Tunnel Hill Heritage Center and Historic Railroad Tunnel

Tunnel Hill Heritage Center and Historic Railroad Tunnel Historic 1850 Railroad Tunnel and Museum One of the oldest railroad tunnels in the South; open 6 days a week. Visit the museum, walk the 1,477 ft.
(343)

railroad tunnel, 1848 Clisby Austin House, 1900's era replica General Store, and enjoy the outdoors on walking paths through the 85+ acre site. Hours: 10:00am - 4:00pm Mon-Sat

Admission: $12 Deluxe Tour - Reservations suggested
$10 for children 4-10
Kids age 3 and under are free

Group Tours are available. Please visit http://www.civilwarrailroadtunnel.com/educational-groups.html for more information.

Richmond socialite by day… Union spy by night. 👀Elizabeth Van Lew lived in the heart of the Confederate capital of Richm...
05/28/2026

Richmond socialite by day… Union spy by night. 👀

Elizabeth Van Lew lived in the heart of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, but secretly supported the Union throughout the Civil War. Pretending to be the harmless and eccentric “Crazy Bet,” she built one of the most successful Union spy networks of the war.

Van Lew smuggled food and medicine to Union prisoners, helped some escape, and passed valuable military information to Union commanders using coded messages and even invisible ink. Her intelligence network became so effective that Confederate officials often underestimated her while she worked right under their noses.

Proof that some of the Civil War’s most fascinating stories didn’t happen only on the battlefield.

Wilmer McLean may have had the worst luck of anyone during the Civil War. In 1861, Confederate General Beauregard used M...
05/26/2026

Wilmer McLean may have had the worst luck of anyone during the Civil War. In 1861, Confederate General Beauregard used McLean’s home near Manassas as headquarters during the First Battle of Bull Run—where a Union cannonball famously crashed into his kitchen fireplace during supper. Tired of war literally at his doorstep, McLean moved his family to the quiet village of Appomattox Court House in 1863.

Four years later, Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant met in McLean’s parlor to discuss the surrender of the Confederate army. As the old saying goes, the Civil War “began in Wilmer McLean’s kitchen and ended in his parlor.”

At left, Wilmer McLean’s house, where the Civil War ‘began.’ At right, Wilmer McLean’s house, where the Civil War ended.

This Memorial Day, the Tunnel Hill Heritage Center honors the men and women who gave their lives in service to our count...
05/25/2026

This Memorial Day, the Tunnel Hill Heritage Center honors the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. Here, where Civil War and railroad history intersect, we are reminded daily of the sacrifice and courage woven into our nation’s story.

We are proud to help preserve and share that history for future generations.

Dalton, Georgia, became a strategic hub during the Civil War because of its location on the Western & Atlantic Railroad,...
05/21/2026

Dalton, Georgia, became a strategic hub during the Civil War because of its location on the Western & Atlantic Railroad, a vital route for moving troops and supplies. After the Confederate defeat at Chattanooga, the Army of Tennessee established winter quarters there, and the town also served as an important medical center with four hospitals for sick and wounded soldiers.

At the opening of Sherman’s Atlanta campaign in May 1864, Dalton became a major target. As Confederate forces withdrew toward Resaca on May 12, the first Union troops entered Dalton around 9 a.m. the next day and raised the U.S. flag. These soldiers were likely from the Second Missouri Infantry under Colonel Bernard Laiboldt, part of General O. O. Howard’s Fourth Corps. Union troops camped north of the courthouse, and Dalton remained under Union occupation for the rest of the war.

On May 7, 1864, three Union armies converged on Tunnel Hill, with skirmishing breaking out at Tunnel Hill, Varnell Stati...
05/19/2026

On May 7, 1864, three Union armies converged on Tunnel Hill, with skirmishing breaking out at Tunnel Hill, Varnell Station, and Nickajack Gap. General William T. Sherman occupied the Clisby Austin House and began planning how to confront General Joseph Johnston’s Confederate defenses around Dalton.

General George Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland demonstrated against Buzzard Roost, Mill Creek Gap, and Dug Gap, while General John Schofield’s Army of the Ohio pressured Confederate positions in Crow Valley and on Potato Hill. Meanwhile, General James McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee slipped unnoticed through Snake Creek Gap on May 9 and moved toward Resaca. After discovering entrenched Confederates there, McPherson withdrew to the gap.

On May 10, Sherman shifted his armies to support McPherson in an effort to capture Resaca and cut the Western & Atlantic Railroad. Realizing Sherman was withdrawing from Dalton, Johnston pulled his army back toward Resaca, leading to three days of fighting around Resaca and the Oostanaula River.

Sketch of fighting at Resaca, Georgia

We are closed today and tomorrow to serve as a polling location for Whitfield County. Thank you for understanding, and w...
05/18/2026

We are closed today and tomorrow to serve as a polling location for Whitfield County. Thank you for understanding, and we hope to have you visit when we reopen on Wednesday, May 20th. Thanks!

