ATHENS UNVEILED: Greeks in Georgia, Underground Tunnels, UGA, Lost History

Hey what’s up everyone today we’re diving into Athens no not the ancient Greek city we’re talking about Athens Georgia the classical City the Manchester of the South but could there be more to this place than what’s usually talked about we’re going to be breaking down Athens Georgia history ug history and also some

Lesser known or lost history much of which has been pushed to the realm of urban legends so we’re going to be going in detail on the mainstream history of Athens while at the same time keeping a skeptical and open mind to Alternative possibilities is there history here that’s been deliberately kept Under

Wraps are there really underground tunnels in Athens and what happen happened to all the jaw-dropping architecture from the Reconstruction and Gilded Age eras is there more to discover welcome to Athens unveiled we’ll start with the mainstream narrative when talking about the first people who lived in the Clark County

Area the usual Story Goes Like This Native Americans arrived from Asia about 12,000 years ago as hunter gatherers they lived this way for around 4,000 years before switching to Gathering nuts acorns and fish then another 4,000 years passed before they learned to cultivate native plants from the Paleo Indian

Period to the Archaic Period agriculture wasn’t really a thing most of what we know about this time is still theoretical but according to the mainstream narrative it wasn’t until the Mississippi period from a000 ad to European contact that we see any form of organized Society or Advanced religious system systems these early communities

Were no small deal they had Chiefs who were considered Divine and ruled over vast lands with thousands of people and also Clark County was part of a chiefdom with its capital at skull scholes which okay let’s talk about skull schs it’s going to get deep super

Quick but yeah this is its own Rabbit Hole there’s basically a ghost town in this area it’s a historic site and it’s in the middle of nowhere but basically south of Watkinsville Georgia which is outside of Athens there’s this abandoned town in a forest full of Paranormal Activity the history is that

This land was sourced of native activity for over 10,000 years then Nando doto and his troops in the 1500s came through this area there are even Indian mounds throughout the area however what’s fascinating is that 200 years p and then all of a sudden they’re making these

Mills out here sure you could argue that they did this for the expansion of Clark County but it seems strange that you would build what they called a Mill Village and I mean this looked like quite a town we’re talking about six-story Mills in some of these early depictions bridges multiple large

Structures why would you go through all this effort to build this in such a short time span just to leave it in such ruin well it gets crazier because apparently the entire town was wiped out by a flood in 1887 they have multiple catastrophes listen from fires the union troops came

In multiple floods but it doesn’t seem like that at all to me it looks like this area was purposely destroyed for some reason didn’t fit the narrative perhaps this Mill Village was home to many new inventions as well setting the stage for industrial innovation in the heart of Georgia apparently the local villagers

Began with a Grist Mill and saw mill and soon they had a cotton Jin with funds from the Georgia legisl Zachariah Sims and George Pascal built Georgia’s first paper mill at skull scholes in 1811 the original paper mill was likely an addition to the waterp powerered

Grist Mill already in place the plan was to expand that Mill dramatically with a $3,000 loan from the Georgia legislature so from 1827 to 1845 the structures were wooden frames then they decided after a fire that ignited the resinous pine and Destroy two large buildings to begin building more

Permanent structures the loss was around $60,000 which would equate to about $2.5 million in purchasing power today so you have this paper mill which was the first in Georgia that had multiple owners it was originally Sims and pel’s mill then they went bankrupt after the war of 1812 then the leadership transferred to

Pain where he rebuilt these structures in Brick which were three and four story buildings in Brick interestingly in 1877 and became the famous Penitentiary company which operated the cotton fields and Mills with conict labor there were then several other owners as the story goes but apparently after the 1887 flood

They lost everything hundreds of bales of cotton and this brought economic chaos to skull sh’s Mills they just couldn’t recover from this event so by the early 1900s most had left to work elsewhere so what’s the deal with skull schs was it just A Series of Unfortunate

Events that led to its downfall or was there something more deliberate at play and why go through all the effort to build such an advanced Mill Village complete with new inventions and dams or water power technology just to leave it in ruins it looks like most of it was obliterated or even perhaps

Buried interestingly enough this place is allegedly haunted and this land is home to many spirits and paranormal activities Oh and then there’s this Forest around here that’s literally called skull sh’s experimental Forest The Story Goes that in the 1930s they were conducting siloc culture research in this area essentially they

Were studying how to grow trees in the area why to cultivate a forest to hide a certain location or perhaps they were studying the Paranormal effects of this location definitely more to dive into there but we got a lot to look at so let’s move on so what is if the official

Mainstream history is just a smokees screen what if these Mills were already standing just waiting to be discovered or perhaps even stolen we’ll dive deeper into this soon but for now let’s question the glaring time Gap in the technological advancements of the Native inhabitants could it be that we’ve been

Spoonfed a fabricated tale about the origins of these brick structures and the development of Athens itself well as we were saying skull schs was the capital of this Native American chiefdom in the Clark County area which also had Indian mounds according to a study conducted by the University of

Georgia in 1983 the existence of this site has been known for over a century initially reported by CC Jones the site features two Mounds Mound a standing at about 11 M high and Mound B at 3 m high but here’s where it gets intriguing the study aimed to define the limits of the

Village in its chronological placement artifacts indicate that the site was first occupied in the late edwa period and continued through the Savannah and Lamar periods interestingly no materials from the early Mississippian woodland or archaic periods were found even in tests that reach depths of 3.5 M this raises questions about the site’s

History and the people who live there moreover the study suggests that extensive cotton farming from around 1800 until 1880 severely damaged The Village men so could it be that the narrative we’ve been told about skull schs and its Native American history is incomplete or even altered interestingly this ties into the

Mound builders a subject that has been shrouded in mystery and alternative theories while mainstream history often portrays these ancient Architects as primitive societies there’s compelling evidence to suggest that they were far more advanced than we’ve been led to believe for instance the mound builders were said to have accomplished

Remarkable Feats of construction without the use of metal tools the earliest known Mounds date back to around 3,700 BC and were built in the Lower Mississippi Valley by small groups of hunter gatherers this suggests a level of Social and Architectural sophistication that is often overlooked even more fascinating is the

Subject of giant skeletons found in these Mounds in North America this isn’t just folklore or hearsay it’s a topic that’s been covered in numerous newspapers and scientific journal journals from the 19th and early 20th centuries reports have documented the existence of an ancient race of giants with skeletons ranging from 7 to

8T tall and some even claiming staggering Heights of up to 18 ft these discoveries have been made in prehistoric mounds and burial Chambers across the continent the question is why is this significant aspect of History not a part of the mainstream narrative could it be a deliberate Omission to fit

A preconceived notion of History the evidence is compelling and calls for a re-evaluation of what we think we know about the ancient inhabitants of North America so when talking about skull sches and its mysterious Mounds we’re not just discussing a forgotten chapter of History we’re delving into a

Narrative that could very well challenge our understanding of ancient civilizations and their capabilities well there is one such article on giant skeletons with skull shs and interestingly it’s from 1875 and an article from the ogal Thorp Echo by T Larry Gant describes a fishing trip that turns into an archaeological

Exploration revealing Acres of human bones and Indian mounds near the alone River the article paints a vivid picture of the area’s landscape from flourishing cotton fields to Grand Country residences but the tone shifts dramatically as Gant recounts passing through a region devastated by small poox where all the remains are solitary

Chimneys standing like lone stiny the article then even dives into a discovery of an old Indian burial mound on skull shes on Earth by a freshet filled with human bones and Relics Gant even mentions literally the skeleton of a giant sublines include an Aboriginal graveyard and interestingly Indian mounds relics of a past

Race the article goes into the mound builder race theory that there were an extinct race of people that built the Mississippian Mounds in the Eastern us and that it was destroyed by another Indian race that was encountered by the English in the 18th century Gant does go to say that he

Doesn’t buy the theory and I find that interesting because there are other references to skull schs in 1874 that was repeated in several newspapers and it was a story about this amazing tale of a man that lived near skull sches and suffered punishment from God at first I didn’t really think there

Was any connection but in the 1875 article by Gant there was a reference to the Sabbath at the end of the article and apparently in this story from 1874 it’s the same story of a man on a fishing trip but in this instance the man was turned into a rock or basically

Couldn’t move because he broke Sabbath and for profanity I don’t know a very weird story about a guy basically being stuck to the environment or like a soul being embedded into the structure of a certain location very strange so there’s still much mystery when it comes to these natives

Pre-european contact but the narrative then moves on that when the Europeans arrived around the 1540s there were Five Civilized Tribes the Cherokee primarily located in the Appalachian region which covers parts of Georgia Tennessee and North Carolina the chiasa originally located in what is now the Southeastern part of the United States including Mississippi

Tenee and Alabama choca primarily found in Mississippi Louisiana and Alabama Creek or Mogi occupied a large amount of land in Georgia Alabama North Carolina and Florida simol emerged from groups of Creek people in Florida and also occupied parts of Georgia now all this dating is up for

Question as we’ll soon see but it’s intriguing to note that the Cherokee along with other Native American tribes like the Utes hayots and ch had Legends of giant beings the Cherokee referred to them as the moon people although they were also described as being shorter the

Chalk doll spoke of a race of white Giants that they had to fight upon arriving in the Mississippi the Giants were said to have incredible stature and were known for their Advanced skills in engineering mathematics and seaf fairing even the commanches told Tales of race of white

Men 10 ft High who were rich and Powerful ruling over lands from the rising Setting Sun these Legends were often dismissed as mere folklore until certain discoveries seemed to validate them for instance the Native Americans had Legends of massive beasts like the Macedon which were later confirmed through archaeological

Findings similarly the legends of giants could hold a kernel of truth especially given the mysterious mounds and fortifications that dot the American landscape these Mounds have yielded artifacts and skeletal remains that challenge conventional historical narratives copper axes polished slate tools and inscriptions on artifacts suggest a level of sophistication that

Has yet to be fully acknowledged so what if these Legends are not just myths but historical accounts what if these Giants were part of an advanced civilization that once roamed North America the Cherokee spoke of a mysterious group known as the moon-eyed people unlike the mythical creatures and spirits that populate other indigenous

TS these beings were human yet different with blue eyes and pale skin they were so sensitive to sunlight that they live nocturnally venturing out only when the moon cast its silvery glow though many dismiss the moonite people as mere Legend there’s a growing belief that these mysterious figures

Could be rooted in historical reality some even speculate that they were the descendants of Welsh settlers who arrived in American Shores long before Christopher Columbus set sail there’s even a video discussing how the moonite people were America’s first civilization delving into the mysterious stone structures found across the southern Appalachian

Mountains the video explores the Cherokee claim that these structures were built by moonite people a race of fair skinned light-haired bearded humans with large blue eyes so sensitive to the Sun that they lived in caves and only emerged at night another layer to the mystery of the moony people is the

Legend of the Welsh Prince madic AB oine gwth according to the folklore madic and his brother ririd fled the Civil War in Wales in 1170 and sailed West eventually Landing in North America not only did they establish a settlement but mad is said to have returned to Wales to bring

More settlers across the Atlantic though the brothers vanished from historical records their story lived on in Welsh culture passed down through stories and songs the Cherokee Chief okan noada believed that these Welsh settlers were the ancestors of the moonite people he told John seir an American Soldier and

Politician that the mysterious Mounds in the region were built by welshmen further fueling this Theory Welsh settlers in North America noticed striking similarities between their culture and the indigenous culture they encountered they found Stone forts resembling those in Wales met indigenous people with pale skin and blue eyes and

Even to discovered that some indigenous language sounded eerily similar to Welsh in fact in 1608 a Welsh speaking settler named Peter win acted as an interpreter between white settlers and the monan people as their languages were so similar while Skeptics might dismiss these connections as mere coincidence proponents argued the moonite people

Left tangible evidence of their civilization in the Appalachian region these physical traces along with the overlapping Legends and cultural similarities makeer a compelling case that challenges conventional historical narratives it gets even deeper with the Irish Scottish connection now the main tribe in the lands near Athens Georgia

Were home to the creek or Mogi nation which encompassed the lands of Alabama Georgia and Florida this is particularly intriguing because in the early 19th century specifically around the time of the 1832 treaty Scots Irish settlers began to move into these areas they didn’t just settle they intermarried with the Mogi

Creating a unique blend of cultures and histories the Mogi were a matriarchal society meaning that lineage and property were passed down through the mother’s side this is an important detail when considering these Scots Irish genealogy as records often list a Mogi individual by their tribal name if

A family wanted to pass for white they would typically associate with the father’s Scots Irish lineage historical texts like George stig’s Creek Indian history Thomas Woodward’s Woodward’s reminiscences of the creek or Mogi Indians and Benjamin Hawkins a sketch of the Creek Country offer invaluable insights into this period these Works delve into the

Complex relationships between the Mogi and the Scots Irish settlers particularly during the tumultuous times leading up to and following the 1832 treaty that treaty led to the Mogi seeding their lands to the US which then allotted individual Parcels of land to Mogi individuals this created three options

For the Mogi sell their lands move Westward to what is now Oklahoma or stay and integrate into the White Community if we consider that perhaps there is more to the story maybe not only is the dating and narrative up for question but there is evidence that suggests that the Mogi have mixed

Origins that could be traced back to Europe interesting finds to consider include the archaeological evidence found in Caldwell County North Carolina here a site initially used for smelting copper and iron ore was later transformed into a conventional Indian burial mound the skeletons found were of American Indians but intriguingly

Remnants of metal and clinkers were still present in the beeh high- shaped furnaces Stone artifacts were also buried alongside the skeleton suggesting a complex history of Metallurgy and burial practices The Beehive m around the world are an interesting connection and even in ancient Greece you had the

Same thing also called a tholo tomb which can be seen in ancient mean chamber tombs so from the 1770s a strong connection existed between the Cherokees and the Scots Irish as waves of Scots Irish settled on the frontier they lived traded fought and married the Cherokee millions of North Americans have

Cherokee Heritage because many mixed Bloods passed for white were blended into African-American families this gets into some interesting history and mixed races you’ve got this story of this happening in the 18th century with European settlers coming into contact with the Mogi creeks and merging with them literally marrying them but then

There’s also the Bronze Age angle where there’s speculation that Vikings might have crossed the Atlantic and mingled with the Cherokee and Creeks this brings up the issue of timeline Distortion how do we reconcile these different periods and their impact on the creek people or is this just a

Coincidence then there’s the concept of identity crisis these native inhabitants were literally gathered up and moved around the United States that’s what the Trail of Tears was all about it wasn’t just a physical relocation it was a dislocation of identity a severing of roots you also had Native American

Orphan homes which were part of this reprogramming effort these institutions aimed to mold these new citizens into the white way of life as if their original cultures Were Somehow inferior or Savage so is there more to this story well let’s talk about the Mandan tribe these folks were something else

French explorers in the 1700s were the first to document them and they were shocked why because the Mandan looked almost European bare skin red or blonde hair blue or gray eyes even their Customs seemed more European than Native American Lewis and Clark when they met them in 1804 described them as half

White and extremely courteous and civilized now this led to all sorts of theories were they descendants of pre-colombian explorers some thought they might be related to well settlers from the 12th century George Catlin who lived with the Mandan In 1832 was convinced they had European roots he noted their Advanced Techniques and

