I’m still crazy about this area near Lake Allatoona. It is always beautiful and a great place to hike with the dogs. Some of Cocoa’s favorite trails run through these woods. This one goes up to the Allatoona Dam. Another leads to Cooper’s Furnace, which is a Civil War site. The remnants of the antebellum industrial center started by Mark Anthony Cooper at Etowah, Georgia, are now under the waters of Lake Allatoona but his furnace remains. It is pictured in the next photo.

Cooper sold the iron manufacturing facilities to the Confederate States of America in 1863, and it was destroyed by Union Forces in 1864 during Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. The remaining cold blast furnace stands as a lone memorial to Cooper’s iron empire.

You can see Cooper’s Furnace in this photo. It was taken from the top of the mountain near the dam. The Etowah River is on the left. It runs out of the base of the dam.

The trail splits at a couple of different places. In places it follows old abandoned railroad tracks down to the furnace. Usually it is very well maintained, but the forestry office at this location is closed for the winter. You have to check out a map to see where the “hike in” parking lots are located.

Chip is a sharp lookout. He’s watching for squirrels. Notice his “go native” look! He thinks it is flashy, and it is but I’m not so sure about it. He had a few “mats” and the groomer felt it would be better to cut him short and start over. Yikes!

And here is Cocoa—always trying to dodge the camera. She almost succeed yet again!

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