Chatham County High Point Trip Report
Date: December 31, 2001
Author: Ken Oeser
From GA 25 north of Savannah, we went west on GA30 to its junction with GA21. From here we turned south,
went under the railroad tracks, and turned right into the areas at the water treatment plant.
We quickly noticed a gated fence entrance, but pulled up to see if anyone was around, and saw nobody.
I noticed a key box on the left, and a sign inside the fence pointing right to the Cherokee Hill Cemetery.
I then pulled up to the gate and pressed the call button and asked if we could visit the cemetery, and the gate
was opened for us, with no person-to-person contact. We turned right toward the cemetery and then a
90 degree left, then angled to the right to a gate where we parked. We crossed through the gate and crossed
the railroad track to the entrance to the cemetery, which was gated. The cemetery is lower than around the
railroad track anyway, and we walked along the track to the east and into the woods to hit all the higher
areas in the woods for the smaller contour.
The highest natural area seems to be in the area of the road crossing the railroad track, just in the woods
from there. The water tower is raised on an artificial hill at least 20 feet high, so we just hit the edge of it.
Sighting showed the other contours (on the old feet and new metric) on the topo to be lower than this spot,
although the area just north of the fence has some rise, and it doesn't have a 50-foot contour on the old map.
The contour across GA21 also is lower. This large contour has more than 2 feet of relief, and is best viewed
from the cemetery area looking toward the railroad track and the woods, and is highly likely the highest spot
in the county.
We then drove around the airport area on public roads to view the 51 spot elevation on the runway, and it
seems the intersection area is the highest in the contour, making the highest area here less than 52 feet high.
The small area 1/2 mile north of the airport is not even on the metric map, and has been developed into some buildings,
and therefore does not count anymore. The only two contours that are consistent on both foot and
metric maps are the large areas at the runways and the water plant, and their shapes vary along their edges.
I'm counting this one for now unless someone can give me good reason not to. If someone flies into Savannah,
they can get a closer look at the runway area.