Manufacturing and their unique customs and traditions even the mandan’s own Legends talk about a mysterious white man who taught them medicine and influenced their religion in the 19th century the Mandan are hit hard by a small pox and their numbers dwindled they were eventually assimilated into other

Tribes but here’s where it gets even more intriguing some believe that the Mandan were visited by Vikings the first guy to make contact with them s De laan even found a runstone with Nordic inscriptions near the village could it be that Vikings made it to America before

Columbus the duar or the duare tribe living near the chikura and South Carolina and Georgia were a unique group unlike other Native American tribes they were Caucasian with red or brown hair reckles and gray eyes they were also taller and their men often sported mustaches and beards their way of life was equally

Intriguing they heard it domesticated deer milk them and made cheese they even had Corrals for these deers besides they were skilled farmers and owned metal tools which according to the official narrative was a rarity among Native Americans governed by a gigantic Chief named dotha the tribe lived in stone

Palaces and had a lifestyle that was a blunt of Native American and European cultures they were first documented by Spanish explorers Francisco Gordo and Pedro de quo in 1521 these explorers found the duara to be an advanced Society even possessing pyic devices like sparklers and Rockets the tribe’s Irish connection is

A subject of debate among researchers their name duare translates into Gaelic to either place of the clan hair or place of the Irish they also had practices similar to to gaic tribes like Dairy deer farming which is celebrated in Gaelic poetry remember this for later these

Duar were also known as the deer people the Spaniard stated that the people of duar also raised domesticated Dairy deer the people of duar made the deer milk into cheese duare or actually Dua was the word used for Irish in the 12th century the name of the osri clan members who fled Del

Literally means deer people Ireland had domesticated Dairy deer for probably thousands of years it only switched to dairy cattle after they were introduced by Norman monks in the 13th century in 2006 a team of Native American Scholars found that many doar words could be translated using gelic dictionaries reigniting the debate about their

Origins the duar weren’t the only red-haired giants in America as we discussed with tribes like the Mandan or even the POU even spoke of similar figures adding yet another layer of mystery to the story of America’s early inhabitants now this is where it gets interesting let us just consider that

Perhaps these Mounds are covering up ruins of a previous civilization there are connections between the Greeks and the ancient Kelts or ancient cians we’ve brought this up in previous videos it’s far too much to dissect right now but this leads into the idea of tart area and that Athens was actually in

America now hold on with me for a moment as we connect everything to that the think about it why do you think it was called Athens we’ll dive into the founding of UG and its classical aspirations later but isn’t it odd that there are multiple cities with the same

Name each with its own peculiar backstory what if this area in America was actually Rome or more so the land of the ancients inhabited by an advanced civilization did the Native Americans build brick structures all roads lead to Rome which interestingly is a city in Georgia as

Well well it was called Rome Georgia because that’s the name the Cherokee called their land do the Cherokee consider themselves to be from Rome and descended from Romans recent DNA studies and linguistic evidence suggest that the Cherokee people might have East Mediterranean Origins specifically Greek inscriptions and caves overlooking the

Redb bird River in Kentucky display writing in both the Cherokee silary in Greek even more fascinating is the pawsome creek Stone discovered in Oklahoma which can be read as Greek and suggests that the Cherokee syllabary was not an original invention but derived from Greek this LEDs Credence to the

Idea that the original Cherokee had metal armor and weapons and their DNA shows a mixture of East meder Iranian lineages so could it be that the Cherokee Indians are quite literally the Greeks of Native America there are researchers who have investigated whether the Romans if were to believe the mainstream narrative

About them actually attempted to cross Americas in ancient times Robert F Marx discovered a Roman shipwreck off Brazil’s Coast sparking an international controversy the Roman government claimed this as evidence that Romans not Brazilians were the original discoverers of Brazil as a result searching for the over a 100 known shipwrecks off Brazil’s

Coast is now prohibited and the sale of any Roman artifacts found in the country is punishable by imprisonment so are we really trying to discover our true history or is there a political motive to keep certain histories under wraps so yeah this gets super interesting because the natives in this

Area were mixed some even having facial hair which is not common to the typical Oriental Asian native mix that we typically associate with Native Americans well let’s talk about the mongans a group that’s been shrouded in mystery and folklore they were primarily found in the mountains of Tennessee and Trace

Their descent to two known Cherokees one named Collins and the other Gibson these families settled around the time Tennessee became a state in 1796 the term mungan was initially a derogatory term used for about 40 families Ong the Tennessee Virginia border over time it’s evolved into a catchall phrase for groups of mysterious

Mixed race ancestry these mungin were dark skinned Mountaineers residing in Eastern Tennessee Southwest Virginia and even into Kentucky some say they were descendants of Shipwrecked Portuguese Sailors others claimed Turkish or Gypsy ancestry and yet others believe they might have been from the Lost colonies of renot now this was a very unique tribe

Containing Caucasian features with a very dark skin a mysterious mixed blood race typically we’re told that slaves were brought to America but then why would they be mixing with the Native Americans to create these mixed Bloodlines perhaps this ties into the story of the sapharic Jews who were

Among the first European colonists of the Southern Highlands you see the sapharic Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and many of them found their way into the new world according to historical accounts these spartic Jews were among the first to settle in the Southern Highlands an area that includes parts of Tennessee

Kentucky and yes even Georgia now what’s fascinating is that these sapharic Jews were known for their darker complexions we’ve discussed this in previous videos but these were likely the Moors from Spain now typically the mainstream story is that Moors did not refer to black people that it referred to a group of North

African berbers but there are varying opinions on this matter including a wealth of paintings literature and historical references describing the Moors and spartic Jews as pitch black this would be a completely different story than the one we’re told in schools this actually gets into the subject of black nobility and the idea

That some of the first settlers were actually black are the mungin connected to the spartic Jews this question opens up an intriguing chapter in the history of the Southern Highlands including Athens Georgia in 1824 Traders found gold in what is now Northern Georgia a region that has been part of the Cherokee

Nation the mainstream belief or excuse is that the Cherokees were not evicted because of this gold Discovery and that they had already been removed from these gold-bearing land 16 years prior to the trail of tear but that seems like a facade to me because it’s the same thing

With Rome Georgia in 1829 gold was discovered near Dela Georgia starting the first gold rush in the United States the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which fulfilled the compact of 1802 was prompted by this gold Discovery as well as President Andrew Jackson’s already stated strong support for removal in

1831 George’s General Assembly quickly passed legislation claiming all Cherokee land in northw West Georgia prior to their vacating it this entire territory was called Cherokee County until additional legislation In 1832 divided the territory into the nine counties that exist today also the Gold Rush that followed led to the discovery of a

Village with European style houses and Mining tools deing back to the 1600s or late 1500s this suggest that the area had been occupied by Europeans long before the Cherokees arrived the Spanish particularly spartic Jews who had fled Iberia were likely one of the first European settlers in the Southern

Highlands these spartic Jews were involved in mining and international trade they lived in the region until at least the early 18th century as evidenced by the discovery of Spanish mines and the account of the Cherokee who reported seeing smelting furnaces in the nuchi Valley sooya known for creating the Cherokee silary had skills

As a silver Smit that he couldn’t have learned from the Cherokees his cber Incorporated letters identical to those in medieval Georgian script which was based on Jewish Aramaic script this suggest that seoa may have had spartic Jewish Heritage so what does all this information really signify essentially the conventional

Narrative we’ve been fed about Native Americans is far from the complete picture entire communities were uprooted and some mysterious tribes seemed to have been conveniently omitted from history because they didn’t align with the prevailing Story the Trail of Tears wasn’t just some random act it was clearly motivated

By something valuable in the region the regional inhabitants had to be displaced to make way for what was officially termed as the founding of a new civilized settlement but is that the full extent of the story or is it merely a front in Rome Georgia there’s a Historic Museum named the chieftain’s

Major Ridge home who is depicted as mixed and owned 223 Acres on his Plantation that contained numerous buildings and Orchards including many slaves so the Cherokee had their own slaves in their own Roman style Mansions or palaces apparently well there is the chief van house which was built by James Van a

Cherokee Indian leader and Wealthy businessman who owned a vast Thousand Acre Plantation and an 1804 he completed the construction of a 2 and 1 half story brick house he was murdered in 1809 and his son inherited the Mansion so from this we know that the Cherokee Indians could indeed build large brick

Structures so essentially the question is were these early Anabella Mansions stolen from the Cherokee during the Trail of Tears or perhaps even transferred the Cherokee may have been the first inheritors of these properties that them were passed on after the war of 1812 there is even evidence that suggests that the Cherokee were

Associated with masonry and they had several lodges there’s actually one in Rome Georgia from 1877 that features some very interesting architecture one of the most prominent in Rome yet there’s little history on this building apparently there was a lodge before this and it burned down by General Sherman’s troops many of the

Union soldiers were Masons and after realizing what they had done they sent a large sum of money to rebuild the lodge that still survives to this day we will discuss this later but the lodge had over 7 ft of water flooding to the lower level during the flood of

1886 but it’s not just the Cherokee Freemasonry has a long history among the five tribes including the chalk top chiasa Creek and seol this story is kind of strange but apparently the leaders of the five tribes who were Sovereign nations would travel to Washington DC for treaty negotiations they were of mixed descent

And would become Freemasons during their visits to the capital these lodges go back to 1848 with the Cheroke Lodge in taliqua why were the Native Americans drawn to Freemasonry some say it’s because it resembled fraternal organizations that they were already familiar with but what if we consider that it came Direct

Directly from the first settlers there is a reference of a fraternity of Indian Blood Brothers with a stone alar bearing these Square encompasses as a familiar site to Native Americans which brought them to Freemasonry however The Story Goes that the five tribes saw Freemasonry as a connection that could help preserve their tribal

Existence conversions to Christianity were common among the five tribes in the 19th century Chile Macintosh of the Creek Nation was ordained as a Baptist Minister by Reverend HF Buckner a Freemason in 1848 Chile’s half brother Daniel n Macintosh a member of Mogi Lodge also became a Baptist Minister The Men Who

Were either responsible for providing for the needs of the five tribes or who could provide legislative influence were often Freemasons for the five tribes it was the Masonic Lodge that could be turned to for schools churches relief agencies and post offices is there a reason that Masonic history is not elaborated upon

When it comes to Georgia history they were responsible for most if not all buildings in many of the Cities perhaps there’s something else going on here interestingly in 1861 Albert Pike a well-known Freemason was appointed commissioner to the Indian Territory by the Confederacy for the purpose of negotiating in Alliance with

The five tribes Pike had become a Freemason in Western Lodge Number Two of Little Rock Arkansas in 1850 he was elected Sovereign Grand commander of the Scottish right in 1859 Pike having represented the creek chikasaw and Chaka Nations and legal claims against the federal government would personally make the CH tall Peter

Pitchin a 32nd degree Mason in 1860 also the Mogi had their own lodges and there also seems to be a connection to the Templars and the Mogi which in Oklahoma is the Mogi Masonic Lodge Temple which looks like an ancient Greek building they have old ritual headgear which also includes a

Tricorn Templar hat and a Shriner’s hat the state of Georgia seal and flag features a morish Shriner Knight under an arch with three pillars which is a clear nod to Freemasonry this is the ug Arch which we’ll talk about in a bit but this entire seal is freemasonic in origin and

Just to be clear we aren’t talking like your typical Illuminati narrative or anything like that this is just history that’s been lost or suppressed for some reason but you’ll find the same theme in many different cities the original state seal of Georgia is a freemasonic three pillar reference with a Shriner and his

Sword under the arch the three pillars in masonry are wisdom strength and beauty the Georgia seal is wisdom Justice moderation why does this matter because Freemasonry played a significant role in the history of Athens Georgia General James Edward ogor one of the first Founders and the first governor of the British colony of

Georgia was a Freemason he helped establish the Solomon’s Lodge in Savannah one of the earliest Masonic lodges in North America the lodge founded in 1734 was later renamed Solomon Lodge in 1771 it’s located in the Cotton Exchange building which interestingly has levels below the street something we’ll delve

Into later this building was essentially like an early Stock Exchange strangely the influence of Freemasonry extends to the University of Georgia the first state chartered institution of higher education in the US which was largely EST established by Masons some might argue that masonry is just a club or fraternity focused on

Public service but that’s just a surface level understanding masonry claims ancient Roots linking back to previous orders like the Knights Templar and the rosac crucians it wasn’t just a club anyone could join like in the modern day it was an elite organization often made up of influential figures in

Society the point is Reasoner had a deep impact on early Athens shaping its history in ways that are often overlooked even the name ogal Thorp appears in the newspaper that covered the story of skull shs with the Mounds and the giant skeleton remains that seems to have been covered up suggesting

That Masons had control over the media and by extension the history were taught this isn’t some wild conspiracy theory it’s a part of History that’s been either lost or deliberately obscured we left off discussing the Five Civilized Tribes their Masonic affiliations and spartic Jewish connections now let’s focus on what

Happened post European contact in the Athens Georgia area The Narrative often suggests that European arrival led to widespread disease decimating native populations or what they label as the mound builders but why were the Europeans so diseased was it their lifestyle or Diet regardless this WIP out large portions of the Native populations

Throughout the Georgia pedmont so The Story Goes when the settlers arrived they didn’t just pick random spots to live there were already settlements towns and Roads which influenced where they chose to settle interestingly this area in Georgia is called pedmont similar to the pedmont region in Italy near Rome this

Italian pedmont was initially inhabited by Celtic liuan tribes and and later by the Romans the term pedmont itself means foot of the mountain possibly referring to areas of Hills or Mounds this Italian pedmont is rich in ancient Roman artifacts and ruins which raises question about the naming of Athens

Georgia is it merely named for the University of Georgia in its early pursuit of knowledge or is there a deeper connection so historians are a bit sketchy on what was really going down in Athens Georgia in the early to mid the 18th century we know that Savannah was

Founded in 1733 and we’ll dive into that in another video but what’s clear is that Georgia was being set up by Freemasons in the early 1730s the details on when exactly some streets and buildings in Savannah were built or fuzzy but the general idea is that not much was happening here in

Athens during the 18th century King George II signed the charter of the colony of Georgia in 1732 creating the last of the original British colonies from lands given up by South Carolina after Savannah Freemason oglethorp went on to establish Augusta which has its own set of intriguing connections to this whole

Story Augusta was supposedly set up as a trading post with Native Americans and apparently Parliament was just giving out large land grants to serve as incentive for early settlers the idea is that Georgia was just slow to populate because of wars with the natives colonial wars with

France and Spain it was just difficult to get started so The Story Goes the historians say that during the mid 18th century due to early European contact the Native American population in Georgia had already dwindled before white settlers rolled in Clark County served as the boundary line between the

Creek and Cherokee tribes who were at war with one another all right so here’s where the story starts to fall apart supposedly not only did the early mound builders die off from diseases but now the more recent tribes like the Creek and Cherokee who are also into

Masonry are fighting each other and get this they’re also in depth to White Traders so King George II steps in and says hey you don’t have to pay us back just give us your land seriously in 1773 in Augusta cre and Cherokee Chiefs handed over a staggering

64,000 acres of land along the agoi aoni broad Savannah and talu rivers to the British that’s pretty much this whole area this opened the floodgates for white settlers not just from Georgia but also from up north in Virginia and the Carolinas Farmers started pouring in to take advantage of the fresh

