Local video: Take a glimpse at a few freestanding chimneys in the area.
Do you know these chimneys?
We'd like information on two chimneys located on Union Church Road, about three miles from Winder Highway between the Hampton Ridge and Evergreen subdivisions. The two chimneys are on the same foundation and are visible from the road. If you have any information on the structure, please call Ashley Bates at 770-718-3414 or e-mail abates@gainesvilletimes.com.
When Steve Lord and his family moved to Flowery Branch and saw the old chimney sitting all alone in the backyard, he knew it had to stay.
The Lords moved to Georgia from New York City a few years ago and now, instead of looking at the artistry of skyscrapers, they look at the old stone chimney, which Lord said he loves just as much.
"When we saw it we thought it was great," Lord said. "The chimney is from the 1800s, the days of slavery. When you talk about slavery, that could be our ancestors. It's nice artwork that you don't see very much. I think it's cool.
"People stop by and look at it all the time."
The information on the age of the chimney came from the contractors who built the home, Lord said.
Dan Rosenbaum, a mason based in Watkinsville who does masonry work all over Northeast Georgia, said it would be hard to tell the age of a chimney built out of stone or rock.
"It's very hard to tell on a rock chimney like that. You would have to go by how deteriorated the mortar is, really," he said.
Rosenbaum added that with a brick chimney it wouldn't be as difficult to determine the age.
"The best way is probably not so much by the mortar but take the brick and see if the company who made the brick has their name stamped on the brick," he said. "Any in the past 30 to 40 years, brick companies don't stamp their name on the bricks."
The Lords' stone chimney also was noticed by Freeman Farr, a longtime Chestnut Mountain resident. Over the years, Farr has noticed several old chimneys that stand alone in the Chestnut Mountain area.
"It would be interesting to know about the people that worked on them and what their situation was like," he said.
Farr also has remnants of an old log cabin and chimney on his property on Union Church Road.
"On my property you have to look at it and explain it," Farr said. "It was from a log cabin that was about 16 by 20 (feet) and there was just a pile that was not even a foot tall. I imagine that the chimney didn't even have mortar; it was mud and stone."
Farr has been on the property since 1986 and said the rocks and chimney haven't deteriorated much over the years. He hasn't moved a bit of the old landmarks except for one piece - the hearth stone.
"I took it and made it my entry stone in front of my front door," he said.
The only plans that Lord has for the historic chimney in his backyard is "at some point make sure that the rock is stabilized."