Transylvania County “chain gang”, 1931.

For years I have wanted to pin
down where the chain gang 1931 Road Construction Photo was taken. I felt that it was taken along Hwy 276. I
hiked to the two spots that I considered most likely.  One ended up being rejected do some terrain
differences.

Probable location of 1931 photo, 2014.

However, I believe the second
site is a good match. I cannot say that the site is definitely where the photo
was taken but I feel that it is highly probable. The terrain matches. There is
some minor difference in the excavated cut profile but you can see from the old
photo that the crew was not finished excavating the cut – the steam shovel is
still at work on the cut. I was unable to get to the exact spot that I think
the photo was taken due to view blockage by rhododendrons. Nonetheless, I got
reasonably close. I also walked the original road bed in two places. It is
quite well preserved. I believe that the chain gang 1931 Road Construction photo was taken near 35.167729, -82.732357

In addition to the remnants of
old Mill Hill Turnpike, at that spot there is a second road coming up from the
Gwynn Valley area that joins Mill Hill Turnpike. It cannot be seen from the
road.

This
mark-up of a topographical map shows the area where I think the 1931 Road
Construction photo was taken – where the GPS coordinates are. I have marked in
blue the approximate location of the Mill Hill Turnpike in that section as
existing remnants in solid and destroyed roadbed in dotted blue.

New photograph, topographical
map and information provided by Ed Comer.