A Ceremony Of `Respect And Reconciliation'

MINERAL BLUFF, Ga. - Nestled deep in the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a small cemetery, once overrun with weeds, offers a rare glimpse into a little known aspect of Appalachian culture.

The graves of George and Hannah Dickey, great-great-grandparents of author James Dickey, best known for the novel "Deliverance," are atop Hogback Mountain alongside their slaves. The slave cemetery, one of only a handful known to exist in the county, is a rare find in the North Georgia Appalachians, a region that was known to be more loyal to the Union than the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The 30- by 40-foot cemetery, where simple stones mark the graves of at least 26 slaves surrounding the Dickeys' white marble tombstone, represents what some believe was an unusually close relationship between the Dickeys and their slaves and provides insight into a culture that snubbed plantation life, yet passed down slaves for generations to tend their farms.

Today the white Dickey descendants will join African-American Dickeys believed to be the descendants of the slaves at the newly restored grave site for a rededication ceremony. The event, which includes a musical combining Appalachian fiddles and black gospel at the church founded by the Dickeys, is designed to ignite a renewed relationship between two families whose ties go back more than 150 years.

The white Dickey relatives hope the cemetery will help them learn more about Hannah and George, who moved from North Carolina to the Georgia mountains in 1840 and brought their slaves with them.

Some family members also see the preserved grave site as a gesture of reconciliation for the deeds of their ancestors, and they plan to use the rededication to help improve race relations for future generations.

"What we want to accomplish is a simple statement of respect and reconciliation. White America does not understand that the legacy of slavery to many African Americans is still an unresolved issue," said Fred Dickey, 60, a San Diego relative who spearheaded the cleanup effort after visiting the site two years ago.

"We're not starting a national campaign; it's a little thing, really," he said. "But goodwill is made up of a lot of little things."

For Michael Dickey, an African American, the grave site provides a reservoir of rich family history that most blacks never will know. Official records were not kept for most slaves, so tracing African-American genealogy is difficult for families whose history was not passed down through word of mouth or in letters.

"It didn't really hit me until I came up here in person several months ago, and I felt like I was standing on hallowed, sacred ground," said Michael Dickey, 50. "I don't hold any ill feelings toward anyone. Slavery was a cruel business, but it was just a sign of the times." Dickey, who lives in Tennessee, said his father grew up in that area of the Blue Ridge and his family had heard the stories of Hannah Dickey and her slaves.

No one knows why George and Hannah moved to the Georgia mountains so late in life. He was 64 and died just two years after their arrival. Hannah was 63 and lived to the age of 91. She died in 1868, after slavery was abolished.

The Dickey family owned several farms around Hogback Mountain, an area of steep, rugged terrain surrounded by the Ocoee River in Georgia and the Toccoa River in Tennessee. The family had a wealth of land, by some estimates as much as a thousand acres. Like most residents of the area, they were farmers and hunters.

"Most of what people grew here was for their own use. They would grow the food and preserve it for winter use. There weren't the large plantations here and really not many slave owners," said Ethelene Jones, a local historian who compiled a book on the history of Fannin County.

The 1860 census listed a total of 143 slaves in Fannin County. Hannah Dickey was the second-largest slave owner in the county with 15 slaves - two women and 13 children. Her slaves lived together in a house on her property. She apparently acquired others before her death.

Family members don't know why Hannah and George chose to be buried atop Hogback Mountain. Other members of the Dickey family are buried in a plot a few miles away, closer to where the family's farm used to be.

Local legend has it that Hannah was very kind to her slaves and they were devoted to her until her death.

"The speculation is that they had it tough and they depended on one another and were like family. I was told that one of the women slept with Hannah in her old age to help keep her warm," said Joe Dickey, 53, who has lived all of his life in Fannin County.

"It has been passed down that Hannah once said that as long as she lived, those children would have food to eat, clothes on their backs, a roof over their heads and pennies in their pockets."

Despite the minor comforts Hannah Dickey may have provided to her slaves, the harsh reality of slavery is evident in the cemetery. The small stones are the only evidence that these people existed. The markers bear no inscriptions, making it impossible to identify the remains. Their names, their birth dates and the dates of their deaths will never be known.

It is likely that the slaves took on the slave master's surname, which was customary on plantations. The thought has crossed some minds that the white Dickeys and the black Dickeys could be blood relatives. But without exhuming the bodies and performing DNA tests, they cannot know for sure. And some family members would rather leave that stone unturned.

That the grave site could have remained intact all these years is no less than a miracle. Few documented slaves' graves exist today because they were either unmarked or have been desecrated.

Dickey relatives believe this one was preserved because it is not easily accessible. Though Hogback Mountain has been a popular camping area, the cemetery - encased within a two-foot cinder block wall three miles from the major roadway - is hidden among pine, maple and oak trees at the end of a gravel road.

Dickey relatives always have known about the cemetery. James Dickey, who was born in Atlanta and later lived in South Carolina, visited the area once, in the 1970s. His father is said to have helped build the cinder-block wall in the 1940s.