Trail Creek Trestle

Today I was driving through Athens, Georgia when I can across a strange but beautiful sight. It was an old wooden railroad trestle that seemed to suddenly and abruptly stop in a field along Poplar Street.
Being the curious soul that I am, I stopped to take a few pictures and marked my location on my GPS so I could use it to create a Unilocal page later if I found the trestle to be of any historic significance. My hunch was right, it is indeed significant.
I discovered this trestle was once part of the CSX railroad system that connected Athens to Atlanta and the world. CSX offered the old decaying rail system to the city, but city officials declined and in the year 2000, CSX began demolition of the old trestle. However, the mayor underestimated just how important this piece of history was not only to Athens, but the music world as well.
You see, the 1980’s band R.E.M. used this particular trestle as the cover photo for their 1983 album titled Murmur. It was Rolling Stones «Album of the Year». The band was from Athens, GA and the album cover as well as the trestle itself had become iconic to the bands fans around the world. Protests over the demolition of the trestle broke out and forced the city to negotiate with CSX to halt demolition of the structure. Unfortunately much of the trestle had already been destroyed, but thankfully a major portion of it was saved.
I hear the city has plans to use it as a tourist attraction, but in the meantime it stands untouched since demolition halted. Still, it is a gorgeous site that presents unique and rustic photo opportunities. You can still see the concrete base for the trestle that once went over Poplar Street. Use the entrance to the North Oconee River Greenway Trail just behind Mama’s Boy restaurant (on the corner of Oak and Poplar) to view the remaining concrete pillars where the railroad continued across the Oconee River.
R.E.M album cover (front) —

R.E.M album cover (rear) —
R.E.M full album —

FINAL THOUGHTS
I had a good feeling this structure had to be of some significance and I’m so glad I stopped to investigate. If you are fond of old bridges like I am, Athens has a treasure trove of 1800’s covered bridges within a 30 minute drive of this location. It would make a great lazy Sunday afternoon drive! Be sure to bring your camera :-)
Covered Bridges within ½ hour to 45 minute drive:
Elder’s Mill
Watson Mill Bridge
Cromer’s Mill Covered Bridge
Howard’s Covered Bridge
Enjoy!