Soil now tell me how does that make sense why were the Native Americans in Dept in the first place and even if they were why would they just hand over their lands like that that so right after they acquire all this land the American Revolution kicks off this whole thing

Feels like a tall tale but the British are fighting colonist the Cherokee are fighting among themselves and the creek are fighting the Cherokee but after getting independence from Great Britain which by the way doesn’t really add up when you consider the history of masonry and its Universal Brotherhood this

Pedmont area was finally ready for settlement in 1783 Georgia couldn’t wait any longer and signed its own treaty with the Cherokee Nation 2 years before the US did then in 1784 Georgia cleared all depths for the Native Indians hold on the Native Americans were still in debt even after giving up all their

Land oh it’s because Georgia wanted even more land so they pulled at King George and said we’ll forgive your depths if you give us more land this led to the formation of two new counties Franklin and Washington Franklin was named after Benjamin Franklin for reasons that aren’t entirely clear but supposedly to

Honor him interestingly the creek were allies with the Spanish according to an Augusta Chronicle article from 1793 these two groups were the main obstacles to the development of Clark County now the first settlers to arrive during this period were the Scots Irish from the Carolinas they supposedly brought with

Them new building methods and constructed the first log cabins so we’re supposed to believe that only at the end of the 18th century only after 10,000 plus years of civilization did people finally figure out how to build houses and this only happened after Franklin County was established that’s the narrative many

Historians like to push when you dig into it you’ll find that they often describe these first structures as basic log cabins this isn’t unique to Athens you’ll see the same thing in multiple cities search for the oldest building and the they’ll usually show you something that looks like a simple

Cottage so that takes us from European contact to the formation of Franklin County or what would later become Clark County in 1785 the Georgia General Assembly set aside 40,000 acres of land for a college or seminary of learning this land grant was the basis for the founding of Athens in Clark

County when it comes to Athens it really all revolves around ug or the University Georgia but at this time it was known as Franklin College this was the concept of State supported higher education they had just acquired this land and already there were plans to build the first state chartered

University in America but is that the whole story well let’s start with ug or the Franklin College era because it seems most historians have not done enough Research into the free Masonic origins of the school now I want you to ask yourself what are the implic ations of a secret

Society or Universal Brotherhood being a part of the founding of a city it’s literally called founding they are free masons free masonry now that’s not to be conspiratorial or anything like think about it we’re told a story of settlers coming in and by chance just acquiring

These lands now a free masonry or a Secret ult order was associated with this process that changes everything we know it’s literally not even mentioned in the history books sure there are people who know this even ug has a talk or a course supposedly being developed about this as it’s clearly

Undeniable it’s a project that supposedly aims to interpret this historical presence and significance of Freemasonry in the state of Georgia or Athens but I didn’t read about any of that in my research or from the information presented in books tours museums or online websites about Athens Georgia I don’t see that mentioned on

The Clark County timeline that would be kind of important to point out don’t you think if they really are associated with the founding of not only ug but Athens interestingly there’s a video about some people going up to ug students asking them about Freemasonry and they have no idea it seems about

This history this is obviously an unknown suppressed or lost history what do you know about the freeons not much about the what the Freemasons I have no idea what that is the Freemasons uh I mean I know they were founded I think back when George Washington what have you and um I know

There’s a lot of conspiracy theories about them I know they’re a religious sect of Christianity nothing nothing I will say like a cult or nothing like that but I will say I don’t know this sort of secluded group that’s may have special privileges uh I know they’re like an organization that does

Like charitable uh things and whatnot but uh I don’t really know much about them I heard they were associated with the Illuminati but so yeah it’s obviously not a topic taken seriously on campus at least on the surface or outside the order well it’s literally called Franklin College Benjamin Franklin is

One of the most famous Masons who ever lived so let’s be real it seems the origin of ug is steeped in masonry since its founding in 1785 the charter was actually drafted by Abraham Baldwin another established Freemason who called upon the citizens of Georgia to acknowledge their obligation to educate

The youth which is very Odd Fellow of them so the government funded a Freemason educated at Yale who then was the president of the University from 1785 to 1801 in 1801 the legislature dispatched a delegation of senatus academicus of five men to select a site for the

University and to begin a contract for rebuilding interesting that we see this five again the committee included a John millage who was the governor of Georgia between 1802 and 1806 he created the first land lottery to combat corruption in the distribution of former Creek lands to settlers land

Lottery weird right definitely no way that could be rigged well they say that this was an early 19th century system of land redistribution in Georgia white male citizens could register for a chance to win lots of land that had been taken from aogi and Cherokee Nations it was used between 1805 to 183

3 3 to strengthen the state and increase the population we’ll come back to this because this is a crazy story but yeah this guy’s one of the founders of Athens who after being selected somehow as one of the five men to be a part of senatus academicus that he would go ahead and

Just purchase the land The Story Goes that the committee were looking for land in this area on Horseback the whole crew was on an adventure to find land and they came across a Daniel Easley the university had already owned land but they decided that E’s land that for some

Reason he owned were these people connected with the Mogi well millage buys this land high on a hill above these cedar shs because it was perfect for the location of a college millage bought 633 Hilltop Acres from Easley for $44,000 and Easley decides to generously donate the parcel because the University

Was rich in land but had no money H interesting story in this land that millage supposedly buys out of pocket is what he decides to name Athens and then donates it to ug there doesn’t seem to be evidence that millage was a Freemason but he was definitely associated with other

High-ranking Masons and the thing is most historians do not consider that there were such things as secret or silent Masons who were figures that although did not publicly announce being a Freemason were still affiliated with the lodge in secret this also gets into the idea that these figures were made up entirely to

Fit a certain narrative I mean this guy was just giving out land for free so they tell this story of just constructing this University in the wilderness and this fell to Abraham Baldwin and Josiah migs migs another Yale graduate was hired to succeed Baldwin who was considered the first

Acting president of ug while it is not clear that Ms was a Mason his family was deeply associated with government and interest interestingly his nephew Jonathan Meigs Jr was a Freemason Jonathan Meigs Senor was his father who was a colonel during the Revolutionary War interestingly he served as an Indian agent who would

Interact and work with the Cherokee in Southeastern Tennessee he worked with a Charles R Hicks a mixed race in bilingual Cherokee who later became a chief of the Cherokee he was basically doing treaties or making deals with the natives of these lands which is interesting if you consider that perhaps we’re not being

Told the entire story with how these lands were acquired in the founding of Athens The Story Goes that now in 1801 all they had was Easley’s home that was then turned into a Tavern or something but the first students arrived shortly after and apparently the chronicler George White recorded that Meeks

Commenced the exercises of the University but no College building of any description had been erected okay that’s easy maybe the decided to just not describe it they say that they were just studying out in the wilderness and that lectures were delivered under the trees so first came

Mig’s house which held classes in a log cabin that was a story and a half that supposedly could recruit 30 or 40 students into the cottage for the first three years as the first students graduated in 1804 The Narrative continues with saying that the ceremony took place under the

Rising walls of the first permanent brick structure later called College allegedly completed in 1806 the oldest structure in Athens so out of nowhere the first brick structure to go up here is a 3 and 1 half story building if you look at the old photos you’ll notice it’s already overgrown and there appear

To be lower levels something we’ll delve into later plus the doors are elevated which is another reoccurring theme it’s pretty odd that it took until 1806 for a brick structure of this Georgian archit chitectural style to emerge in Clark County this is also the exact spot where the Baldwin statue

Stands the building was modeled after Connecticut Hall at Yale built in a similar style in 1752 so we know that brick colonial era architecture was already common in the early 18th century the only reason we’re told it wasn’t present in areas like this is due to Wars conflicts with Native Americans and slow

Colonization but here’s the thing this all ties back to Freemasonry Connecticut is a state steeped in the history of secret societies there are around 89 Masonic lodges there including Prince Hall Masonry so once again we see a college founded by this mysterious Universal Brotherhood so this old College in

Athens needed at least 300,000 bricks all made from Georgia’s signature red clay and apparently contractors haul nails and lines from 100 miles away in Augusta oh and this is an interesting tidbit president Meeks had a call on his brother who was also an Indian agent like his uncle but was in Tennessee

Meeks needed to get the Cherokees permission to transport lime through their territory so they actually needed the Cherokees approval to bring in the building supplies according to Meigs this structure was topnotch offering the best accommodations for students that couldn’t be found in any other college

But I have to wonder if that’s just a cover story they had plans for this college for decades started off giving lectures in the woods and then finally in 1806 the erectus brick structure from this point on we see a rapid expansion of similar buildings which really makes you question what’s going

On so the history goes that the village of Athens just emerged adjacent to the campus on lots that would be sold to pay for future construction of the college migs and H Hull a Methodist preacher an early resident began plotting out the first lots of the Town it seems that in

1803 before the old College was built there was already multiple homes three stores and a number of other buildings according to a report by Ms among these early structures were two hotels and two General Stores interestingly the street names did end up changing but by 1806 they had 10 frame dwellings and four

Stores seems like there are many details being left out about this early period in Athens and the nature of the buildings being constructed Clark County was named after Elijah Clark who was another Indian fighter agent negotiator whatever you want to call it we’ll see this common theme of higher forms of government or

City officials being associated or connected with the Native Americans apparently Clark was rewarded by the state of Georgia for being a war hero and received a gift of the wils county Plantation to the Land Clark then added several thousand acres from Bounty certificates supposedly he defeated the

Creeks in a battle at Jack’s Creek in Walton County in 1787 by tricking them to battle against the Spanish or something along those lines eventually towards the end of the 18th century Clark was really upset with the state of Georgia literally saying he was disgusted he got fined for drunken

Brawling and was apparently now broke financially at the end of his life he left his 1100 acre Plantation the Elijah Clark Monument which the Daughters of the American Revolution erected to honor the man who secured the section to the white settlers the Indians being defeated and crushed was once located at Hancock and

College Avenues before it moved to its current location on Broad Street according to the May 10th 1907 issue of the Athens Banner quote a resolution was passed directing the removal of the Elijah Clark Monument to a point between the two part parks on Broad Street between Lumpkin Street and College

Avenue this will be done at the expense of the Athens electric Railway company end quote we will talk more about the Athens electric Railway in a bit but interestingly this connects with Athens Confederate Monument which was moved because of protest but I found it interesting that the master ofie local

Masonic Lodge in 1872 included a time capsule in The Monument’s Cornerstone the Time Capsule which according to an interview with with William King The Master Mason contains Confederate memorabilia and a list of Athens Freemasons when it comes to the development of Clark County it started with Watkinsville being the county seat

The original land for Watkinsville was granted to a rri Easley and a Josiah woods so repeating names again and a John Cobb contributing additional land for public use including land for constructing a courthouse and a jail now here’s where it gets strange Watkinsville had fewer than 200 people

Why make it the county seat it held that title until Athens took over in 1872 and when it comes to early structures in Watkinsville the info is scarce we’ve already talked about skull schs which went through its own series of disasters and is now basically in an abandoned experimental

Forest the one building we do hear about is the Eagle Tavern dating back to 1801 it’s one of the earliest structure still standing in aone county and this is a reoccurring theme the oldest buildings in these cities are often labeled as some sort of cottage like Tavern or

Hotel sometimes it’s just a random family home why were small cities being used as county seats and then there’s this small town near Athens called kville it’s named after Thomas Peter KS who was a part of the first Court held in the new Clark County Courthouse in Watkinsville in 1802

Now I couldn’t find much about these earlier cour houses but in carsville there’s this Franklin County Courthouse that seems totally out of place it was supposedly built in 1906 and there are barely any other early era buildings around so it just seems weird that they would build this out here so they say

That one of the major concerns were the conditions of the roads it wasn’t until 1820 that a road with less rough terrain would connect the towns then they say that also weather conditions made travel very difficult the Athenians would have to travel to Watkinsville to deal with County Affairs and participate in voting

They had issues with Bridges and so it was difficult for them to expand they say they would cut trees to lay across water courses so that mail carriers could get across or something like that the University’s first Chapel opened in 1808 which I couldn’t find much info on

But there is the ug Chapel that was built in 1832 which is a large Greek Revival building we can talk about that in a moment there were many interesting preil War buildings in Athens but the history goes that during this development and expansion period from 1800 to 1860 things were rough and

Difficult to get started the war of 1812 slowed the growth of Clark County significantly and politics at the University got so hostile that it ended up closing down by 1818 so the college started and then immediately began having troubles the power transferred from migs to Moses

Wadd Who was appointed in 1819 as the fifth president interestingly during this time there was another town in Clark County called salum which has now virtually disappeared although it was the site of two excellent male and female cies it even rivaled Watkinsville in population growth apparently during the time the

Cherokee and Savage Creeks continued to be a part of the lives of Clark County residents the Athenians and Cherokees were friends they had tragically made peace with England and native peoples and now Athens finally started to accumulate wealth around 1820 around 1810 in Clark County there are supposedly 2,500 slaves among a

Population of around 7,000 inhabitants but let’s not forget the 3- fifths compromise reached in the 1787 Constitutional Convention this determined that states only had to count three of every five slaves in calculating the total population this was for legislative repres presentation taxation but it was also a means that they could essentially

Lie about the true proportion of slaves to Citizens and the total number of residents in Athens during 1810 the population was only 273 and out of that 134 were slaves so there were more slaves than citizens and where were all the other people in Clark County Watkinsville and

Salem now they don’t often mention this but the mainstream narrative claims that most if not all of these preil War buildings would have been constructed using slave labor The Story Goes that there was a well-defined class system with whites being slave holders or Planters and there also existed small groups of freed

Negroes I’m skeptical of the whole slaves built most of the city narrative you see this claim in many old world towns like Savannah and Charleston there are some compelling stories of many blacks who did extremely well in business despite this whole Narrative of social classes let’s not forget by this time

Prince Hall was well established there’s a significant difference between an indentured servant and a slave but this is the history we’re fed and it’s something we can dissect further as we continue by 1850 Clark County had more slaves than free citizens so how would that even work if

You had half of the population as slaves how were there no revolts we’re told they were just intent to be slaves for their masters so according to the history of Clark County there were more blacks than whites even in the 1850s so to finish up with the Franklin

College era like I said we can come back and discuss the structures in a moment but after waddle became president the school became much more strict they increased enrollment from 7 to 100 students and they attempted to secure even more funding interestingly Wadd held the First Presbyterian congregation

In 1820 that then became the First Presbyterian Church erected In 1855 which is also a large Greek Revival building featuring lower levels beneath the street then in 1829 the presidency transferred to Alonzo Church where there was a focus on maintaining liberal arts with around a 100 students and only six

Faculty members couple notable figures to mention are Augustine s Clayton was a part of the first class to graduate from the University and founded the alumni Society in 1834 he also established a club for his peers and other men of influence and power he married Julia KS who was the

Daughter of Judge Thomas KS interestingly Clayton served in the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate so the first graduates went off to become very influential men Clayton also took part in a business involving the construction of a cotton mill in 1827 called the Georgia Factory which

Was the first cotton Factory in the state which was also called the Athens Manufacturing Company the majority of workers in this Mill were white as the slaves were out on the field and they say that most of these workers were white women but Athens Manufacturing Company like many textile mills of the

