Roswell Mill Ruins

Founded in 1839, these mills produced "Roswell Gray" fabric for Confederate uniforms. In July 1864, Union forces charged all workers with treason - approximately 400 women and children were deported north, most never returning.

The Roswell Mill was the largest cotton mill in north Georgia, incorporated in 1839 and employing over 600 workers who produced "Roswell Gray" fabric for Confederate military uniforms. When the men marched off to war, women and children kept the mill running - a decision that would seal their tragic fate.

In July 1864, General William T. Sherman's forces captured Roswell during the Atlanta Campaign. Sherman ordered the approximately 400 mill workers - mostly women and children - arrested as traitors for producing Confederate supplies. They spent a week in holding at the Georgia Military Institute, where Union soldiers allegedly committed acts of assault against the captives. The workers were then shipped by train to Indiana and abandoned, left to fend for themselves in overcrowded refugee towns. Many died of starvation or exposure. Only a handful ever returned to Georgia; the fates of most remain unknown.

The ruins of the mill now stand along Vickery Creek, managed by the National Park Service as part of the Chattahoochee River Recreation Area. But the spirits of the deported women and children have returned home. Visitors report shadowy figures darting between the stone pillars, especially at dusk. Apparitions of women and children roam the grounds along the water's edge. Screams echo from the boarded-up machine shop.

Many hear the sounds of old mill machinery - though the equipment was removed long ago. Whispers, footsteps, and faint children's laughter fill the ruins. Paranormal experts believe the intensity of emotion - grief, fear, betrayal - left a psychic imprint on the land. A ten-foot Corinthian column, shattered at the top to symbolize lives torn apart, was dedicated in 2000 to honor the workers who never came home.