Smallwoods Built Homes, Barns, Ocoee Flume, Fairyland Roads And Much More

Pleasant Greenberry (P.G.)  Smallwood was a contractor, building houses, barns, wells and outhouses all over North Georgia.

His son, Lemuel Clayton (L.C.) Smallwood, followed in his father's footsteps. He was a road and bridge builder, but he could construct just about anything. He built the flume at Ocoee, the whimsical "Witch's Cabin" on Lookout Mountain and - what he considered his crowning achievement - Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. 

The Smallwoods, who are English, trace back to Elijah Smallwood, who was born in 1784 and lived until 1870.

He married Sarah Clark. Their children included McKenzie, William, Wilkinson, Hannah who married Elijah M. Wiley, Mary Ann who married Frederick McWhorter Growder, Matilda who married David W. Growder, Almeda, Hiram who married Charity Caroline Jones, Sarah who married J.D. Hide, Huram R. who married Sarah M. Hulsey, and Mary Caroline who married Jesse W. Clark. 

McKenzie Smallwood was born in North Carolina in 1809. He and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to Carroll County, Ga. Their son, Clayton S. Smallwood, was born there in 1831. The Smallwoods came at an early day to Pigeon Mountain - a spur of Lookout Mountain - at the part that is close to LaFayette, Ga. Other children of McKenzie and Elizabeth Smallwood were Ed. D., McKenzie, Richard who married Mary Ann Little, Pleasant M. who married Sarah Wooten, William, Greenberry who married Susannah McDonald and then Morkette Annie Duncan, Sarah who married John M. Looper, Harriet, John W. who married Elizabeth Lnu, Ira and Julia A.

Clayton S. Smallwood married Mary Kelley, a native of Bradley County, Tn., whose family had moved to LaFayette. Clayton and Mary Kelley had nine children.

When the Civil War broke out, Clayton Smallwood joined the 12th Georgia Cavalry. His brothers, Greenberry Smallwood and Pleasant Smallwood, were also in the war. Greenberry rose to the rank of corporal. Another brother, William Smallwood, was killed Aug 28, 1862, at the Battle of Manassas. Clayton Smallwood was taken prisoner and held at Camp Chase at Columbus, Ohio. He died there on April 4, 1865 - just three weeks before he was due to have been released. He was just 34.

Mary Kelley Smallwood was left with nine children to raise. She lived until 1891.

The children included Amanda H. who married W.T. Wilhoit, Nancy I. who married Douglas Robinson, Henry "Bud" Clayton who married Mary Elvin Campbell, Isaac Newton who married Belle Helton, James Buchanan  who married Elizabeth Williams, Elizabeth Jane and Mary E. 

The youngest, P.G., was only three when word came back that his father had perished in the Northern POW camp. He was born May 28, 1862, in the midst of the war. He married Orah Ann McWhorter, whose family lived nearby at Bronco, Ga. Her parents were Lemuel Rodgers McWhorter and Elizabeth Arminda McClure McWhorter.

The children of P.G. and Orah Ann included Ella (called Eddie), Maud May who married Guy W. Atwood, L.C., Claud who married Ray Lynn and lived at the old McWhorter place at Bronco, Frank McWhorter who married Grace Stiff, Roy B. who married Alice Taylor and Richard R. who married Eve Nawrocky and then Martha Rose Vilari. Another son, Orville, was blind much of his life. A daughter, Arminda, was a highly-regarded English teacher at Chattanooga High School.

P.G. remained at Broncho until he moved to Chattanooga in the early 1900s. The family lived in a large home with a turret on the side of Lookout Mountain. It was off of Old Wauhatchie Pike near the Broad Gauge Railroad line and close to where Ruby Falls was later established.

His granddaughter, Martha Smallwood Milligan, remembers that home well. She lives at Maryville and will be celebrating her 100th birthday soon. She said there was an outstanding view of the river and downtown Chattanooga from the porch. The house was near a "gulch" and chicken wire was stretched across the ravine. Ms. Milligan noted that P.G. took advantage of the ravine by situating one of his well-constructed outhouses over it.

She said he had gotten into the construction business because he hated the idea of farming. He did quite well building edifices for farmers over a wide area.

The P.G. Smallwood family moved to another large house at 4515 Alabama Ave. in St. Elmo, and P.G. was living there when he died suddenly on Oct. 29, 1923. The house on Old Wauhatchie Pike later burned. Orah Ann Smallwood lived until May 22, 1952.

L.C. Smallwood was born at Broncho a week before Christmas. He attended LaFayette High School and worked as the water boy for the Lahousage extension of the Chattanooga Southern Railroad. He was also timekeeper for the Alabama Steel & Wire Company at Gaylesville, Ala. He got more experience in the building trade by working for George Baker Long from 1905-1906. Then he was with the engineering corps of the city of Chattanooga and later was superintendent for Jo Conn Guild's construction firm. After that he worked with his father in Smallwood & Company and eventually purchased his father's interest in the firm. He married Elizabeth M. Johnston on April 25, 1912. She was from Rome, Ga.

L.C. Smallwood got the contract for replacing the wooden bridges in Walker County with concrete structures. This kept him busy for quite a while. He was also active in building sewers, water works, tunnels, dams, railroad trestles, staircases, swimming pools and tennis courts.

He became acquainted with Garnet Carter of Lookout Mountain and began working on the Fairyland project there. He had a large team of men laying out and building the roads. He also constructed many rock walls, including the stone entryway to Fairyland that still stands. At this time he built several log cabins at the fanciful development, including the Witches Cabin that is near Rock City. He also built the bridge at the Incline Railway crossing halfway up Lookout. 

One of his projects was to construct the long driveway for the Lupton mansion "Lyndhurst" in Riverview.

His work on the Ocoee flume was in 1914. He invited the family up and they got to ride along the rail line that was built in connection with the daunting project.  

L.C. Smallwood was never afraid of heights, and he had projects along the edge of Bluff View creating porches and driveways for the big houses above the steep bluff.

He got interested in the railroad that went through Chattanooga Valley to near his former home, where there was a tunnel in Pigeon Mountain. He became an owner of the Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia (TAG) Railroad in concert with his lawyer, John Chambliss. His daughter recalls, "He loved that railroad." At the time, it made regular trips between Chattanooga and Gadsden, Ala. The TAG no longer runs and some of the tracks have been taken up.

L.C. Smallwood built a handsome frame home at Bee Rock in Chattanooga Valley at the base of Lookout Mountain within sight of his TAG Railroad. It was across the road from a German family that he knew well. There was plenty of room for his daughters to ride horses. The home was later acquired by the auto dealer D.S. Etheridge. The L.C. Smallwoods later moved to 860 Vine St. in Fort Wood.

One of his later projects was an early design for Lookout Mountain Presbyterian. Since then, the front of the church has been altered. L.C. Smallwood built a home for his family just up the hill from the church on Bragg Avenue. The Smallwoods rented a home on Burnt Mill Road in Chattanooga Valley, while they later built a house near the Lookout Mountain Hotel (Covenant College). 

Children of L.C. Smallwood are Martha who married Harry Chapman Milligan, Catherine Colette who married Henry Grady Jr. and then Mynatt and Mary Elizabeth who married Max Milligan. A son, Lemuel Clayton Smallwood Jr., died in an accident in 1950.