Time also employed children working Mills like this were already tough and sometimes dangerous for adults but the hazards were even more pronounced for children this Mill wasn’t just a part of the country’s industrial history it was also a dark chapter in the history of child labor in America Clayton Street

Which is downtown and seems to be named after Augustine and we have some interesting things to discuss when we get there but Clayton also seems to be a name associated with masonry and government political officials the Athens Manufacturing Company also purchased the Confederate Armory in 1870 which features an interesting style of

Architecture there was also the Athens cotton and wool factory opened in 1834 but faced challenges like a fire in 1835 and a disastrous flood in 1840 there was a third early Mill called the kic manufacturing company later called the Princeton Factory and it was founded in 1833 since we’re talking about Mills and

Factories let’s talk about some mind-blowing stuff for a moment there’s another anomaly in Lithia Springs Georgia this place was hailed for its natural springs that contain the presence of lithium salt s and people would come for Miles just to drink it in the 1880s they decided to build a 300

Room Hotel because of the popularity of the water and supposedly Mark Twain the vanderbelt and multiple presidents came to experience this magical water well again inside the Georgia Forest is an abandoned Mill that’s extremely creepy and clearly buried in the ground it was originally the Sweetwater

Mill and created in 1849 to use the Waters of Sweetwater Creek to power the mill so it seems that the Union forces marched through here and decided to burn the entire Factory but that still doesn’t explain how it ended up here in the forest and in complete

Ruins some of it does look to have burn damage but it just seems very out of place it was taller than any building in Atlanta at the time the amount of effort that it would have taken to construct something of this caliber out in the middle of nowhere on a River

Interestingly the street name leading up to this is Mount Vernon Road which is also the name of one of the lodges in Athens which may be nothing but thought it was an interesting connection also we mentioned Augusta earlier but there’s a very strange Factory there as well that

Seems completely out of place it’s called the Confederate powderworks building that features very prominent morish architecture style even complete with an obelisk chimney The Story Goes that the original Confederate powder works was a gunpowder Factory that was built during the Civil War then after the war the factory was

Seized and dismantled for some reason and that they left this obelis chimney behind as the sole remnant of the original powder works Factory so then after the chimney was preserved in 1880 this new Mill was constructed in only 2 years the one that’s standing today called Sibly Mill it was literally built

With the same braks so I’m not sure if I’d buy that whole story and and supposedly the Mills turbines still generate electricity to this day that’s sold to Georgia power just something interesting to consider another notable family to point out during this expansion period in Athens is the Cobbs family the cobs

Family moved into Athens around 1820 and they were a big part of the development of Athens during this early period John Addison Cobb had inherited a fortune Colonel Cobb was one of only two men who had ownership of 200 or more slaves at any time during this period

Per these families just invested their wealth to build tow houses and invest fortunes to the development of Clark County from Land Development Banking and even railroads they were essentially some of the First Investors to this area so after the Mills came the railroads apparently James KCK was the leader of

The Georgia railroad organization the railroad barely extended to Athens in 1841 and it stopped at cars Hill on the far side of the aone river which required even more labor for transportation the story is that initially the Athens rail Branch from Union Point was horsep powerered and then later small locomotives were used

To pull Freight and Passenger cars there was a town hall built in 1847 but there really isn’t that much info on what this new town hall was other than that it faced Lumpkin Street and it was a huge hub for various community activities there were many business

Ventures during these times one of the most popular and oldest surviving companies is the southern Mutual insurance company that moved to Athens in 1848 the original headquarters was housed on Clayton Street in College Avenue from 1876 to 1906 there’s a couple weird things to say about this as they moved into the

Fred building in 1906 but apparently the original building was moved Brick by Brick two blocks away to Hancock Street where it housed the Athens Railway and electric company but I’m not sure about that as the Athens Railway and Electric Company was on Clayton in college it’s

The record comic book store in front of the Fred’s building more business ventures include the Pioneer paper manufacturing company that was incorporated in Athens in 1852 following the establishment of the pioneer paper mill in the 1840s also the Athens steam company that was incorporated in 1850 Telegraph lines

Reached a town in 1852 and the bank of Athens opened in 1856 now during this time before the Civil War there were multiple hotels being started such as the Franklin house the Newton house this led to tourism including a British traveler named James silk Buckingham who actually described the

Whites in Athens as miserably pale and unhealthy and describe the Mill conditions as quite dangerous around this time there was the first suburb created by the Cobbs family it was called The Village of kobam which featured multiple Greek Revival mansions that would depend on large Lots there were also Gothic Revival

Style houses as well the governor Wilson lumpin purchased Land South of the Town establishing a plantation and building a residence known as The Rock House this is the start of the lumpin family in Athens which is also very influential in its founding Joseph Henry lumpin and trr

Cobb along with William H Hull founded the law School of ug in 1859 William hul Hull was also a mason in the local blue Lodge in Royal Arts chapter Mount Veron Lodge the F Kappa Society at the University of Georgia was founded by Joseph Henry lumpin in 1820

When a disgruntled faction of the demosthenian society including him sought to create their own debating Forum in 1836 fppa managed to raise the funds to build their own hall fppa Hall which still stands directly across the north campus quad from demosthenian Hall another link to Freemasonry is the fact

That all of the student speakers were members of one of the two secret literary societies on campus fppa and Demian which were modeled in many ways on the Masonic fraternity the printed program was likely brought to the Stokes Family Home in Madison Georgia by William Charles young Stokes who attended the university

That year his father William Sanders Stokes was a Mason the program indicates that it was printed at the office of the Southern wig an Athens newspaper that was acquired earlier that year by Benjamin purly poor a young Freemason and future journalist discussed elsewhere in the exhibition so Freemasons were associated

With the media of the time most of the development of Transportation infrastructure was through the construction of the state-owned western and Atlantic railroad facilitated by Wilson Lumpkin the successful completion of this Railroad in 1851 is what they say contributed to the economic growth and connectivity of Athens not only were the lumpkins a

Prominent family in Athens but they’re also connected with the Cobb family there were prominent female figures from the Cobb family such as Laura Cobb Rutherford and Lucy Cobb who was the daughter of trr and Maran lumpin Cobb the Cobb and Lumpkin families were prominent in Athens and Clark County

Particularly in the areas of politics law and education Maran lumpin a daughter of Joseph Henry Lumpkin mared trob Joseph Henry lumpin was a significant figure in Georgia’s jurist prudence and became the first Chief Justice of Georgia Supreme Court tra was also a legal luminary and was instrumental in founding the law

School at the University of Georgia as a wedding gift Joseph Henry Lumin gave his son-in-law TR cob a Greek Revival Mansion adjacent to his own home in a small law office they shared on the property they along with William Hope Hull as mentioned founded the law school of the University of Georgia in

1859 the Lucy cob Institute a prestigious girls school was named in memory of Lucy Cobb the young daughter of trr and Maran lumpin Cobb who died of scarlet fever at age 133 trr cob was the school’s principal supporter and The Institute soon ranked among the finest girl schools in the

Nation now finally in 1859 the streets are being officially named including Lumpkin Clayton Hancock Prince Thomas and Baldwin then there’s the aone Hill Cemetery that opened in 1856 this is super interesting we’ll talk about this later but it replaced an old burial ground on Jackson Street for some reason Clark County in

1850 had over 21 churches for five different denominations ations which seems strange these churches were no easy feet that’s the basic gist of the expansion period I mean there is more but that should suffice for a presentation right before the Civil War essentially Athens and Clark County had

Begun to succeed in prosperity and none of it was shared with the black population who were mostly enslaved or illiterate according to the mainstream story then came the Civil War and to be honest I don’t buy many aspects of this narrative at all it was a war of

Brothers meaning they were freem Masons on both sides many generals and leading figures in both the Union and Confederate sides were Masons they had the technology to take photos during this period yet no photos of the actual Civil War exist I’m not talking about people just sitting around

Under tents I mean actual photos of the war do not exist and the ones that we do have that include dead bodies were faked the excuse is is that exposure wouldn’t allow them to capture the movement of War but I’m not buying it then they say that freed slaves own slaves in the

South what are we supposed to make of that this includes the first slave owner in America being black and also Abraham Lincoln looks shockingly similar to Jefferson Davis if you ask me supposedly Abraham Lincoln had African Heritage according to Lincoln’s law partner William H hearnen Lincoln had very dark skin although his

Cheeks were leathery and saffron colored and his face was salow and his hair was dark almost black Abraham Lincoln described himself in 1839 as long black fellow and his complexion in 1859 as dark but there’s also an entire weaky article on this and they say that it’s

Been largely dismissed but it’s just an interesting connection to consider especially since he even called himself a slave in the 2001 book black people in their place in history historian Leroy Von alleges that Lincoln’s father was africanamerican and his mother had Ethiopian ethnicity both of which may

Have explained his very dark skin and coarse hair the political streets were talking too his Rivals campaigned using propaganda that depicted Lincoln as Abraham africanis the first an African man but for now let’s just continue Athens played a role in the Civil War era eight of the 10 Georgia delegates to the

Confederate convention had attended Franklin College Howell Cobb administered the oath of office to Jefferson Davis and Thomas RR Cobb played a significant role in drafting the Confederate Constitution interestingly Thomas RR Cobb noted the irony that Alexander Stevens an anti- secessionist became the vice president of the Confederacy

By 1860 Athens had become a hub of industry and intellect not just within Clark County but also in broader context population had grown to almost 4,000 half of which were white and half black the town’s political influence extended far beyond its geographical boundaries the political atmosphere was

Said to be tense but the community sharply divided between moderate and secessionist viewpoints two weekly newspapers the southern Watchmen and the southern played significant roles in shaping public opinion during the 1860 presidential election Athens and Clark County leaned towards moderate candidates with not a single vote cast for Abraham Lincoln however the election

Results intensified fears of slave Insurrection apparently now all of a sudden during the war fears of a slave Uprising were rampant leading to the formation of vigilance committees prominent citizens like Thomas RR Cobb Wilson Lumpkin James KCK and WS Grady served on these committees when Georgia declared its secession the majority in Athens

Celebrated with parades and salutes although not everyone was in favor there’s a whole story behind this where young men like Howell Cobb Jr were abruptly awakened to the reality of war and many local men and boys prepared to leave Athens to join the Confederate Army various individuals including Rufus

Reeves William G delone and Patrick Mel took the initiative to raise troops the conscription Act of 1862 made every white male between the ages of 18 and 35 liable for service later raising the age to 45 older men and boys as well as those Exempted by their occupations served in

The Home Guard there are elaborate histories for each of these figures including the death of trr cob the University of Athens closed for 3 years and it seems that most of Athens was intact after the war there were losses but not like other nearby cities in the

South one of the most significant new Industries was the cook and brother Armory which produced rifles and other equipment there were no real battles maybe skirmishes but they temporarily housed Union prisoners during the Civil War it said that slaves lived in a state of Quasi emancipation enjoying a degree of

Freedom but still owned by Mass not sure what that’s supposed to mean but apparently the slaves had to stay informed about the war by stealing newspapers also I find it weird that the slaves were fighting willingly with the Confederacy both Native Americans and African Americans fought to support

Slavery other stories say that they were forced but still perhaps they’re not told the full story of what occurred here’s a photo of some Cherokee Confederates which is interesting because they have mixed features rewind 30 years for a moment in 1830 a group of Indian nations collectively referred to as the Five

Civilized Tribes begin to be forcibly removed from the state of Georgia it was a genocide of the indigenous people how are we to be certain that the estimated number of people relocated are accurate the Smithsonian says 6,000 but it could have been more why would the government want to

Relocate people that had helped build communities fight in Wars they intermarried how would they draw the line on who was a Native American interestingly over 4,000 slaves and others of African descent such as spouses or freed men were also on the Trail of Tears accompanying the Native Americans This ethnic cleansing took

Place between 1830 and 1850 10 years before the Civil War perhaps there’s a connection remember the the whole reason this is happening is because gold was found near Delanica Georgia in 1828 the Georgia Gold Rush what if the Civil War wasn’t about slavery but it was about land and

Resources that there was a civilization that inhabited the southeastern United States and the union or new government wanted to come in and take something valuable from this area which is interesting because this also gets into what the historians call The Vanishing Indian myth it seems that there was a

Myth that was prevalent among the early us settlers that the Indian nation was dying out that they were completely eradicated or in other words a paper genocide when there’s no written documentation this means that a people can be made to disappear on paper historians say that this was a self-fulfilling prophecy associated with

Manifest Destiny the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America well there’s a lot to break down so let’s continue on with the Reconstruction Era to the Gilded Age after the Civil War the county was unscathed but somehow at the same time

Faced issues like eroded streets and neglected infrastructure the Southern economy was essentially destroyed and now slaves had to figure out how to survive as freed men also anyone who wanted to participate in society with the business send or reive letters had assigned an oath of allegiance to the United States

In 1866 a number of Athens leading citizens founded the National Bank of Athens to stimulate an economic recovery from the Civil War Henry Hall junr was elected the first president for its first 10 years the bank operated in half of the Southern Mutual Insurance Company building on the

Northwest corner of Broad and Jackson streets when Southern Mutual built a new building in 1876 the National Bank acquired this 1855 structure so apparently this two-story stuckle brick building goes back to 1855 there is no history on what it was for over two decades and then in 1876

When Southern Mutual moved to their new headquarters the National Bank needed a new building so they moved into this one many of these buildings downtown are similar where it’s not quite clear when these structures were originally constructed and for what purpose as the property just gets continually sold to new

Ventures the National Bank of Athens was financed by John White an Irish man who founded the new bank with $40,000 after the war also there was the fredman’s bureau in which a brigadier General Davis Tilson came to ug to give a speech on how there would be no land distribution

For freed slaves and if they didn’t get back to work they would be punished for vagrancy and stealing the bureau is said to have served as an employment agency helping find jobs for freed men interestingly because it was difficult for blacks to find jobs in the

City they moved to the outskirts of town on on the aone East bank and the city was called black Friars which is interesting if you connect that to England and the black Friars there’s not much info on this place in Clark County other than that there was a small pox

Epidemic in the South that affected these black communities the hardest interestingly there’s a report by a slave named Dairy Cott that says the Yankees brought the small pox down south because of this epidemic in Athens a makeshift hospital was erected in 1865 one of Athens leading CI

Intriguingly named Richard D Moore or Dr Moore was also called The Prince of doctors Moore Prince interesting and that he had treated families of soldiers free of charge during the war apparently the citizens of Athens provided $225,000 to construct a new building for the college it was the

Moore College a Second Empire Revival building also right after this in 1866 was the founding of the first African Methodist Episcopal Church supposedly the lot was then purchased in 1881 and the building was built in 1916 then in 1867 there was the noox school funded and built by The fredman’s

Bureau which was the first school ever open to blacks in Clark County and cost local citizens nothing to operate already by 1867 black Americans were being voted into office in Clark County the union made sure that freed men were allowed to vote and 1868 the Republicans had elected two former

Slaves Alfred Richardson and Madison Davis as the first two black men ever to represent Clark County in the state legislature Richardson was a carpenter and a Tavern owner black Athenians developed their own media and press with newspapers like the Athens blade advocating for equal rights now after 1870 the population of

