304 HABERSHAM COUNTY. 



Character of the People. — The people of this section 

 are accommodating and hospitable. To strangers they are 

 particularly attentive, and take much pleasure in communicat- 

 ing information in regard to the various objects of interest 

 with which the country abounds. Some of the most intelli- 

 gent men in the State reside in this county. 



Antiuuities. — In 1834, says Mr. Sherwood, in his Gazetteer 

 of Georgia, a subterranean Indian village was discovered in 

 Nacoochee valley by gold miners, whilst excavating a canal. 

 The depth to which it is covered varies from seven to nine 

 feet. Some of the houses are imbedded in a stratum of rich 

 auriferous gravel. They are 34 in number, built of logs from 

 six to ten inches in diameter, and from ten to twelve feet in 

 length. Cane baskets and fragments of earthenware were 

 found in the rooms. Specimens of curious workmanship, such 

 as crucibles and mortars, have been also found. 



Name. — This county was named in honour of Col. Joseph 

 Habersham. This sterling patriot was born at Savannah, on 

 the 28th of July, 1751. His father, James Habersham, was a 

 native of England, and accompanied his friend the Rev. 

 George Whitefield, to Georgia, in 1738, by whose advice he 

 took charge of the Orphan House, situated about nine miles 

 * from Savannah. He was a man of uncommon piety, and ne- 

 glected no opportunity of inculcating upon the minds of his 

 children the important truths of religion. The subject of this 

 memoir was educated at Princeton College, whilst under the 

 able presidency of Dr. Witherspoon. At an early period of 

 his life he imbibed a love for independence ; and accordingly, 

 when only 23 years of age, he was placed upon the first com- 

 mittee appointed by the friends of liberty, on the 27th of July, 

 1774. Not many months after this, several gentlemen met at 

 the house of Ur. Jones to concert a plan by which access 

 could be had to the magazine in Savannah, which contained a 

 large quantity of powder. On the 11th of May, Mr. Haber- 

 sham accompanied by Noble, W. Jones, Edward Telfair, Wil- 

 liam Gibbons, Joseph Clay, and John Milledge, effected an en- 

 trance into the magazine, took out the powder, sent a part of 

 it to Beaufort, and concealed the remainder. Agreeably to 

 notice given, a number of the sons of liberty met in Savannah, 



