A popular hiking destination and Civil War-era landmark along the Chattahoochee River is getting its first major preservation work in decades.
The Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy announced Thursday, July 23, that it will launch a multi-phase restoration campaign for the Sope Creek Paper Mill Ruins, the stone remnants of the Marietta Paper Mill that sit along the creek within the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Construction on the mill began in 1853.
Phase 1, funded by the Antinori Foundation, will begin in summer 2026. Crews will remove invasive vines, trees, and vegetation that have grown into and around the historic stone walls, clear debris, and prepare the site for specialist preservation work. The conservancy's press release did not disclose the dollar amount of the Antinori Foundation grant or a specific start date.
Phase 2, projected for completion in 2027, will bring in historic preservation specialists to stabilize the remaining stone masonry using historically appropriate materials. The goal is to protect and preserve what still stands, not to reconstruct the ruins. That phase will also include a structural evaluation and a long-term preservation plan.
The ruins sit within the Cochran Shoals unit of the national recreation area, accessible from Paper Mill Road in Marietta. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 27, 1973.
Why the work matters now
Decades of unchecked vegetation have placed pressure on the masonry and accelerated deterioration, according to the conservancy's project page. Invasive vines and shrubs have spread throughout the structure, obscuring the stonework and stressing the walls.
The Marietta Paper Mill was Georgia's largest paper mill at the start of the Civil War. Production started in 1855. During the war, the mill manufactured cartridge paper for Confederate guns. Union soldiers under Gen. Kenner Garrard burned it in July 1864 as part of Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. The mill was rebuilt by September 1868, damaged by fire again in November 1870, rebuilt once more, and finally closed in 1902, according to National Park Service records.
A second major conservancy-NPS project this year
The Sope Creek campaign is the second partnership project between the conservancy and the National Park Service announced in 2026. On July 1, the two organizations completed a $400,000-plus trail transformation at the Island Ford unit, adding roughly 2 miles of new trails.
Brittany Jones, the conservancy's executive director, said in a July 1 press release about the Island Ford project that it showed "what's possible when a community comes together to support its national park."
The conservancy, headquartered in Roswell, is the official nonprofit partner of the recreation area, which spans 48 miles of the Chattahoochee River and drew more than 3.1 million visitors in 2023. Those visitors spent $161 million in surrounding communities and supported 2,149 local jobs, according to a National Park Service economic report.
How to follow along
Residents can track the Sope Creek restoration at chattahoocheeparks.org/sopecreek. No public comment period or city meeting is associated with the project; it is a nonprofit-NPS initiative, not a city government action.
