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Day 3
South Fork Fandango
Leaving behind the sand dredge, just hope that water levels are such that you don’t run aground on the sand further downstream. Though the South Fork of the Broad joins the mainstem at mile 3 of this run, the tributary doesn’t contribute much and the Broad remains a small, intimate river. In low flows, you will spend considerable time eyeing the right course through the river’s shifting sands.
Upstream on the South Fork, and unfortunately too far up river to paddle, sits Watson Mill State Park. In the 1800s, this spot along the South Fork’s shoals was harnessed to grind corn and flour, but in the early 1900s a hydro-electric plant was constructed on the site and for nearly half a century powered a textile mill in nearby Crawford. The state park features Watson Mill Covered Bridge, a century-old structure that is one of only 20 remaining historic covered bridges in Georgia.
Sandbars and swimming holes remain abundant and at one spot the Broad even acts more like a coastal plain river. Near mile six, the river has cut off an oxbow and the river’s new course runs through a minefield of woody debris that will remind some of the Flint and Ocmulgee’s winding ways.
The day ends at Ga. 77, the Nancy Hart Highway, named in honor of the Revolutionary War heroine who lived with her family just downstream on the Broad.
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