I still remember the first time I stood before the Chetoogeta Mountain Tunnel in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, the cool mountain air rushing out of its stone mouth like a ghostly sigh.
At first glance, it looks like nothing more than a dark hole carved into rock — but step closer, and you can feel the history pressing in around you.
Built in the 1840s, this was Georgia’s first great railroad tunnel, a place that saw soldiers, spies, and steam engines thunder through long before highways or headlights ever existed. Locals say the tunnel never truly went silent…