DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Love's Lookout has to say — so let the record show where these words come from. Now, Cherokee County has its share of high ground, but this nine-mile-long ridge is something particular. Two lookout points sit up here commanding a view of thirty to thirty-five miles in just about every direction.
The one you're standing near sits at an elevation of seven hundred and thirteen feet. A quarter mile to the northwest, there's Point Lookout. Between the two, a narrow valley cuts through — and that valley, friends, has been carrying people across this ridge for a long, long time.
An Indian trail ran through it first. Then came the pioneer road. And in 1846, a man named Thomas McKee led a group of Presbyterians all the way here from Tennessee and came through that very pass.
The pass took his name — McKee's Gap — and he began a town three and a half miles to the northwest called Larissa. His son, the Reverend T. N.
McKee, is the one who gave Larissa its name. And for a spell, that town was something. Larissa College opened there, flourished from the eighteen-fifties clear through the eighteen-seventies, and Point Lookout became a popular recreational area for the citizens who called Larissa home.
Then the railroad bypassed the town. And Larissa declined. That's the kind of detail that doesn't need any embellishment — the railroad went somewhere else, and Larissa felt it.
Around the turn of the century, a man named John Wesley Love — born in 1858 — came along and bought this land. He developed a six-hundred-acre peach orchard up here on this ridge. Six hundred acres of peaches, with a thirty-five-mile view.
The scenic point became known as Love's Lookout, and area residents took to coming up here for outings. You can hardly blame them. John Wesley Love died in 1925.
After his death, his family gave twenty-two point two two acres — including this lookout site — to the state for a park. The City of Jacksonville stepped in and bought twenty-five adjoining acres, and both tracts were developed together as a WPA project. And then one more generous hand reached out.
J. L. Brown, born in 1866, and Jewel Newton Brown, born in 1873 — former residents of Larissa, both of them — gave the city one hundred and twenty-two acres next to the park in 1940.
They gave it as a tribute to the pioneers of Larissa. A town that lost its railroad, a man who planted six hundred acres of peaches, and two people who remembered where they came from well enough to give something back. That's what this ridge has been holding onto all these years.
What the marker says
On this nine mile long ridge there are two historic lookout points which command a view of 30 to 35 miles. Between this site, with an elevation of 713 ft., and Point Lookout (1/4 mi. NW), lies a narrow valley. An Indian trail and later a pioneer road crossed this valley. The pass became known as McKee's Gap in 1846, after Thomas McKee led a group of Presbyterians here from Tennessee and began the town of Larissa (3.5 mi. NW). Named by McKee's son the Rev. T. N. McKee, the village flourished as the location of Larissa College from the 1850s until the 1870s. Point Lookout was a popular recreational area for citizens of Larissa until the railroad bypassed the town and it declined. Around the turn of the century, John Wesley Love (1858-1925) bought this land and developed a 600-acre peach orchard. Known as Love's Lookout, the scenic point was used for outings by area residents. After Love's death, his family gave 22.22 acres, including the lookout site, to the state for a park. The City of Jacksonville bought 25 adjoining acres and developed both tracts as a WPA project. J. L. Brown (1866-1944) and Jewel Newton Brown (1873-1966), former Larissa residents, gave the city 122 acres next to the park in 1940 in tribute to pioneers of Larissa. (1978)