Papermaking, the Athens Factory, and ‘The Thicket’
Plus, paper quilling and tundra swans
This week, we explore the art and history of papermaking across the Southeast, then head to Georgia to visit a preserved cotton factory and rum distillery. Following this email, upgraded subscribers will receive the full feature on papermaking, which includes a list of papermaking classes and workshops across the region.
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The Art and History of Papermaking
In the misty hollows of the rural Southeast, where longleaf pines stretch like sentinels toward the sky, water-powered paper mills once dotted the landscape. Old linen rags and cotton scraps from textile mills provided the highest-quality raw materials for making fine writing papers, banknotes, and archival documents until after the Civil War, when wood pulp began to replace them.
North Carolina’s papermaking industry began in 1777 with John Hulgan’s Orange County mill. There were ten such mills in the Tar Heel State before the Civil War. Of the five that survived it, none outlasted the nineteenth century.
Virginia’s early paper mills faced a similar fate. The Confederate evacuation of Richmond destroyed the Franklin Paper Mill in 1865, and the Fredericksburg Paper Mill ran from 1860 until an accidental fire destroyed it in 1877.
Fires also consumed White and Bicknell Paper Plant in Columbia, South Carolina, the Pioneer Paper Mill near Athens, Georgia, and the Whiteman Paper Mill near Knoxville, Tennessee—all papermaking dynasties of their time.
The Athens Factory
279 Williams Street, Athens, Georgia
From papermaking to fabric manufacturing … the Athens Factory was built in 1833 as a cotton mill, and now houses the University of Georgia School of Social Work. Prior to UGA’s purchase of the building, it served as a popular bar called O’Malley’s from 1978 to 1997. Its core structure survived an 1857 arson fire, revealing parts of the original foundation. The site once powered Confederate textile production and later served as a warehouse, call center, gym, and saloon. Renovated in 2008, the building stands as a preserved antebellum industrial landmark on the North Oconee River.
Tabby Ruins in Georgia
Old Cane Mill Drive, Darien, Georgia 31305
