View from the Confederate position at Cheatham Hill
CHEATHAM HILL
Cheatham Hill is the best preserved area of the battlefield within Kennesaw Mountain National Military Park, and it is the one place where visitors can make an emotional connection to the battle. The site is well preserved because shortly after the war Union veterans from Illinois came to Georgia and bought up the land on which the battle took place with the intention of erecting a memorial to their fallen comrades. The monument became a reality in 1914. Allow 45 minutes at to see the all the exhibits along the road, the short trail to Cheatham Hill, and at Cheatham Hill itself. Park Rangers or local historians conduct tours of Cheatham Hill on select days during the summer. For a schedule of upcoming tours, check the National Park Service’s official Calendar web page for the park.
Parking is available at both Cheatham Hill and Kolb’s Farm. Neither lot should fill up, even the six-car lot at Kolb’s Farm.
The road to the Cheatham Hill parking lot (off of Dallas Highway) has a number of exhibits along it, including the Texas Memorial Monument. All exhibits are accessible from roadside pullouts.
Texas Monument near Cheatham Hill
At one exhibit, cannons partially hidden behind trenches point towards an open field just as they did in 1864. Standing by the cannon you can imagine Billy Yank hunkered down across the field, and how he and Johnny Reb hurled balls of lead at each other for hours on end. Only here and at the actual Cheatham Hill site can you imagine the battle, for the terrain has not changed much.
Cannon near Cheatham Hill
Once at the parking lot, a 200-yard path leads down to the actual Confederate trenches at the top of Cheatham Hill. To the untrained eye, these trenches look like gullies worn into the earth by flowing water. This would not have been the case during the war, as these trenches were much deeper and had steeper walls. Over the course of 150 years since the war, the earth around them has eroded and filled in the ditch.
Remnant of Confederate trenches dug at Cheatham Hill
Exhibits extend from the parking lot to Cheatham Hill and include cannons, a memorial for C. H. Coffey, Confederate earthworks (trenches), and the Illinois monument, the largest in the park.
Sergeant Coffey Memorial
Illinois monument at Cheatham Hill
There is also a grave site of an unknown soldier nearby, though no signage points the way. If you are standing on the top side of the Illinois Monument—between it and the Confederate trenches—and looking towards the open field, you will see a trail running to the left. The grave site is two minute walk down this trail.
Grave of an Unknown Soldier
Information panel at the grave of the Unknown Soldier
KOLB FARM
Parking for Kolb’s Farm is at a small, six-car lot near the corner of Powder Springs Road and Cheatham Hill Road. The house is not open to the public, but you can walk right up to it. The Kolb family cemetery is also on the grounds. Allow 15 minutes to see this site.
Kolb House
Kolb Family cemetery
Last updated on February 14, 2020
