Officials from the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah traveled to Fayette

County last week to unveil a new marker detailing the history of Starr's

Mill.

They were joined by members of the Fayette County Historical Society and

the Fayette County Heritage Project on Thursday afternoon in unveiling the

sign fronting Ga. Highway 85 South.

The black steel sign with silver lettering bears the seal of the Georgia

Historical Society and explains that the first mill on the site was built

At the time, the site on Whitewater Creek was less than a mile from the

boundary between the Creek Indian Nation and the young state of Georgia.

Fayette County was carved from former Creek land ceded to the state in 1821.

Hilliard Starr owned the mill from 1866 to 1879 and gave the site its current

name, the plaque reads. Two previous log structures on the site burned, and

the familiar red clapboard building that stands today was erected in 1907.

It continued to operate as a mill until 1959. For a time, the waterfall at

the mill also operated a dynamo that produced electricity for nearby Senoia.

At one time, when Hwy. 85 was a major north-south route between Atlanta

and Columbus, Starr's Mill had a reputation for being one of the most

photographed sites in all of Georgia.

Today perhaps, the mill is best known around the state for the name it shares

with nearby Starr's Mill High School, which opened in 1997.

The Starr's Mill sign is just the fourth official state historical

marker to be located in Fayette County, according to the Carl Vinson Institute

of Government at the University of Georgia.

One stands on the Courthouse Square in Fayetteville and briefly describes

Fayette's beginnings. In Peachtree City, a marker identifies Holly Grove

AME Church, and another stands at the Palmer Family Cemetery on Senoia Road

just east of Ga. Highway 74 North in Tyrone.

The Georgia Historical Society began erecting markers in the state in 1998,

after the Department of Natural Resources gave up the task. But funding is

limited and adding new markers each year is done on a competitive basis by

application. A review committee decides which requested sites are worthy

of getting a marker, and then the $2,500 cost of manufacturing and erecting

the marker is shared between the society and the local applicant.