Georgia wall surrounded in mystery

Plenty of mystery surrounds the long stone wall on Fort Mountain, in the state park of the same name about eight miles east of Chatsworth.

No one seems to know who built it, when it was built or what purpose it served.

The 885-foot wall stretches across the top of the mountain, and is about 7-feet tall in places, but mostly it’s only about 2- or 3-feet high.

And then there are the pits, 29 of them spaced along the sides of the wall.

Naturally, some of speculation about the wall focuses on it being a defensive structure, perhaps built by Native Americans or Spaniards on their trek across the new land.

A plaque at the site includes theories that the area could have been used for sun worship or as a “honeymoon haven for Cherokee Indian newlyweds.”

You can come up with your own ideas.

Fort Mountain State Park is open from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. For more information, go to gastateparks.org/FortMountain.

Q: Lithonia is an interesting word. How did that city get its name? Was it named for a place in another country?

A: There's an short, but interesting story behind the origin of Lithonia.

Many Georgia cities were named for famous people (Jefferson and Washington, for example) or for folks who had an impact on the town.

Those often included store owners, postmasters or railroad executives who might have helped the town gain notoriety and earn a place on the map.

Lithonia wasn’t a person, place or thing, but the combination of two words.

The story goes that a local teacher who apparently was well versed in Greek took a look at the city’s rocky surroundings sometime in the 1840s.

The teacher then combined the Greek word for stone (lithos) and with the Greek word for place (onia) to come up with Lithonia, which was incorporated in 1856, according to the city’s website.