Clark County began to grow during the Reconstruction where we see wealth starting to rise in several black communities in the 1870s we begin to see a shift from Watkinsville being the seat of Clark County to Athens despite Watkinsville being described as a village it remained county seat for 75

Years Athens became the hub for Commerce trade manufacturing and education while Watkinsville was just an Old Country Village the post-war period in Athens required significant adjustments in agriculture particularly due to the emancipation of slave days in soil depletion now here’s when everything starts to change in Athens the

Reconstruction age is starting to end and we’re moving into a massive development period where we’re told massive amounts of construction projects were taking place to create what we know as modern downtown but let’s analyze that story so apparently now a bunch of Yankee businessmen are calming down as philanthropists to help out with

Business expansion Robert L Bloomfield a Yankee transplant took over the the Athens factory rebuilt parts of the town after a fire and was involved in various Enterprises like cotton and Woolen factories Bloomfield served as the first board president of the northeastern railroad while also a real estate

Developer laying out what is now the Bloomfield historic district he contributed to the construction of churches and offered the first meeting place for the future founders of the congregation children of Israel in Athens in the Summer Of 1872 he financed the def fencing of the entire college campus of the

University’s new College of Agriculture and School of Engineering Charles Morton Strahan a key figure in Clark County’s development Strahan served as County Surveyor and later as a County engineer he mapped the county and extended his Public Road system he was instrumental in pioneering Innovative Road building techniques including a low cost method

That combines sand and clay for road paving so the street Paving program didn’t didn’t occur until the end of the 19th century so for those who might be new let’s clarify why we went deep into the mainstream history as our foundation for questioning the origins of many downtown buildings in their so-called histories

We have reason to believe that these structures were not built in the way that we’ve been told instead they were already here and then were repurposed for factories businesses churches Schools and Government buildings sounds C if you’re hearing it for the first time right but consider this many of these buildings actually

Have their first level below street level that’s a detail conspicuously absent from mainstream history but it’s right there for anyone willing to see it so the cuck of the matter is that we’re not getting the full story when it comes to American history that’s why we delved into the Masons a secret society

Bound by Oaths to keep secrets they’re a part of a universal Brotherhood that according to to their own rituals traces its roots back to ancient times they’re the modern day torchbearers of the rosicrucians who are also represented in the 18th degree of the Scottish right the Rosa crucians

Aimed for a universal Reformation of Mankind through a science built on esoteric truths of the ancient past which concealed from the average man provide insight into nature the physical universe and the spiritual realm which they say had been kept secret for decades until the intellectual climate might receive it these Freemasons didn’t

Just practice masonry they got a whole lot of free masonry they inherited these existing structures and impended the history we’re told today now one of the most intriguing aspects of these structures is the lack of construction photos sure you might find a rare photo here and there but there’s no

Comprehensive documentation showing the various stages of construction for these buildings not to mention that photographs could have easily been manipulated the usual excuses are thrown around lack of technology high cost issues with exposure time for the photographs basically a laundry list of reasons why there’re isn’t better documentation but these explanations

Don’t hold water for a couple of key reasons firstly it’s evident that many of these downtown buildings particularly those near Broad Clayton and downtown are below street level this implies that the streets were raised at some point yet there’s no official record of when this happened or

Why this phenomenon is what those in the alternative history Community refer to as mud flood buildings Skeptics might dismiss these as mere basements that’s not the case you can clearly see windows and even door entrances that are below the current street level and when you look at it from an aerial perspective it’s

Unmistakable the streets intersecting Broad and Clayton are classic examples of what’s known as mud flood streets so what exactly is a mud flood some researchers propose that a cataclysmic event took place in many early American cities resulting in buildings being partially buried and streets being elevated now you might

Think that sounds farfetched but a similar situation is actually documented in Rome Georgia which also has a Broad Street I believe I touched on this earlier with the flood when we were discussing the Cherokee Lodge in 1886 Rome experienced such severe flooding that a steamboat was able to navigate down Broad Street

The city responded by raising the street level by over 15 ft what sets R apart is that this piece of history is somewhat documented whereas there’s no such record in the mainstream history of Athens so get this Rome Georgia has a marble block from ancient Rome melini

Sent it over with the words from old Rome to New Rome edged into it and if that’s not wild enough musolini also sent a bronze statue of ramulus and Remis being fed by a She Wolf why well that’s the symbol for the founding of Rome makes you wonder why that’s the

Go-to image for starting a city right now back to these mud flood buildings in Rome Georgia the original entrances in ground floors of a bunch of old buildings are now basically basement but the thing is they weren’t designed to be basements so why go through the huge hassle of raising the street level

By 15 ft especially when Rome wasn’t even that big back in the day we’re talking less than 4,000 people in 1880 so Rome Georgia actually talks about this in their history but Athens not a peep what’s up with that so let’s talk about underground Rome for a second they actually have

Tours that take you through this hidden underground city by 1890 the streets were already raised with dirt I’m not entirely sold on the official story we’ll dig deeper into Rome in a future video for now let’s shift gears and let’s talk about the underground tunnels in Athens here’s the thing underground

Tunnels are like the best kept secret in American history different cities handle this Hush Hush Topic in their own way some don’t even mention it which is super sketchy if you ask me but dig a little and you’ll find that almost every old downtown has got them the go-to

Explanation they’re the prohibition era Tunnels for smuggling booze or tunnels that soldiers would hide in or even tunnels that slaves built to escape but let’s be real those are at best half truths think about it why would the Big Wigs the people making the laws need to

Sneak around in tunnels to get their hands on some alcohol and let’s not forget the sheer effort it would take to build these things it doesn’t add up really now another explanation you might hear though it’s less common is that the streets were raised at some point turning the original street level into

An underground space this is what they say happened in Atlanta and Seattle and as we’ve already discussed Rome Georgia but when it comes to Athens well it falls into the let’s not talk about it category the subject of underground tunnels in Athens has mostly been brushed off as urban legend it’s a lot

Like Pensacola where the older locals will tell you they know about the tunnels that exist downtown yet for some reason this piece of History has been lost over time even modern historians who you think would be all over this seem to have little interest in digging into it despite there being plenty of

Evidence to suggests that tunnels do exist in places like Pensacola so what’s going on here why the secrecy why the lack of curiosity it’s all a bit strange if you ask me in Athens The Situation’s a bit unique while there are plenty of local Legends one of the most talked about is

The existence of underground tunnels downtown interestingly almost every local seems to know about it but there’s no official verification no historical documents no tours nothing that allows people to actually explore these mysterious tunnels so consider that an intro but we’re about to dive deeper into the alternative history of

Athens when you go to Athens and you want to learn about the history one of the first things you’re likely to start with is the welcome center it’s located in what they call the church waddle Brumby house they claim it’s the oldest residence in Athens but the house was

Actually relocated to its current position in 1967 and you’ll notice this is a reoccurring theme with these welcome centers in multiple cities they often look like colonial era wooden structures as if they’re trying to transport you back in time but the church WD Brumby house has said to date back to only

1820 it’s like they’re setting the stage giving you a PR approved history before you even start your journey through the city it’s considered a federal style house that was built for Alonzo church and originally located on East Hancock Avenue apparently there have been some Alterations by successive owners so it’s

Unclear how much is changed the house was going to be demolished but they ended up saving it which opens another set of questions why did the city want to destroy so many of these old mansions and structures they even have a room upstairs where you can see these

Buildings and what did they replace them with many of these were just converted into a parking lot or to make space for new commercial box buildings it’s strange that they would want to demolish all this history now they say it was built for Alonzo Church’s family but they never

Actually lived in the house the history suggests that the first Resident was most likely Moses Wadd but they aren’t 100% sure of the exact history so yeah this is the start of Athens PR approved history which I’m not saying is false it’s just been curated or sanitized to present a specific

Narrative let’s take a little tour of the house Dr W lived here for about 9 years after 1820 and had moved back to South Carolina because his wife fell ill the house was then sold to the Harris family in 1834 and eventually it became the property of the Brumby family who

Held it the longest we mentioned Wadd earlier he was one of the first presidents of UG and the founder of the First Presbyterian Church in the area there have been a lot of Renovations so they aren’t sure if this is what it originally looked like with

The patterns on the wall and as you come up the stairs you’ll notice that the upstairs rooms are kind of a work in progress this is them setting up the history for you spoon feeding it to you so to speak this room here is the baby room

You walk in and there’s a sign saying it’s a public history in collaboration with the Mogi nation and Cherokee Indians we’ve already talked about the history of the natives being in this area for at least 10,000 years and oh check this out kissing rocks on Prince

Avenue I thought that was a bit odd The Story Goes that students at the normal school would gather at the kissing rocks to steal a kisses with their bows the normal school in the normal town are fascinating topics on its own but kissing rocks that’s interesting this spot is referred to as

A Native American Boulder cache which has yielded Pottery pieces a pipe bowl and even charred human bone fragments it’s considered a sacred Place interestingly there are also Legends of kissing stones from Ireland that might have some connection the BL stone is a block of limestone built into to the

Battlements of BL Castle near Cork Ireland Legend has it that kissing a stone gives you the gift of the gab basically you become a very eloquent speaker the stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446 and it’s a popular tourist site drawing people from all

Over the world to kiss the stone and explore the castle and its Gardens so in Athens this was apparently just a spot where young ladies would meet up to share kisses but it’s interesting how they connect this to earlier inhabitants of the area okay so there’s a section where they

Talk about myths and anytime historians bring up myths it’s worth considering with an open mind they mentioned the mamy myth where enslaved black women would willingly care for white babies and nurture them the narrative suggests that they were dedicated to the institution of slavery or were happy to do this or

Free something seems off there but of course it’s labeled as a myth then there’s info on the 1820 census which says that only the head of three households would be counted in federal population records this really highlights the possibility that these numbers could have been misrepresented for a

Reason they did note slaves under the owner’s name but one of the slaves was listed as a free colored female it’s strange that we don’t have more information on the original owners and inhabitants of the household they also mentioned that younger white women were responsible for taking care of

Children of both races while their parents were working then other Athenians would delegate the job of child care to their slaves so is the mam myth really a myth or is there’s something that doesn’t align with the narrative I mean think about it would you trust your slave to take care of

Your child and on the flip side why would a slave want to lovingly care for a child when they themselves had no Freedom like I was saying this is basically their mini History Museum where they break down Athens history for you you think a place with with such a

Rich history would have its own large building dedicated to exploring the various narratives but instead it’s mostly confined to the Wadd residence which I find suspect there should be more effort put into exploring this history they even have a depiction of Georgia’s yuchi Indians who are affiliated with the mosoian people

Today they look quite dark skinned if you ask me next we move on to dispossession this section delves into to what we were talking about earlier how the natives were removed from these lands interestingly Moses Wadd was recorded saying that natives took part in trade inside the city so were the

Natives actually a part of early Athens society yet at the same time ug founder and Freemason Abraham Baldwin was negotiating the compact of 1802 aiming for the federal government to guarantee the removal of these natives from Georgia lumpin was apparently the one spearheading this dispossession of the Cherokee and Mogi

Tribes these natives were signing treaties and as we mentioned even began participating in Freemasonry makes you wonder if there’s more to this story what’s also intriguing is a depiction from 1789 that shows the plan of the ancient chunky yard ancient these tribes had tall us and in

This depiction there appear to be three large Obelisk and two Mounds Now The Story Goes that Chunky was the most popular game among the Southeastern Native Americans into the colonial era players would roll a stone disc and then throw poles or spears after it aiming to land closest to where the stone

Stopped they’re basically suggesting that this was all built just for a game but I’m not so sure the idea was to roll a stone and whoever got their spears closest would win then there’s this whole narrative about mini Davis according to the accounts historical figures like Dr Wadd

Were kind to their slaves and treated them as equals they even say that before the Civil War the First Presbyterian Church had a large attendance of black people and several black preachers so they were praying to be freed by the Yankees while also raising white babies it begs a question why weren’t

There more revolts during the early period before the Civil War you’d think we’d have more accounts from this time but it seems like mini Davis is one of the few who get highlighted so these slaves were secretly hoping to be freed sneaking newspapers to stay informed but also

Attending the same church as the white folks and taking care of each other’s children then there’s the section on the history of Native American acts I was surprised to learn that Congress didn’t repeal the Indian Removal Act of 1830 until 1980 that’s pretty wild and then they went ahead and created the Native

American Student Association or NASA in Hebrew the word NASA or Nasha means to lead astray or deceive of course make of that what you will this is all presented in what they call the child room where it seems there spoon feeding you this history treating

You like a child so you don’t think too deeply about it okay so next up is the master bedroom which to be honest looks pretty dull and of course they placed a spinning wheel in there to give it that old timey rustic feel but I’m not entirely convinced that slaves would be

Up here in the master bedroom just spinning fla it feels more symbolic than anything else remember the spinning wheel and Sleeping Beauty it’s an enchanted object that sends its victim into deep ageless sleep when touched touch the spindle I say then fall asleep and forget the past and that’s pretty much it except

For this room that displays all the buildings that have been demolished now here’s where it gets interesting we went downstairs and decided to ask the staff if they knew anything about the underground tunnels we yeah this happen it’s the oldest it’s about 23 years old finished

1820 so yeah it’s a very old house um there’s a lot of we check out most of the house and stuff um yeah I was looking at the demolished buildings there yeah yeah all you need the study room yeah yeah all those buildings were destroyed destroyed around the time of

The urban renewal development plan they were trying to like like to reurban or like modernize the city so they’re trying to knock down old buildings and Make Way for newer buildings um so yeah a lot of old houses were knocked down so but there’s still a bunch of them all

Around like there’s not there’s still like a whole bunch of old St houses all around there’s two more that are own by the city um the one’s the TR house and L house and then down M Avenue where all the prac Ries are those are all historic

Houses mostly using from an age 1860s and before there there’s a lot there some this one is from the 1820s there the W house is 1840s the house is the 1830s so they’re not too far like it’s only like a decade or two remove from this house um this is

Not the oldest building in aens though the oldest building in Athens is on ug’s campus and that is is old college that was built back in 1806 and that was like their first permanent building on the campus yeah so if you head down college avue that his St to the arch the famous

Ug Arch and right past the arch is the field so right here is like where the field is and that’s historic North Campus technically so that’s all the oldest buildings on U’s campus Demian home I think is like from the 1820s and then all the other buildings areally

From the very early 1800s old olders or like bars Woodford bar is one of the older bars um I know that’s huh the GL is also an old place yeah that’s like a British pub now um so yeah the Woodford bar that one used to be um the workshop for cuz I

Didn’t it didn’t originally start off as a as a bar it started off as a workshop for The Aviator BFS he built all designed all his Planes in there and he packed on off to that street right in front of the bar and that’s where he took his Planes off

And then the P that used to beat well yeah long time ago it wasat and then became the globe I want to say in like the 90s it was for like a long time um and then reop a year or so ago um like close for like years really

Excited cool little bir been there on it’s really nice good food to yeah so he was tell telling me about some of the older buildings the oldest being the old college and they brought up the globe which we’ll talk about in a minute but it used to be a laat but

Listen to this um so let me ask you have you guys ever heard of like I don’t know Urban myths of like underground tunnels in downtown there actually I’m so GL you asked the laund that we just talking about there is a that there’s a tunnel runs between the globe and the building

