While the Chattahoochee will always be my favorite Georgia river, flowing from the “hills of Habersham down the valleys of Hall,” there are several runners-up, one of which is the Soque, representing a total of 28.5 miles in length. This means the mighty Mississippi is about 82.1 times longer.
You can find the plush “Viking Mississippi” plying the Mississippi; it measures 450 feet in length and 75 feet in width. The longest vessel you encounter on the Soque likely would be a 17-foot canoe.
I like Savannah because of its history and its name. I am a fan of the Altamaha from longtime exposure to the river with friends over the years and its colloquial pronunciation, “Altamahaul.”
The Soque and its watershed are entirely within the boundaries of Habersham County. So, we have in these names a mixing of two cultures, the Cherokee Indians, whose village Sakwiyi once stood on the banks of the river, and a county whose name connects with an English family, the Habershams, who were makers of habergeons, a type of armor worn in medieval times.
There is something aristocratic sounding, perhaps leaning toward noble, with Habersham. At one time, I thought there might have been a misspelling involved with the name, in that there is a village northwest of London known as Haversham.
Habersham Road in the Buckhead section of Atlanta is where you will find pricey real estate for this becoming neighborhood and like the county, 80 miles to the northeast, was named for Colonel Joseph Habersham of Savannah. Habersham was a patriot in the revolution and became the postmaster general in George Washington’s cabinet.
He became speaker of the Georgia General Assembly in 1785, the same year the University of Georgia was chartered.
You will find the name Habersham on creeks, streets, and roads in Georgia but its most prominent remains that of Habersham County.
If you spend time in the hills of Habersham, you won’t be disappointed. The sheer natural beauty of the place and the inspiration it offers of nature will make you pine for more. At the north end of Habersham, there is Tallulah Falls, still a hiker’s and nature explorer’s delight.
Most communities in Habersham are refreshing and full of beauty, inhabited by people with ingenuity and energy.
There is Demorest, home of baseball legend Johnny Mize; historic Clarkesville, the county seat; Mt. Airy, where the greatest baseball legend, Ty Cobb, planned to build his retirement home on Yonah Mountain; and Cornelia, home of the Big Red Apple, a monument to the past when this area was a flourishing apple-growing community.
Anglers can reap the most fun by fly-casting the Soque, which often yields trophy trout. If lucky, you also might hook a brook. That is an impressive trophy in that while it is a smaller fish, it brings about an emotional high when you realize you have netted a fish native to the state of Georgia.
That means I have something in common with the Cherokee Indians who once fished the waters of the North Georgia rivers. I have a nice “Brookie” displayed in my office bookcase. I caught that one on the Chattahoochee, though, which makes it even better.
Out of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall, The brookie I caught is now on my wall.
While I’m sure my colloquial iambic pentameter would not turn Sidney Lanier’s head, it was soul-refreshing to stand in a North Georgia river, catch a native trout, and swoon to the embrace of nature.
The good news is that almost anybody can enjoy this experience.
The even better news is that once you do it, you can do it again. And again, and again. So, here’s to the Soque, an enchanting tributary of the mighty Chattahoochee.