Currahee Mountain

Background

Technically a part of the Georgia Piedmont or "foothill" province, Currahee Mountain rises abruptly about 800 vertical feet (240 m) above the local topography and is the highest peak in Stephens County. Part of the mountain is in the Chattahoochee National Forest, and on clear days the peak's 1,735 ft summit is visible for many miles as a prominent landmark to the southeast of Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountain crest. The mountain is one of the landmarks used in the Treaty of Hopewell and was also used by Benjamin Hawkins to run the Hawkins Line.

On 12 October 1864, Confederate troops defeated Union troops at the Battle of the Narrows, also called the Battle of Currahee, during the Civil War. The mountain is referenced in Tom Hanks' and Steven Spielberg's television miniseries Band of Brothers, which depicts paratroopers from E Company, 2-506th Parachute Infantry Regiment running up and down Currahee; however, the scenes that referenced Currahee Mountain were filmed in Bourne Wood. The Colonel Robert F. Sink memorial trail follows Currahee Mountain Road from the site of former Camp Toccoa to the summit, its start marked by a commemorative plaque dedicating the trail to "Col. Bob" Sink from the Five-O-Sinks (506th Parachute Infantry Regiment Association).

The trail is the venue for the Annual Currahee Challenge, a 3 mi and 6 mi race on the mountain that occurs in the fall, and the first Saturday of June has a run called the "D-Day Run" held by the Camp Toccoa at Currahee organization. The mountain is a popular destination for rock climbing and rappelling, and one of the radio towers at the top holds NOAA Weather Radio station WWH24, serving parts of northeast Georgia and upstate South Carolina from NWS Greer.