Across the street trying to look up online and there wasn’t really that much on it yeah that’s like the only one I know that says like they used to like go like back and forth so EAS us like that was laundry yeah so yeah I think it was mostly just for transpor

Laundry Wander from the hotel to the basement they would transfer over to so they built those tunnels in the 1800s to I guess just in order because it wasn’t a launcher M or before that correct no I’m not sure if the building was built for the or repurposed

Repurposed the oldest thing we know that was in the building was the M but we don’t know what it was before both of these folks working at The Welcome Center confirmed they knew about the tunnels they even mentioned one that was connected to what used to be a lrat now known as the

Globe what’s interesting is they had zero info on when the original building for the globe was constructed or what its original purpose was so I’m not buying that those tunnels were just for laundry they were obviously already there and they repurposed for that use and this isn’t the only place that

Utilized the tunnels for their business after that we kept exploring we took a stroll downtown which had a Vibe similar to when we visited Charleston the main streets to check out are Clayton and Broad but before we dive into the buildings let’s rewind a bit to the Franklin College era and discuss the

Oldest existing structures in Athens so for those of you from Athens you probably heard about the curse of the arch Legend has it walk under the arch and you won’t graduate people seem to take it seriously you can actually see students actively avoiding it the area is stunning really it gave

Me a Vibe similar to the College of Charleston which is older but still this was a beautiful walk the first thing you’ll notice is the homes Hunter building I’m pretty Grand Greek Revival structure they say it’s actually two antibellum buildings joined together in 1906 the first was a two-story classroom

And Library built in 1831 known as The Ivy building the other was a library constructed around 1860 on the site of the early Presbyterian church now they often say these buildings were removed from their original location what puzzles me is why is it still in such rough shape it’s under

Repair this would be the ideal spot for a museum but instead it’s just sitting there not really serving a purpose I think I even saw some graffiti but don’t quote me on that the building is named after Hamilton Holmes and charlan Hunter the first two African-American students to enroll at ug in

1961 as you keep walking the first set of eye-catching buildings is on your left what’s fascinating is that most college students have no idea what these fraternities actually represent nowadays it’s just seen as an organization you join for better connections right but what many don’t realize is that these are essentially

Different lodges directly tied to Freemasonry we’ll dive deeper into this when we discuss freemasonic ug but it’s worth noting that many of these old colleges have a blatant Greek Obsession the Greek letter fraternities were founded in 1776 around the time colleges started getting secretive vippa for instance instance modeled its initiations and

Oaths after Freemasonry next up is the philosophical Hall built in 1821 and later renamed Wadd Hall it’s located southeast of the old college and features the same kind of raised door staircase that you’ll find in many of these buildings next up is demoan Hall constructed by Dr James Tinsley in

1824 this makes it the fourth oldest building at ug the Demian literary Society was founded in 1803 the same year that ug first opened its doors clearly having a literary Society was deemed essential for the state’s first institution of Higher Learning named after deanes the renowned ancient Greek orator the society moved into

Demosthenian Hall in 1824 the building’s Federal style and palladian window above the entrance would have been quite appealing to the Freemasons of that era like fppa this was one of the earliest secret societies on campus in 1836 fap had even managed to build their own Hall where the two societies would

Engage in debates however World War II put an end to the fppa literary Society then we have the ug Chapel completed In 1832 to replace a previous wooden structure that had burned down this Greek Revival building is quite impressive and it’s one of the few like demosthenian fah Halls that have been

Preserved in their original condition though it appears that the top part is missing the chapel is situated on hilly terrain and if you look towards the back it seems like these structures extend below ground level that’s why they all have the stairs leading up to the entrance there’s the chapel Bell cast in

1835 in Massachusetts its arrival on campus remains a mystery it’s believed that this Bell replaced an earlier one sometime between 1903 and 1911 and inside the chapel there’s a large painting of the interior of St Peter’s real which is an interesting choice for a chapel in Athens

Georgia then there’s the sun dial in the middle of the area to me this feels like another nod to Freemasonry the sun dial is connected to the story of tomb’s Oak according to the legend lightning struck a tree at the same time of tomb’s death and it fell

When the tree died in 1908 it was cut into motos that have been passed down among you GA alumni the sun dial was placed there to mark this famous spot for future Generations interestingly the original 1908 Sund dial was replaced with a more accurate reproduction which I find a bit

Odd so someone dies lightning strikes a tree at the exact same time and then they put this sun dial here it’s a weird detail to say the least all right let’s talk about Terell Hall originally this was the science Hall completed in 189 97 it was a story taller but burned down in

1903 they rebuilt it in 1904 finishing the structure in just a year now I thought this was interesting I couldn’t find any photos of this original science Hall before it became Terell Hall I did stumble upon an early postcard that mentioned the Peabody Library being called the science Hall at some point

It’s odd that there’s no better documentation of this building before or during its construction and it’s even weirder that they kept moving the library around throughout the history when you walk up to the entrance of Terell Hall you can clearly see that the building goes below ground level oh

And let’s not forget that there’s super cute squirrels that were all over the place they’d get really close and seemed pretty tame it happened a bunch of times actually they were definitely curious about what we’re up to I mean look how cute this is and there’s this tree by

The building that’s kind of weird too it looks like an arm FL Lexing all right let’s talk about the Baldwin statue I mean wouldn’t it be something if it just said Freemason and all caps at the bottom the University of Georgia was actually conceived and realized by Freemasons like legislator Abraham

Baldwin Governor Samuel Elbert and John Habersham a member of the first Board of Trustees now let’s move on to the building that the postcard labeled as science Hall it’s actually the administration building now one thing that stands out is the names inscribed on it Shakespeare Dante Virgil Plato

Homer it’s kind of weird there’s nothing in the history of this building that mentions it ever being called the science Hall so either the postcard got it wrong or there’s a gap in the narrative apparently they needed a new library so a Mr Peabody decided to donate funds to build a new fireproof

Structure and yes this building also has a lower ground level it’s been repurposed several times throughout the years first as a library then an art gallery and now it serves as an administration building moving on here’s the old College marker which I always find these seals very interesting because I learned

This in Charleston but they put these City seals on the old buildings and historic markers typically with Athena or manura for the owl but it can also be liberas which is another ult symbol that was a favorite of the French Masons Dawning the frian cap that dates back to

Secret societies in ancient times like the cold of methis this particular seal dates back to 1733 and carries the phrase nonis which means not for ourselves but for others sounds Noble right but it makes you wonder why were all these wealthy folks donating to Public Service what’s the end game to provide education

Or to provide their education and here’s the irony these founding fathers of ug supposedly donated all this money for higher education and what do we have now a party school it’s the same thing in Charleston now let’s talk about the oldest building on campus it’s hard to compare to old

Photos because it used to be covered in Ivy but one thing’s clear there’s a lower ground level why no one really explains the building was the heart of the university in the 19th century by 1910 it was in such bad shape that the students could live there for

Free they were going to tear it down but instead they layered on new bricks in the early 1900s so what you see now is like a skin over the original 200-year old structure there is this story that slaves were kept in the basement during the antab Bellum period because there

Were bars on the windows but apparently the rumor isn’t true because they weren’t allowed owed to have slaves on campus okay so I think that’s the most important stuff there is the 1951 Library which to me those ones look like Jay’s but yeah this is the newer main

Library that actually goes below ground too I’m not saying it’s old world or anything but just found it interesting all right let’s dive into the haunted aspects of the campus I won’t go into extreme detail but there are numerous accounts of murders suicides particularly one in Wadd

But the most infamous case is in Joseph E Brown Hall where a student body had decayed for several days the officials couldn’t completely clean the room after death so they just sealed it off what’s Eerie is that there’s a staircase that leads from nowhere with a

Bricked up doorway and a photo of a hallway hung in front of it the circumstances surrounding the death are described as bizarre with a student found wearing only a t-shirt Friends of the student insist that he wouldn’t have taken his own life demoan Hall is also said to be haunted possibly

By Civil War ghost or Robert Toms so the old college area has its share of hauntings while some of these may be attributed to tragic events it’s worth considering if the land itself is energetically charged due to its historical significance could there be something underground contributing to these

Hauntings it adds another layer to the investigation all right let’s shift our Focus back to the iconic buildings in downtown Athens starting with City Hall this structure is particularly interesting because like many others it features stairs leading to the second level while it doesn’t scream mud flood

There is a level that appears to go slightly below ground along with the door situated Under the Stairs given that the building is also on elevated ground it’s possible that there might be more beneath the surface originally City City Hall was a multi-purpose building with 27 large rooms and various storage spaces it

Featured an auditorium that could hold up to 300 people an Armory for the local military offices for City officials and even a space for the Chamber of Commerce now let’s talk about the spirit of Athens or Athena statue this figure holds a torch which is often associated with Prometheus the

Mythological figure who brought fire to mankind the torch is a symbol of enlightenment and knowledge but its presence here in the context of Athens is intriguing could there be a deeper meaning or connection oh and also they have this whole story of the double baral cannon

One of the most unusual relics ever to be preserved from the Civil War originally designed by John gilland of Athens and built at the local Foundry in 1863 when an anxious Community feared attack by invading northern armies the idea was to load it with two cannonballs

Connected by by a chain when fired the chain and balls would wh all out like a deadly flail mowing down enemy soldiers in its path but as history tells us the test firing didn’t go as planned the cannonballs were uncontrollable wreaking havoc rather than serving as a secret

Weapon while the official story suggest that the Canon was a failed War experiment there’s another angle to consider what if the cannon was actually used for demolishing buildings the test firing did after all result in some significant destruction according to eyewitness accounts the cannon balls tore up an

Acre of ground destroyed a cornfield and even knocked down a chimney one of the balls even went rogue and killed a cow in a distant field so whether by accident or Design This Cannon did manage to destroy some architecture around this time is where we saw a so I guess let’s just talk

About that get this the first mascot was actually a goat I kid you not for people who may not know riding the goat is an old common phrase that means becoming a Mason it’s an initiation ritual and if you want to see what it actually connects to I check out Christmas or homunculus

Unveiled but yeah the first mascot was the goat in 1892 the goat dawned a black coat with red letters u g on each side okay but let’s come back to City Hall the older Clark County Courthouse built in 1876 is another fascinating piece of Athens architectural history this Grand structure once served

As the seat of government before the new city hall was built this was also the Athens High School from 1915 to 1952 so what happened to this historic gem how did it end up being replaced by a Wendy’s and a Captain D’s why would such an important and historic

Building be allowed to fall into disrepair let alone Be demolished this is also by the trr cob house which was originally built in 1842 but get this they were going to demolish it or something and then they moved it to Stone Mountain Park in 1984 then they basically rebuilt it and

Called it restoration but that’s an entirely new building at this point okay next structure is the First Presbyterian Church it says founded in 1820 and erected In 1855 it’s a Greek Revival Temple and also features a staircase that leads to a lower street level on both sides of

The entrance then there’s the courthouse which doesn’t seem that old or anything but what caught my eye is that this is the only building I could find with your typical old construction photo scaffolding already up around the building you’d think we’d see multiple stages documented let’s keep in mind old world

Photoshop and the idea that these early photos and postcards are typically staged to present these buildings but still this is the only construction photo I could find there may be more but a city with such a rich history throughout the 19th century should be well documented in the creation of all these

Buildings we should see thousands of photographs but we don’t still it’s an interesting building and it looks like it goes below ground levels as well so the old post office or federal courthouse was supposedly built in 1906 no construction photos at all in the Georgian Hotel they say it was built

In 1908 again no construction photos to be found you’d think with such Grand structures we’d see better documentation of their Construction in the early 1900s if you go to the side of the building it clearly goes below street level you can see this inside too interestingly there’s a checkered floor

On this lower level that leads to the bathroom this place is also supposed to be super haunted workers have reported all sorts of paranormal experiences feeling something’s off hearing noises even feeling someone touched them from behind apparently it’s not a ghost but a poltergeist causing these disturbances since its opening each room

Had both cold and hot running water which was rare at the time it also had elevators right from the get-go freight elevators people were so freaked out by these elevators that they had operators handled them but there’s also this really sad story about a young girl who fell to her death from the

Lobby now this story puzzled me how do you fall from your death from the lobby it would make more sense if the lobby wasn’t on the first floor I was doing some research and found out that apparently they say that there was supposedly an older building on the site before the

Georgian Hotel it was called The Market Street School later renamed Washington Street School this is the only photo I could find of this building that predates the Georgian Hotel I’m not sure if I buy that they often use this tactic to explain inconsistencies there are a couple weird

Things about the story this Market Street School later became Athens High School which is from the old courthouse building that also served as Athens High School this one I believe was on child Street and got burned down so it’s a bit confusing while they were moving schools

So much so yeah according to the narrative there was a school where the Georgian hotel now stands before it was built but I’m skeptical they don’t even have construction photos of this building it seems the Federal Building courthouse and the Georgian Hotel have a strikingly similar style of architecture

I asked a his historian about this and they had nothing to say about it other than that it was both done in federal style but why build a hotel in the same style as a federal building interestingly there’s a parking lot in between the two buildings and randomly

We went down there and noticed something pretty strange they don’t even try to cover this stuff up which is the weird part you’ll see more of this as we continue but there’s literally an Old Brick arch in the parking lot that is of the same architectural style it’s just missing

The stuck up and it’s been sealed off but there’s definitely something that goes back there as they have power connected to it now what is that doing in a parking garage well the most logical answer is that this is the remnants of lower parts of the building that were then converted

Into a parking garage so this is the lower area between the Georgian and the courthouse building or what is the bank today this is sort of near the hotel but while we were walking around we saw a building where the the stco was peeling off and just thought it was

Interesting a lot of these are just facades around the original Old Brick and sometimes it’s difficult to tell if it’s been extremely renovated okay so I guess let’s move on to Clayton Street from above it’s a beautiful downtown area with so many old world buildings to look at Clayton is interesting because it

Seems to be a raised Street this will become more clear as we proceed but we also walk down the mud flooded streets as well so that you can can see some of the entrances go below ground level there’s no doubt about it Skeptics might say oh these are just

Basements but then why would you build doors and windows into a basement seems like a flood risk in fact many of these downtown buildings are at a risk of flooding in the next 30 Years so why would they build like this unless it was your only option there are a lot of pretty

Buildings on this street we can’t cover them all the Mellow Mushroom building called my eye it has a lion that says Michael Bros 1882 but apparently this was built in 1922 because a fire burned the building in the exact location before common theme Here the original building in 1893

Was a five-story building in the tallest in Athens at that time also we’ll talk about aone Cemetery later but I don’t want to forget that we saw the Michel family tomb there which is a greek temple also there’s a tunnel here that will discuss but Augustin s Clayton whom

The street is named after is also a Mason speaking of on the next block let’s talk about the Oddfellows now most people starting their research won’t know much about Oddfellows I mean think about it the students at ug don’t even know about their history intertwined with Freemasonry but it’s not just one

Fraternity there are multiple the international order of Oddfellows was the triple link Society s sound familiar the Georgia seal we have a whole video that breaks down their oul history and their deep association with almost every downtown which almost always contains an old oddfellow building these architectures are

