Bridge Construction, 2004 , Courtesy of the City of Roswell, Recreation and Parks Department, Covered Bridge Construction, 2004 , Courtesy of the City of Roswell, Recreation and Parks Department