Today was my second attempt to visit the abandoned ruins of Corpsewood Manor. Located near Summerville, GA, Corpsewood Manor was a primitive home built in the early 1980s by an eccentric man as a place to enjoy his retirement years. Corpsewood Manor was a castle like structure built in the middle of the woods without running water, electricity or phone service. Not long after taking up residence at Corpsewood, the owner and his partner were murdered in a robbery at their home. The place burned down not long after their deaths. Since then, the place has been left to the elements and sits alone in the woods on an unnamed mountain near Summerville. Today, Wes and I went to visit Corpsewood Manor.
My first attempt to visit Corpsewood over a year ago was not completed as the vehicle we took could not handle the dirt road up the mountain. Today, my sister Laura was gracious enough to loan us her jeep and it served us well as we sought the trail to our destination. It had no trouble ascending the narrow dirt road that snakes up the mountain. Driving up the mountain, Wes and I discovered we had some of the worst directions a person could be given. Directions to Corpsewood seem almost as mysterious as the place itself! The directions Wes and I had directed us to a three-way intersection where we would turn right. Well, there was a place where one can turn right and apparently this classifies as a three –way intersection. I saw it as more of a right turn. Initially, we drove past the designated turn and found ourselves going down the backside of the mountain and knew we had likely traveled too far. We maneuvered the jeep around and began driving back up the mountain. Part of the directions given also noted “3 or 4 dirt mounds” that sit at the trailhead that leads to the manor. We saw some mounds of dirt and thought we’d found our spot as the directions note “if you see a trail, with 3 or 4 dirt mounds blocking the beginning of it. Start walking…” Well, we did just that and wondered up what turned out to be an old logging road. At this trail head was some wooden slats nailed to a tree that we thought were left to mark the trail to Corpsewood. As we trekked up this trail, it became increasingly impassable until we reached a point that I told Wes to rest his aching back and I would continue ahead and report back to him. I pushed through some thick brush and found a large and open lonely place with some really cool gnarled and fallen trees, but no Corpsewood. I scouted back a bit further to make sure it wasn’t “just over the hill” and found nothing. I then started back down the trail to let Wes know we’d gone to the wrong place.
Upon reaching Wes, I noticed how dry my mouth had become. The first day of Autumn was still giving us summertime temperatures. I guzzled some Gatorade and began to quickly pour with sweat. At this point I was very glad we’d had the foresight to pack some cold drinks. We made our way back to the jeep, planning to explore the turn off we’d passed earlier in hopes of finding the “3 or 4 dirt mounds”. We turned off onto this road and noted the instructions said to travel down this road, “20 minutes more or less”. I looked at the clock and noticed it was 4 PM. About 5 minutes down this road, we passed a boulder with a strange design spray painted on it. This was not unusual as the logging companies have spray painted several of the trees along the road noting the routes their trucks take. About 10 minutes down the road we came to a split in the road. The directions did not mention a fork in the road! We felt like we would never find Corpsewood. We chanced a turn to the right and traveled down a road that became increasingly rugged, but the jeep held up just fine. Right at 20 minutes we crested a hill only to see a fallen tree blocking the road. The leaves were still green and lush, so it looks like the tree had fallen only in recent days. Corpsewood seemed further and further away with each passing minute. However, the road was too narrow to turn around. We reversed the jeep back down the road to a spot that allowed us to turn around.
We felt we were nearing defeat, but decided we would venture down the backside of the mountain a bit further and maybe find the elusive three way referenced in the directions. As we made our way back to the main road, we passed again the boulder with the strange design and decided to take a second look. The strange design was a very crudely painted CW with an arrow! Behind this boulder was the trail that would take us to Corpsewood. It certainly was not “20 minutes more or less” down the road and there were no dirt mounds around it. There was however, adequate parking. We parked the jeep and set off down the trail which took “20 minutes more or less” to walk. With every twist, turn and switchback, we hoped to find Corpsewood. Instead we’d find yet another downed tree or mud pit to circumvent. Wes had to trail a bit behind me as his back gives him trouble. It was not long before I walked upon an old stone column and knew Corpsewood lay just ahead. I waited for Wes to catch up so that we might enter our destination together.
Corpsewood Manor was not what we expected. Photos of the place after its construction gave the impression of a massive home built like a medieval castle. It was more of a brick cottage with some brick outbuildings. The ravages of time have done their part to see that Corpsewood slowly decays with each passing day. There were plenty of beer cans, coke bottles and other trash strewn about the place, left by those who visit Corpsewood for their own reasons. Ghost hunters also like to visit the place in hopes of finding some connection to the supernatural left by those who once called the place home. To be honest, I am not sure that I sought to gain anything from the visit there. It was a nice hike and a chance for some urban exploration. Gazing upon the ruins, I did find it sad that this place was once somebody’s dream come true and a chance to live out their days in happy contentment. Such dreams were ended senselessly by those seeking only a quick buck. I wish the experience of visiting this place had provided something beyond sad thoughts about shattered dreams, but that is all there was to offer today. Regardless, Wes and I enjoyed the road trip there and back and crossed one more place off our bucket list of places to see.
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