A few years ago, I was paging through an old book called Artwork of Augusta and found a picture that caught my attention. The image was that of a group of people, sometime in the late 1800s standing on a large boulder. The caption underneath read: Electric Rocks at Hillman.
Later, I learned these were deemed “electric rocks.” Many thoughts went through my mind. Were these rocks radioactive? Was this some snake-oil idea to attract the curious of that time to the area? Was it a get-rich scheme? Come with me as we learn more.
Back in the late 19th Century the world was changing. Electricity was a wonder and ideas surrounding its origination and uses abound. It was a mystery to say the least. Our story begins with a Reverend A.L. Hillman and his sizable acreage in Taliaferro County, Georgia. Reverend Hillman’s land had many considerable rock formations, and he believed that possibly gold or alum could be buried just under the surface.
Even though his health was poor, he started digging and drilling until one day something very strange happened. He felt an electrical charge coming through the drill and into his body. There were times when he could barely hold the drill. And after a few days of working with the rocks, to his astonishment, his ailments went away. Was it the rocks?
INTERVIEW WITH ANDY HILLMAN:
Jamie: Now, Mr. Hillman, you are a direct descendant of the Hillmans who were here?
Andy: Yes, I am. I’m Andrew, and I am the fourth Andrew after Andrew Lafayette Hillman. Around 1886, he was mining, and he discovered that these rocks were healing him from rheumatism. My grandmother–
Jamie: The woman behind the man –
Andy: Yes! She – whatever success Andrew Lafayette Hillman had, he owed most of it to his wife.
Jamie: Now, you were saying that she wrote the book.
Andy: She wrote the book, “The Rocks That Shock” and got everything started. The word got out that a very prominent group of people were coming here, and the word spread and the train brought them.
END OF INTERVIEW
Soon the discovery made it to the newspapers and not far behind were trainloads of the curious and the sick, seeking the “Electric Rocks.” In the book: Rocks that Shock, or the Great Electrical Wonders at Hillman, Georgia, Hillman describes those who came in dire health and how the rocks cured them. Some spent just a few minutes while others took months to notice a change. But it was miraculous!
In a very short time, a 40-room hotel was built on the property called The Electric Mound Hotel or as it was fondly called: “The Hillman.”
As time went on Hillman made more discoveries. Soon there was medicinal water from the rocks that would relieve neuralgia, dyspepsia, kidney diseases, liver troubles, insomnia, loss of appetite, nervous prostration and diseases peculiar to women…whatever that means? People from around the country were seeking out the magical cures and the Electric Health Resort was a bustling.
Yet today, nothing remains except a few old houses and the railroad tracks that brought people here. How could this all be gone and hardly a trace today? Wouldn’t we all like to find something that could cure what ails us? Today, Hillman is gone, but the mystery of the electric rocks is still shocking! (Laughing) We’ll see you next time on Stories, Secrets and Sagas!