Typically very ornate and stand out but here’s the thing they were also responsible for educating orphans you often find Odd Fellow orphanages which is bizarre The Story Goes that they were just a bunch of Odd Fellows trying to help out Society with their philanthropy okay so what’s with these

Secret oul rituals and what’s their relation to Freemasonry because they seem to have a significant number of similarities that’s its own rabbit hole but the Oddfellows play an important part in the history of Athens many influential figures at ug were Oddfellows including City officials now this is interesting

Because I couldn’t find any official history or mainstream articles on this at all it seems neither red and black nor ug have discussed the history of lodges in Athens there are no tours on this so it definitely seems like a lesser known history there were at least

Two oddfellow Lodges at one point on Clayton Street I first figured this out because there was a postcard of Clayton Street that showed the Fred building from behind and I noticed the three chains on this building where the Tina jewelry stands knowing that this was the three-

Ling symbol I looked up the local newspapers from the early 1900s and a city directory from 1889 that can confirm these lodges and many others existed this building where Tina stands was an oddfellow building at some point confirmed as of 1889 and then it seems it was later

Moved to a building at the corner of Clayton and college here’s the side of it where the windows are painted over now there are a couple of interesting things about this first there are many lodges this is from 1889 let me read you a few you had

Masonic lodges that met at the booth building in the old Masonic Hall Odd Fellow lodges and there was the improved order of red men an Indian Masonic Society the improved order of red men claims direct descent from the colonial era Sons of Liberty their rituals in regalia are

Modeled after those assumed by by men of the era to be used by Native Americans then you had the Knights of the golden eagle who received assistance from other secret societies like the Odd Fellows and the Knights of pyus and then there was the independent order of good Templars which focuses on

Policy measures and community-based interventions related to Alcohol and Other Drugs interestingly there’s the order of elks which connects back to what we were discussing with the deer tribes but the benevolent and protective order of elks is a fraternal organization in the United States that was founded on February 16th

1868 the organization originally started as a social club in New York City to escape the restrictions of the closed business environment however it quickly evolved into a Fraternal Order that became known for its philanthropy and community service this also connects with Ross crane who had several architectural

Contributions to ug over the years crane built several Greek Revival and italianate mansions along ‘s newest streets his own house has served as the chapter house for Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity since 1929 he also completed the First Presbyterian Church in 1856 another Greek Revival Temple form structure now

Ross crane is very close or could be symbolic of the Rose Cross or rosac crucian the Athens Lodge order of elks purchased the Greek Revival house built by Ross Crane in 1924 for use as a lodge Hall this is significant because it shows how fraternal organizations like the Elks

Were involved in the community and often took over significant buildings thereby playing a role in preserving them that’s what people don’t get about secret societies there are multiple and they each fit a different role and think about it why would you have so many secret societies in the early years of

The founding of a city which if you trace the symbolism goes back to Europe in royalty though it seems the old Masonic Hall was at the Dupri building not entirely sure about that but it appears to have been moved several times to new locations and there were different Masonic lodges

However unlike typical old world cities where there’s usually a structure originally built of masonry there’s no history discussing these older lodin in Athens usually there are Masonic structures with quite impressive architecture take for example the Cherokee Lodge in Rome dating to 1877 or the one from mon from

1876 but there doesn’t seem to be one of that same status in Athens or if there is perhaps this history was suppressed nowadays they’ll say it’s not a secret society which in the modern day is true anyone can join and it’s mostly older folks involved in community

Service but it wasn’t like that in the early 19th century even in the 1889 city directory they referred to them as secret societies there were indeed secrets and many of their ceremonies and rituals were eventually revealed to the public so the real Masons or founding fathers who did have secrets and oul

Rituals tracing back to the Templars eventually had to open membership to the public to cover this up modern lodges are not like the ones back in the day where literally all the city officials and University leaders were associated with the lodge of fraternity there’s a reason this history

His is now well documented now will become more clear as we continue so the barbaritas building used to look different they removed parts of the middle section for some reason which was very beautiful let’s move on now to college in Clayton where the rainbow is now it’s

Pretty much a food court but there’s a lot of interesting stuff starting with ardan’s entrance it’s below street level so let’s talk about the tunnels after scouring the internet there’s really nothing on the subject of underground tunnels in Athens Georgia except on Reddit several people there insist that these tunnels exist and that

They connect multiple buildings right in this area apparently many of them were covered up and blocked off a long time ago so with that in mind you start to see this area differently the street you’re walking on has an underground layer that’s been covered up in underground

City we’ll Circle back to this area because there’s some things to say about the buildings if you venture a bit further on Clayton Street near where the Urban Outfitters is and this super ornate building actually I found some old photos of this area where the recording studio is now and it’s super

Interesting but on the other side of the street there’s a store named Fabric and they left us right out in the open a staircase leading right to the old street level why would they construct this way check out the old windows and mult multiple doors down here it seems

Like this area was blocked off and stucked towards the street but it looks like it would continue under the street just that someone came in and blocked it off at some point now get this this is right by the globe in the Georgia Theater remember how the Welcome Center

Said that the globe used to be a laundromat and they had tunnels to transfer laundry under the street they weren’t sure if it was originally meant to be aeromat well we went into the Glo globe and asked and the bartender wasn’t sure if there were tunnels under the globe

Specifically but he knew they were throughout downtown he even said he’d been in them and that his friend managed them or something like that have you ever heard of the tunnels I’ve been tunel oh you’ve been in the tunnel under here not here but like my friend used to

Manage you could go underneath in Downtown That’s crazy The Welcome Center told me that they know one here That’s yeah that’s crazy I was just Yeah glass Bricks so that was strange right he mentioned it goes from the University Grill although it was a bit hard to catch where the other end was he was busy but pointed out to the front door and said look at the glass on the floor of the

Entrance at the time I didn’t really get it but this is actually proof that there’s an underground level beneath the street these are called pavement lights designed to let light in from above into what they call a basement the reason he pointed out the glass is cuz this is the way that they

Used to get light down there when I got home I looked up this trademark and it says Burgers radiant sidewalk lights sidewalk lights why is no one talking about this in Athens history online this is fascinating stuff and it’s right at the door of the globe this same trademark was also used

In San Francisco where it’s more obvious that these are pavement lights and this little brass sign from Burgers dates back to before for the 1900s there’s one on eBay from 1886 so what’s the takeaway this confirms that there were tunnels under the globe just like the guys at the Welcome Center

Said but wait there’s more let’s dive into the Georgia Theater this used to be the YMCA building and just look at how Grand it was this photo is from 1889 and it was supposedly built to be a YMCA they even had a basement pool that was so popular the splashing from the

Swimmers would put out the kerosene lamps lighting the place or so the story goes compar this to today’s YMCAs which are pretty bland I’m not entirely convinced this Grand structure was built just to be a YMCA interestingly in the early 1900s it was bought by Freemasons you can even confirm this on

Its wiip page it was owned by the Masonic temple Association of Athens in 1935 the elite theater opened in that spot building on the YMCA’s Foundation there’s not much info but it seems like it was an actual Masonic temple at some point that would make more sense given

That the original Building looks like your typical oldw World Masonic lodge and there’s this recurring theme where old Masonic buildings usually the town centerpiece get converted into entertainment venues or theaters like in Pensacola the Masonic building one of the oldest downtown was converted into vinyl Music Hall it’s just a pattern I keep

Noticing anyway we went up to the top of the Georgia Theater where they have this bar and the view of the city is just stunning from up here while we were there we started chatting with someone who had some really intriguing things to Say tunnel yeah there are underground tunnel in our you we call are they like actually cacs or is that just like a nickname um as far as I know it’s just a nickname but there could be dead people in it’s Athens Athens has a very rich haunted history

Is cool I I think the cacs are more towards like that way they have some like underground shops that have um I saw a couple shops pretty well blown yeah yeah they go under and um as far as I know that’s I was just wondered if he knew about the underground I did

Yeah I I think the do know it there’s like nothing it’s not something that’s like well known anything no yeah they do have a close so here’s another local confirming that yes there are tunnels all over Athens even called them catacombs which is another tiing with Pensacola why are there catacombs

Beneath the buildings and let’s just assume for a second that there’s no conspiracy why isn’t anyone researching this it’s like ignoring a crucial part of American History the real question is why are they willing to cover them up for safety concerns but in doing so they’re erasing American

History I think it’s less safe that people aren’t aware of these tunnels below the ground if these tunnels exist that changes the entire narrative they’d have to rewrite the history books and they don’t want to do that to me that’s the real reason these tunnels reveal an alternative history that we weren’t

Taught in school for those interested in local lore the tunnels are a fascinating subject but what makes it even more intriguing is that this is a reoccurring theme in multiple cities that’s how we learn to recognize it it’s the same pattern in so many different places that it starts to Boggle the

Mind how and why did they build these in some cities these old tunnels go for miles a historian in Charleston who’s actively researching them confirmed they stretch for miles under the city and in Pensacola an alleged Master Mason reached out to confirm these tunnels do exist consider this Rome Georgia has

Underground tunnels Savannah has them even mon Georgia has them and even that’s another rabit hole because there’s barely any history on them in mon yet they go for miles and are massive mon isn’t a big city so why put so much effort into these tunnels the mainstream narrative usually chalks it

Up to Prohibition tunnels or Tunnels for business to secretly move under the streets but that explanation falls apart when you find out that many of the old Masonic lodges have tunnels connect con to the underground system as well if it’s just for prohibition then why are there tunnels under so many old Masonic

Lodges perhaps this suggests that there’s something we’re not being told and it’s time to start looking at history with fresh eyes many older historians while valuable aren’t willing to step outside their preconceived notions of History whether for personal or professional reasons it’s up to the newer generation

To dig deeper and learn more about our true history I spoke with the well-versed historian in Athens who gives tours and unlike in Pensacola he was super interested in the topic of underground tunnels he confirmed that Athens definitely has tunnels and that they’ve been blocked off for safety reasons but

Interestingly when I asked him why there were no tours or official history discussing these tunnels he said he asked the city for permission to include them in the tours and was flatly denied tour guides can only discuss what’s approved by the city which is strange to me but the most fascinating part was

When I started asking him about the raised streets I explained that it’s clear they used to be lower levels because there are windows and doors down there the look in his eyes was like a light bulb was going off he said that no one is writing about this and that he found it

Fascinating he even mentioned that he would try to talk to the city again about including the tunnels in his tours not sure why they wouldn’t allow it it would boost tourism and make athens’s history far more interesting but maybe it’s more than a safety concern maybe it’s a concern about how

We understand history itself I got a few more things to say about where the tunnels actually are because we got confirmation but before that let me mention a few more buildings okay so right before the globe there’s this huge skyscraper apparently it was built in 1914 and it was originally the homman

Hotel the tallest building in the city with 10 floors WS Holman built at ‘s tallest building for $175,000 in 1913 so apparently it was built in about a year or so before the skyscraper it was the original site of the Emanuel Church and we should probably bring up

Ben EPS as he’s a common story told around Athens born in 1888 EPS was a self-taught Aviator and mechanic who dropped out at Georgia Tech to open a bicycle shop much like the R Brothers he used his shop as a base to Tinker with early flying machines

His first successful flight in 1907 was a modest but groundbreaking 100 yard Journey at an altitude of 50 ft ep’s contributions didn’t stop at his own flights he also established the Ral EPS Flying Service in Athens offering aerial photography passenger flights and flying lessons his work laid the foundation for

Athens Ben EPS airport Georgia’s first civilan airport but what if the tell we’ve all heard might not be the full story according to Dan Aldridge Jr a Winterville author EPS didn’t actually make his legendary flight in 1907 as often claimed his research shows that the real date was August 28th 1909 so

They don’t even have the dating right and here’s another twist EPS didn’t build that first plane all by himself he had a partner named zump a huff they were just kids in their early 20s with no formal education in aviation but they managed to build six airplanes together

Puff eventually moved to Atlanta and was pretty much forgotten while EPS continued to be celebrated all right but let’s go back to college in Clayton this is super interesting first you have the Fred building which was originally called the southern Mutual building after they relocated from their older building I

Found this building super memorable because it has the handshake on it it’s the hand-shaped building now most people will just think that it’s a symbol for Commerce but to me it stuck out as a clear freemasonic Brothers handshake symbol they say it was originally built in 1908 and that it was the first

Skyscraper in Athens now this is a shame there used to be a beautiful church right to the left of the Fred building it was the First Baptist Church That Was Then demolished which I have no idea why you would do that to such a beautiful old

Building but yeah there used to be a church there and it seems that the remnants were turned into smaller stores okay also the comic book store Bizarro yeah this Whole Town’s Bizarro and also the record store it’s right in front of Fred’s now this is an interesting history this building used

To be the Athens Railway and Electric Company it was beautiful and was completely lit up with lights in the early 1900s there’s this weird story that connects with Southern Mutual where apparently their older headquarters was moved Brick by Brick two blocks away where house the Athens Railway and

Electric Company not sure about all that but basically that means the company has been in Athens since 1890 so Athens had electricity in the city since before the 19th century the Athens Railway and electric had dams outside of Athens that were generating electricity they then would distribute throughout the city

It’s a fact that they had electric street cars back in 1888 by 1893 the city had electric lights electric cars brick sidewalks and free postal delivery Athens electric and railroad company was the primary electricity Source in the county and also provided power to some downtown businesses as well as for the street

Cars that ran through town this is interesting because aens was equipped with electricity much earlier than other cities who weren’t fully electrified until the 1920s the basic gist is that the location of the tunnels is right in this area all right so let’s talk about a few

Of them the first first one that was confirmed by multiple people is that there’s a tunnel that goes from Walker to all Goods now when I asked the historian guy B this one he was saying that the Walker tunnels is the lower levels of the building that connect that

They’re not the main tunnels but more like underground connections between the buildings but yes we confirmed this with an employee at all Goods they said that they use it for work like on a daily basis and that it was for employees only wish they would have let us go down

There but said that we had a work there to look at it but yeah there’s definitely a tunnel or connection between the buildings people at all Goods know about it also I didn’t mention that there’s an 1892 Myers building right here and there used to be

A building right to the right of it where the closed store is now just seems so weird that they would do that here’s a fascinating old photo of this area from the Myers building where you can see the building that supposedly is the old southern Mutual building that is in

The the exact location of the first skyscraper a couple of things seem to be off about this photo I wish there were more so that we could see what this place really looked like back then but look at the power poles they had lights and wires all throughout the city and

From this view you can even see the oddfellow building I was telling you about here is College Street supposedly a few years later and you can see the Myers building was a part of a larger building that had two tops so yeah supposedly there’s a tunnel that people talk about being under Toppers

The strip club and this whole building is below the street when you enter it does go down a level look at the building with the windows then there’s that tunnel under the grill that the bartender from the globe was talking about apparently others have discussed this one as well but the basement leads

To the network of tunnels supposedly let’s continue one thing I thought was weird is that apparently Clark County didn’t have a hospital until 1906 before this I believe the old College was used as a hospital but it’s not even mentioned in the 1889 City Directory it seems how could you not have a

Hospital also there wasn’t a water work system until the 1880s which means for the first 80 years they didn’t have an efficient way to clean waste before the 1860s only a small percentage of people would have a toilet and if they did it was owned by the upper class but it