Two volunteers for James Andrews’ Raid—Martin Jones Hawkins of the 33rd Ohio Infantry and John Reed Porter of the 21st O...
05/15/2026

Two volunteers for James Andrews’ Raid—Martin Jones Hawkins of the 33rd Ohio Infantry and John Reed Porter of the 21st Ohio Infantry—made good time traveling south and reached Marietta, Georgia, ahead of several other raiders. After checking into the Cole Hotel, they missed Andrews’ final “council of war” meeting on the night of April 11, 1862. Worse still, the next morning they overslept and raced from the hotel to the depot just in time to watch the General disappear up the tracks without them.

Trying not to attract suspicion, the two spent the day wandering Marietta before deciding to follow Andrews’ emergency instructions—enlist in a Confederate unit and slip away later if necessary. Traveling to Big Shanty near Camp McDonald, they joined the 9th Georgia Battalion.

Within days, news spread that two members of the “Yankee raiders” had been left behind in Marietta. Suspicion quickly fell on Hawkins and Porter. After questioning by Confederate officers, the pair were jailed in Marietta and later transported—handcuffed together—to Chattanooga, where they joined Andrews and the other captured raiders.

They were eventually transferred to Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, where eight raiders would be executed. Porter escaped with several others on October 16, 1862, reaching Union lines near Huntsville the following month. Hawkins remained imprisoned until exchanged on June 26, 1863.

Martin Jones Hawkins and John Reed Porter

Of the twenty-three men selected to accompany spy James Andrews on his famous 1862 raid, four never actually took part i...
05/12/2026

Of the twenty-three men selected to accompany spy James Andrews on his famous 1862 raid, four never actually took part in the mission. Two of those were Ovid Wellford Smith and Samuel Llewellyn.

Smith enlisted in the 2nd Ohio Infantry in 1861 at just sixteen years old, lying about his age and claiming to be twenty-two. Llewellyn first served in the 10th Ohio Infantry before reenlisting in the 33rd Ohio. Both soldiers eventually found themselves under General O. M. Mitchel in Middle Tennessee and were chosen by their captains for Andrews’ secret mission.

Traveling together toward Chattanooga, the pair reached Jasper, Tennessee, where Confederate guards became suspicious. Their cover story—that they were Kentuckians traveling to Georgia to join the Confederate Army—did not convince the guards, who questioned why they carried no knapsacks or spare clothing. Following Andrews’ instructions for such situations, both men joined a Confederate artillery company and were assigned to guard duty around Chattanooga. Each later deserted separately and returned to Union lines.

Smith was discharged in 1864 due to poor health. Despite never participating in the raid, his father successfully lobbied for him to be recognized as one of the Andrews Raiders, and Smith received the Medal of Honor. He died of pneumonia in 1868 at the age of only twenty-three.

Ovid Wellford (James) Smith and Samuel Llewellyn (later years)

David Fry (1826–1872), a veteran of the Mexican War, was living in Greene County, Tennessee, when the Civil War began. I...
05/08/2026

David Fry (1826–1872), a veteran of the Mexican War, was living in Greene County, Tennessee, when the Civil War began. In the fall of 1861, he joined Unionist neighbors in traveling to Kentucky to enlist in the 2nd East Tennessee Volunteers, where he was elected captain of Company F.

General George H. Thomas later sent Fry back into East Tennessee to recruit Union supporters for the planned railroad bridge burnings. Fry personally helped destroy the Lick Creek Bridge near Mosheim before escaping back toward Kentucky. Arrests soon followed, and his role in the mission became known.

Fry was wounded and captured near Jonesville, Virginia, in March 1862. After imprisonment in Knoxville, he was transferred to the prison in Atlanta, where he was jailed alongside James Andrews’ raiders. On October 14, 1862, Fry and several raiders escaped and eventually made their way back to Union lines near Nashville.

Promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1863 and placed in charge of scouts, Fry was later wounded and captured again near Abingdon, Virginia. He remained imprisoned until being paroled on March 12, 1865.
Photo of David Fry, wearing his Lt. Colonel uniform, with wife Catherine

We were honored to welcome members of the Austin family to the Tunnel Hill Heritage Center! Thank you for visiting and s...
05/06/2026

We were honored to welcome members of the Austin family to the Tunnel Hill Heritage Center! Thank you for visiting and sharing your family’s story with us!

We’re especially grateful for this incredible photo of Austin & Laymance family members in front of the tunnel, taken around 1890, just before Adeline Austin Laymance moved to Oakland, California. What a special piece of history to help us bring the past to life!

Address

215 Clisby Austin Drive
Tunnel Hill, GA
30755

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

(706) 876-1571

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Tunnel Hill Heritage Center and Historic Railroad Tunnel posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category