Henry County Highpoint Trip Report
five areas (980+ ft)
Date: January 4, 2007
Author: Bob Schwab
From Exit 218 on I-75, drive west on Route 81 for 5.25 miles to some fenced
water towers on your right. Park here and wander around on this large contour
(area 1). There used to be a lookout and benchmark here but I didn’t see the BM
(listed elevation of 985 feet) and the lookout is long gone. I hiked around to
the back fence corner on the east side.
I thought higher ground was in the pine woods, not far from this fence corner.
Continue west on Route 81 for maybe 0.35 mile to Dogden Road. Area 2 is a small
contour just southwest of this intersection, in the front yard of a very nice
brick house (#101). North of this intersection is the entrance to the Edenwylde
Development, with more exclusive homes. The first few homes here, just east of
Eden Parkway, seem to be sitting on the highest ground in area 3. Both of these
contours have obviously been disturbed and neither one had an appreciable rise
inside the contour line.
Return to Route 81 and continue driving west another 0.6 mile to a large
telephone tower on your left. Pull in and park in their lot. When I visited
area 4, the gate was open and the workers there allowed me to wander around inside.
The ground inside the fence does appear to be as high or higher than
anything outside. Furthermore, the amount of rise I detect from the highway
just to the gate is at least 8 feet and given that even the lower highway is
inside this contour makes me believe this is the real county highpoint.
Unfortunately, NGS datasheets sheets for this ATT tower do not report an
elevation, although they indicate the tower itself is 247 feet high.
To visit area 5, continue west 0.25 mile on Route 81 to Route 3. Turn right and
drive north and west on Route 3 for 1.4 miles to the county line and SLR Boulevard.
There is a large Clayton County correctional facility here just west
of SLR Boulevard. Turn right and go north to the second street on your right
(Salem Drive) and turn right again. Drive to the crest of this dead-end road
and examine the trailers and yards on both sides of the road. There is a log-cabin
trailer to the north and a tan (condemned) trailer and a white trailer to
the south. This entire contour is pretty flat and doesn’t rise much inside the
theoretical contour line. I also checked out the area around a green and white
trailer on the north side of Winston Drive (the first cross street) which seemed
to be about the same in height.
In summary, the two highest areas worth visiting in this county are areas
1 and 3, near the water towers in the pine woods and at the
ATT telephone tower respectively. My hunch is the ATT tower is highest.