Within the city limits of Emerson, on a strip of land at the intersection of Georgia 293 and U.S. Highway 41, there's a large reddish boulder that's covered up with honeysuckle and overgrown with pine trees.
Judging from the size of the trees, the boulder has been dodged by highway department mowers for at least several decades, and judging from the size of the boulder, it has probably always rested at its current location.
It's hard to trace exactly how these things get started, and the story, like the trees around the boulder, is at least several decades old.
Word has it, according to some, that the boulder is a meteorite -- that is, it landed there after hurtling through space and escaping immolation in the Earth's dusty atmosphere.
Linda and Greg Walls, of Kennesaw, were driving south on 41 several weeks ago after a visit to the Weinman Mineral Museum.
Greg's father, now deceased, was Warner Walls, and was instrumental in getting then Gov. George Busbee to declare a state gem, mineral and fossil back in the 1970s.
"My Dad worked at Lockheed," Walls said, "but his hobby and great love was being a rockhound."
The Walls were at Weinmann to see a display created by Warner Walls that once was on view in the Georgia capitol.
Along for the ride was the elder Mrs. Walls, now in her 80s, who said she remembered the stories of the "Emerson meteorite."
"It was on the way home that she told us of the meteorite and in a few minutes, she had directed us to the spot," said Linda Walls.
Emerson has been the center of mineralogical interest in these parts since Europeans first settled here. Mining is what put Emerson on the map.
In the 19th century, much of Bartow County was mined for iron and barite, and there are two barite companies still active in the Emerson area today.
The Weinman museum itself has many locally produced samples on display and for sale, including several lovely barite crystals found at Emerson.
Extensive efforts to find any record of a meteor fall near Emerson were entirely unsuccessful. Likewise, there were no public records to be found recording the presence in Emerson of a meteor of any size.
Stories about the forgotten "Emerson meteorite" prompted The Daily Tribune to visit the alleged fall site and take samples from the boulder.
Jose Santamaria, director of the Weinman Mineral Museum, agreed to identify the samples. The news was disappointing. "I'm sorry to tell you that it's simply a lump of low-grade iron ore, maybe 20 percent iron," Santamaria said. "We have people bring us things they think are meteorites all the time."
"I'm happy to help them out, even if they're mistaken, because it means they are interested in the subject and it gives me a chance to put them on the right track," he said.
