Land of Ridge and Valley

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History of Northwest Georgia through a Camera’s Eye
”Northwest Georgia. A Land of Ridge and Valley. A place rich in history, a past to be preserved.”
Donald E. Davis

Through the medium of photography, this online exhibition highlights major themes in the history of the Northwest Georgia mountains. It features some forty images that have been carefully culled from Donald E. Davis’s book The Land of Ridge and Valley: A Photographic History of the Northwest Georgia Mountains (Arcadia Press, 2001). Published in Arcadia’s Images of America series, this volume showcases more than two hundred photographs from a variety of public and private collections. It is a vivid photographic record of the unique geology, natural, and human history of the northwest Georgia. The book traces the environmental, social, and cultural changes that occurred in the region throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the loss of the Native American community, the arrival or white farmers, and the advent of new industries.

This online exhibit contains pictures that range in subject from gorgeous vistas, pleasant picnic scenes, and picturesque homesteads to the busy mining sites and quarries. The images are supplemented by Dr. Davis’s original commentaries. These photographs document the development of the Northwest Georgia’s mountain communities and facilitate the dialog about the region’s past, its growing importance on the national stage, and its future.

Donald Edward Davis, Ph.D., was a professor of Sociology at Dalton State College. He holds master’s degrees in Social Ecology and Psychology. His personal and research interests include Environmental History, Appalachian Studies, and Community Development. Dr. Davis published numerous articles in Environmental Ethics, The Ecologist, The Trumpeter, and other journals. He is an author of the award-winning Where There Are Mountains: An Environmental History of the Southern Appalachians (UGA Press, 2000). His most recent books are Homeplace Geography: Essays for Appalachia (Mercer, 2006) and Southern United States: An Environmental History (ABC-CLO, 2006). As a North Georgia native, Dr. Davis is keenly interested in ecological, anthropological, and historic development of the region.