Couey House

107 University Street
Summerville, GA 30747

Built in the early 1840’s by Andrew McSelland Couey, the Couey House was one of the earliest pioneer homes in Chattooga County. Originally, the house was located nearly seven miles from its current site in Dirt Town Valley near Tidings, Georgia. As the land was cleared, the single pen house was constructed of huge logs which were hoisted into place and carved into half dovetail ends as the house was erected. Accordingly, the Couey House provides a representative example of not only the craftmanship and lifestyle of the white settlers who took possession of lands in Dirt Town after Indian Removal, but also its previous Cherokee residents. The majority of nineteenth century Cherokee families were like those who lived in Dirt Town. They lived in hewn log homes like the Couey House and were subsistence farmers cultivating small cornfields and fruit orchards, and ranging livestock. During Indian Removal, poorer Cherokee families, like those inhabiting Dirt Town, suffered the most during detention in the removal forts and their exodus to the Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. They suffered some of the highest mortality rates on the Trail of Tears, partly from having to endure one of the coldest winters of the nineteenth century. The exterior of the house and its grounds are visitable during park hours. The cabin is occasionally open for tours during special community events.