Martin L Ruff, along with Robert Daniel, moved to this area in the 1840s to establish several mill works along Nickajack Creek. No photographs have been found of the original house, but it is believed to date from the 1850s. This house is a State and Cobb County Historic Place.
Martin Luker Ruff, born in 1807 in Henry County, moved to Cobb County in the 1830s after winning land in the 1832 land lottery. He established and operated several community mills with Robert Daniel located along the Nickajack Creek. He was a person of many diverse talents and an entrepreneurial drive. He served as postmaster for the community for many years. He created a lumber mill and provided railroad crossties for the Western and Atlantic Railroad as it was laid down from the newly-created Atlanta, through Marietta, up to Chattanooga, TN. He had a grist mill with Robert Daniel in the S-curve of the Nickajack milling flour and corn. They also built the brick Smyrna Academy, reportedly the only structure in “Smyrna Campground” to survive Sherman’s soldiers. After the war, he started the Concord Manufacturing Company to weave woolen clothing with Robert Daniel and W. R. McEntire. He imported, warehoused, and distributed fertilizer to farmers across Cobb County to maximize crop yield. But whenever he had to fill out his occupation for a census or tax return, he always identified himself as a ‘Farmer’.
M L Ruff’s home place has survived through the years. It was in the Ruff Family until the late 1943 when Ian and Virginia Milroy bought the farm. Ian Milroy worked at the Bell Bomber Plant, Virginia worked as Home Service Secretary with the Red Cross. Harold and Janice Ivester purchased the property from the Milroys in 1976.
This structure is on private property and is not open to the public.