Fort Mountain, part of the Cohutta Mountain Range, rises west of the overlook at an elevation of 2,840 feet. “Cohutta,” an English translation of a Cherokee word meaning “a shed roof supported on poles,” reflects how the mountains seem from a distance to support the sky. Other visible peaks include Grassy Mountain to the north at 3,692 feet and Little Bald Mountain to the northeast at 3,680 feet. The Great Valley to the northwest, lying between the Armuchee Ridges and the Cohutta Mountains, has historically provided an easy route through the mountains for animals and humans. Fort Mountain took its name from a stone structure near the mountaintop once thought to be a fort, though its exact origin remains unknown. The wall is about 800 feet long, two to three feet high, and runs across the width of the mountain near the peak. It now stands in Fort Mountain State Park, created in 1934, where much of the infrastructure was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Young men in the local CCC camp used local stone to build buildings, pavilions, and many of the park’s steps and trails. Nearby, Prater’s Mill on Coahulla Creek along State Route 2 at Varnell is a restored working gristmill and one of the few surviving gristmills in the region. Its restored complex also includes a cotton gin, general store, granary, and Prater’s summer home. In the northwest corner of Whitfield County, the Cohutta Fishery Center has more than thirty ponds where researchers can study fish in a monitored environment, and it also offers hiking, biking, and picnicking.