Wasn’t like today the wayist still wasn’t washed away and most people were probably still using chamber pots during most of the 18th and 19th century like many urban and rural cities during the 19th century Athens Georgia was characterized by an increase in population size social inequality and poverty and poor sanitation and hygiene

Practices the population of Athens more than doubled during the 19th century increasing from 7,600 in 1810 to 7 17,700 in 1900 prior to the 1860s slaves compromised half the population this also represents a time that predates the acceptance of The Germ Theory apparently they were making these

Cities and had no idea that sanitation was going to be a concern which is just mind-blowing to me how do you invest Millions into a city to build the classical City you forget how to prepare for Waste Management a newspaper clip from 1907 as the role improved sanitation can play in preventing infectious

Disease taking this information into account it is likely that the inhabitants of Athens at the time were suffering from the effects of poor sanitation practices including poorly planned out houses next to drinking sources which often results in infectious diseases there’s evidence to suggest that the 19th century population of Athens was extremely

Unhealthy a study analyzed the skeletal and dental remains from the old Athens Cemetery and found evidence of disease due to poor hygiene practices a high prevalence of disease within a population is generally indicative of unhealthy living conditions associated with dense population poor hygiene and or poor sanitation practices the study compared Athens to

Other plantations and found that Athens was relatively lower in disease count however this isn’t conclusive unfortunately many of the remains taken from the old Athens Cemetery were poorly preserved especially skeletal tissue often affected by disease and infection such as vertebrae ribs and the outer cortical portion of long

Bones all right now let’s dive into some crazy stuff remember Wilson Lumpkin he’s the guy who proposed the idea for a state Asylum to treat lunatics idiots and epileptics well this Asylum is located in milleville Georgia and it’s a rabbit hole of its own about an hour away from Athens this

Place is not just large it’s one of the largest abandoned asylums in the world what’s even more shocking is that at some point the population of the hospital actually exceeded that of the city of milleville the Asylum spans over 2,000 acres and includes more than 200

Buildings I mean it’s so crazy how big this place is and also at least 20,000 unmarked graves are around here so yeah the place is super creepy now let’s just say that everything about to say is B and crazy talk but apparently rumors persist that this massive asylum in milleville is a

Place of dark secrets and unsettling activities there’s also this association with Voodoo torture devil dolls and just evil things that I’m telling you this stuff gets dark I’m not trying to go too deep into it but you can look into that it’s another Rabbit Hole I bring it up

Because people have been investigating the tunnels in the area that go for miles and the buildings date back to 1842 so where was the main hospitals in Athens the architecture of this Asylum campus is eerily similar to many structures in Athens where individuals who resisted the prevailing narratives

Sent here before being reintegrated into normal City Life the official story is that the medical understanding of mental illness was primitive back then leading to cruel and unusual treatments but is that the whole truth especially when you consider that you could be admitted to an asylum for a

Wide range of reasons not just mental health issues there are these old list of reasons that could get you committed and if you protested or screamed they had special devices to cure you the sheer size and location of this Asylum is puzzling why build something so massive in such a remote

Location you know it’s really weird to me that there are multiple cities with the same name and then you find the same street names in different towns it’s almost like they’re using place names or templates over and over again but yeah there are other cities in

The US that have the name Athens like Athens Ohio which has a strange Asylum with some interesting history and then there’s Athens Texas another city with its own hidden or lost history especially the mystery of the underground tunnels oh and then there’s the story about a haunted monkey Bridge which is

Definitely a topic for another video but I thought I’d mention it here since we’re talking about Athens apparently back in the 60s some monkeys escaped from a derailed train and ended up killing the circus owners now there are stories that these monkey ghosts are connected to the underground tunnels some say these

Tunnels were a part of the Underground Railroad and even shaped like a pentagram but then the Articles say that’s not possible because of the ground conditions but yeah back to Athens Georgia one story that really stands out in Athens is about the Morton theater when I first heard about it I

Genuinely thought Morton was a black man the way it’s often told you think he was the first African-American businessman in Athens but after digging deeper I found out he looks completely white his full name is Monroe Bowers pink Morton people called him pink which was a nod to his complexion

So he was white and so were his wife and kids however records do indicate his mother was African-American I might have missed it but I was under the impression that the highlight of the story was him being one of Athens earliest black businessmen I was curious and asked if

The building was always known as the Morton Building supposedly it was but they weren’t really that sure Morton was quite the entrepreneur Not only was he a businessman but he also was a building contractor he owned over 30 buildings with the Morton theater being the Crown Jewel this building was once the heart

Of the downtown black business district moren’s achievements are even more remarkable when you consider he was one of the wealthiest black or mixed race millionaires during the Jim Crow era now don’t get me wrong it’s a fascinating story but some parts seem a little bit off for instance pink Morton was also a

Politician active in the 18 1984 Republican National Convention he even served as the US postmaster of Athens Georgia and he wasn’t the only influential Morton there are several other Morton in Athens history and even American history who held significant positions of authority another similar name that pops up is Charles Morton

Strahan now this is the guy that claims to have come up with a unique road paving method dubbed the Clark County method given his supposed major role in road development it makes me wonder was his Innovative method somehow linked to The Peculiar elevation of the streets check out this photo of Broad Street

From 1880 oddly enough the streets appear raised even before any Paving but back to Pink Morton by 1914 he was juggling roles as the owner publisher and editor of the Progressive Era a local black newspaper unfortunately few copies of the newspaper are known to have survived from the period of his

Ownership 5 years after establishing this newspaper Monroe Bowers pink Morton died at the age of 66 also interestingly this theater is rumored to be haunted people most often report sightings of children although some accounts include sightings of old men with beards or unexplainable noises I thought it was very strange

That there would be ghost of children here and that doesn’t really go with the story of the theater suppose supposedly children used to work there in the early days continuing the state normal school had some interesting architecture from 1891 old rock College was selected by the credential committee who were

Appointed building Committee of the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia the Cornerstone was laid by Mount Vernon lodge number 22 on July 4th 1860 it was called by the authorities the University High School but as the native rock found upon the spot was used in the construction it was commonly

Called Rock College a name which it still Bears so this area became what’s known as normal town I found that kind of interesting especially since normal town in Athens both several old world structures many of which have buildings that extend below street level nearby is the Winnie Davis Hall I

Always found it odd because Normal schools were designed to train teachers in the Norms of curriculum so was this a place to train Educators on what’s considered normal for teaching does that imply they didn’t want people thinking outside the box there was also mention of a Mogi Elementary School in the vicinity but

Details on it seem scarce now into the aone Hill Cemetery I’ll get into the tunnel topic later but for now let’s focus on this area itself it’s absolutely beautiful the gravestones are very detailed and there are many sculptures in Obelisk a lot of the Obelisk have this veiled symbolism which we found super

Interesting there’s a lot of marble and some of the graves are among the most intricate that we’ve seen I noticed Graves with inscriptions in different languages including a few in Hebrew near the Michaels Temple some of the older tombstones were extremely moldy there were several Freemason gravestones which I thought was

Noteworthy there were also these Templar shaped iron signs throughout the cemetery some dating back to 1865 and then there’s this Iron Work especially around the graves it’s detailed and super unique there are many sculptures in the cemetery each crafted to Perfection these pieces are breathtakingly beautiful yet there’s an

Eerie quality to them giving off a surreal atmosphere the veiled Obelisk really caught my attention there was so many in the symbolism seems significant from what I’ve gathered the draping on these Obelisk and ear symbolized the veil between Earth and Heaven back in the late 1800s when someone passed away they were typically

Viewed at home often in rooms draped in Black this Stone drapery on the Obelisk represents morning in the transient nature of life these draperies sometimes refer to as curtains veils or Paws were more than just decorative elements during morning they held symbolic importance especially during the Victorian era as public

Cemeteries became more common and gravestones became a way to memorialize The Departed the design and symbolism of the Tombstones grew more intricate that seems to be the mainstream story but it’s also a common practice in Appalachian Christian culture to have what’s called a wake wherein the dead are shrouded in a white

Cloth and their family members sit with them sometimes called sitting with the dead awake it’s particularly of Irish and origin it’s a time of vigil and Gathering after a person’s death and usually before burial a particular structure in the cemetery stands out prominently intricately carved it features what

Appears to be a device or an ornate steeple dating back to 1860 this Monument is undoubtedly one of the most captivating graves in the area the craftsmanship alone suggest a significant investment the name inscribed on it belongs to Sarah Jean Taylor the wife of Richard deloney Taylor who passed away

At the tender age of 27 originally an angel grac the top of the Taylor Mausoleum but after sustaining damage it was tragically destroyed by vandals in 1981 any a further Act of desecration in 2004 three skulls were stolen and remain missing to this day the grand Lumpkin

Pillar crowned with an ear and a veil is another notable structure among the many monuments the marble ones especially draw attention aone Hill Cemetery opened its gates in 1856 interestingly several Graves predate The cemetery’s Establishment these Graves were relocated from the old Athens Cemetery when its size was reduced originally spanning around 6

Acres the old Athan Cemetery saw many of its Graves mooved to aone Hill however some Graves remain in their original location at Old Athens even though their headstones or markers were transferred to a Cony Hill reports also suggest that this section of the cemetery is ripe with Paranormal Activity from whispered

Voices to unusual weather patterns and even encounters with shadowy figures that chase visitors Tales speak of a misty Apparition transforming into a longhorned goat and a ghostly Carriage that traverses the cemetery’s bridge on Full Moon nights there’s also mysterious lights including one ing a lantern a notable mum in the cemetery

Appears to predate the official opening date of 1855 the hunter maum’s first Resident was Captain Nathan witch hunter a Mexican war veteran who passed away in 1849 born on August 23rd 1811 in Hancock County Georgia Nathan was the son of War of 1812 veteran Colonel archabald Russell Spence Hunter and Elizabeth

Witch Lucas Hunter in 1829 he entered West Point and according to his diary found the place initially distasteful a top the melum is a peculiar emblem an upside down pentagram within a star accompanied by a cross formed by a trumpet and a spear this could possibly be a symbol for the second

Drons this place is known as a Coney Hill Cemetery and one thing that’s stuck out is how much of it is set on different Mounds once you cross the bridge it’s pretty hard to miss also there’s a bunch of bricks laying around I’m not sure why they’re

There but to me it feels like there’s something buried under these Mounds especially the ones at the back from a distance it almost looks like layered brick now about the ug tunnels there are rumors of old tunnels all under the campus but there’s another well-known tunnel that’s said to run beneath the

Stadium I’m not suggesting it’s old world or anything but it’s intriguing that such a large tunnel exists supposedly stretching from here to Tate there’s not much info out there about this tunnel it might just be a runoff but still it’s pretty cool it’s located at the back of the cemetery near

The largest M there’s a spot where if you follow the stream pointing towards the stadium you’ll see that it goes into a tunnel the area around it is actually quite beautiful okay so I’m at the back of the grave yard and here is the tunnel entrance the famous tunnel that goes under

Ug it’s pretty big cement let’s see how I can get down here all right okay that’s a big bat big spider see that not going to all this is insane all right hold on let me back this up so yeah I guess this is the entrance that everybody’s been talking about it’s

Real let’s see so yeah my bad the phone got cut off when I jumped but I did get a really good shot of the tunnel and couldn’t really find any official information or pictures online of it so it’s cool to see it in high quality which is pretty awesome but yeah supposedly teenagers

Would come through here and sneak sneak in the game or something I’m not really sure we didn’t go down it but seems like it goes for quite a distance so there are definitely underground tunnels but this is not the old world tunnels that people are talking about downtown although I was reviewing the

Footage and some of the tunnel does seem to have small indications of bricks not sure if that’s what it is though but I wouldn’t be surprised if they converted the older tunnels into different utility uses throughout the city and that’s another reason that they aren’t really known because they’re being used all

Right so there’s a few more points to touch on while we delved into the freemasonic origins of U it’s worth noting that there are mainstream articles discussing secret societies at the University today one such Society is the grid iron secret society at ug it’s been described as the highest

Honor a male student may receive on the University of Georgia campus and even ranks among the top 10 secret member clubs globally this isn’t some hidden fact it’s right there on Wikipedia I’ll leave the deeper digging to you all so that’s a brief overview of Athens the investigation’s still going

And while we don’t claim to have all the answers or those curious about our thoughts on the tunnels in the bigger picture let’s delve into some of the prevailing theories surrounding these mysterious underground passages diving deeper into what was mentioned in the first section there are parts of the official history that just

Don’t add up this land has been inhabited for over 10,000 years but the major changes and development seem to have happened mostly in the last century this period has seen a share of Wars land swaps and actions that forced thousands of indigenous people from their homes there are many native tribes

Some of which might be lost to history the blending of various cultures led to the formation of mixed race native tribes additionally the Moors after leaving Spain arrived in America before Columbus some of these spartic Jews even became early settlers in the Southeast it’s worth noting the connection between

Native Americans and Freemasonry a topic that isn’t often brought to the Forefront many tribal leaders who entered into treaties were Freemasons with Freemasons playing a significant role in the founding of Athens it raises many questions if Freemasonry is in a cold order from Europe influencing multiple countries what does that mean for our

Understanding of American History the absence of such details in common narratives might be more than just an oversight is it possible that the history we’ve been taught is in fact a distortion a narrative that veers away from the evident truths after delving into multiple City unveilings certain patterns emerge the

Term founding fathers might be more literal than figurative they didn’t build this nation from scratch they found it there was already an established civilization infrastructure in place the real question is to what extent upon their arrival in America these Freemasons discovered the Treasures of the Ancients what were these Treasures

Resources remnants of the old world many of these buildings in Athens were already here the Freemason role was to repurpose these remnants to forge the new from the old much Like a Phoenix Rising From the Ashes this explains the marble Block in Rome Georgia the Sheil symbolizing the previous civilization nurturing the new

Airs these early Freemasons of all colors had a Monumental task to renovate reposition and to elevate the streets they had to make sense of the existing masonry and converted it to a somewhat functional City the result is a landscape that in places seem seems oddly unfinished why the

Deception control for one it’s not prudent to inform a newly formed society that their nation was bankrolled by Elites and royalty it’s more palatable to present A Narrative of spontaneous City emergence in progress rather than a meticulously planned design by Freemasons admitting to such a history would shatter the idea that America

Formed through random chance Innovation they had advanced technology back then inherited from earlier civilizations which challenges the whole horse and buggy narrative why build with Windows and Doors below straight level and why is there silence on this topic why would there be an extensive network of tunnels throughout downtown in

UGA the full story remains elusive this topic has been explored in other discussions reling to theories about tartaria suggesting an advanced civilization existed in America before the founding fathers this civiliz ization could have crossed the bearing straight establishing cities throughout the Northwest eventually moving Eastward these architectural Styles seen in the

US can be found globally with some structures riving the centuries old marvels of Europe whether it’s tartaria or another civilization isn’t the Crux of the matter the key takeaway is that these cities were inherited in the history we’ve been handed is at best incomplete feel free to make your own

Conclusions and share them but I hope you enjoyed that breakdown of Athens we’d love to do more so if you enjoyed this share it with your friends especially if you’re in Athens tell people about us maybe consider checking out our first book and other than that

All we can hope is that our minds may be unveiled let go of everything you think to be true relax the mind and ask the question do I truly understand what this reality is m

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