Ruins of the New Manchester Manufacturing Company Textile Factory

The mill used the rushing waters of Sweetwater Creek to power a cotton mill that supported an entire factory town during its heyday. The raw product would eventually be turned into yarn that kept the whole enterprise afloat. However by 1864 the Civil War was nearing its end and the Confederate troops that had protected the area surrounding the mill were forced into retreat. When Union forces marched into the territory they put the entire factory to the flame. Once the war ended the factory was all but forgotten, the crumbling brick walls left to fall apart and be overtaken by the dense Georgia foliage.