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Dugger Wilderness, Pinky Burns to Dugger Road 500

This page discusses the Dugger Wilderness, from Pinky Burns to Dugger Road 500.

Drought, Fire Danger, Dugger Trailhead
Rabbittown Road crossing east of Pinky Burns Place
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Photo by John Calhoun

Dugger Wilderness Entrance
Rabbittown Road crossing east of Pinky Burns Place
Monday, November 23, 2015
Photo by John Calhoun

Pinky Burns Barn after Arson Fire, 2011
Photo by John Calhoun

Pinky Burns' Barn
Photo taken by John Calhoun.
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Photo taken by Dan Bedore March 2020.
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The Pinky Burns Trailhead
As I write this in August of 2020, the Pinky Burns Trailhead is an unremarkable dirt parking lot. It wasn't always so...

When I first moved to Georgia and began hiking and building the Pinhoti Trail in 2004, there was an old homestead here, complete with the kind of rambling house that was built a room at a time, as need and money dictated. There was a barn no bigger or fancier than needed to store stuff and fix a truck out of the rain. It was easy to recognize the chicken shed and the corn crib, and there were a handful of other less identifiable shacks. Maybe a guy who had grown up in the country would not have learned anything there, but I grew up in a fully developed neighborhood of single family homes in San Diego, California. Although the tools, household items, and anything else that could be picked up were gone, I recall wandering through the buildings and being able to imagine what life had been like there. It was everything you needed to make a living off the land, and nothing more. It was once a special place.

Pink Edward Burns was born 25 February 1918 and lived until 24 November 1999. Except for serving in WWII, he lived there his entire life.

Pinky earned his living doing whatever you could in the woods nearby. He farmed, hunted, trapped, fished, helped the timber and mine operations - whatever work there was. He was quite a story teller too. Locals remember bringing him a Coke and getting great stories in return.

The house never had plumbing or electricity, and was originally built as a one room log cabin school for the community of Rabbittown. The Burns family never owned the land or house. The Greenleaf Family of Jacksonville once owned the land and ran a mining operation on it. When the land passed to a paper company and later to the USFS, the Burns family was allowed to continue living there.

There is a Burns Church nearby, and in the woods beyond the former home site are piles of stones which Pinky had cleared so a cornfield could grow.

On 10 March 2009, three people from Anniston and Lineville burned the cabin down with Molotov Cocktails. In 2011, one was sentenced to 12 months and two to 21 months in prison, all plus 36 months of probation, plus $4,800 restitution. Of the cabin, the 2 chimneys and not much else was left. On 13 April 2009 the 2 chimneys and the ashes were cleaned up by the Forest Service and 3 county prisoners.

On 4 March 2011, the barn was burned and some lumber stolen. In cleaning that up, the rest of the structures were removed. I was not able to find additional information about the second arson.

Persons wanting to know more about Pinky Burns should search the internet for "Amy's Extraordinary Alabama, Pink E Burns" and read her excellent article. Pinky was Amy's great-great uncle.

Rabbittown Murders
It was impossible to search for information about Rabbittown without reading through many articles about murder in the small community.

On 23 July 2017 73 year old Travis Frost and his 23 year old grandson Dylan Moody were killed in a drug buy. Three from Anniston, Rhimington Johnson, Sicondria Barker, & Jeffrey Brisky were charged with the killings.

On 18 January 2018 49 year old Anthony Wayne Parker shot and killed his 12 year old son, his 19 year old daughter, Heather Parker, and her fiance, 20 year old Brandon Roberts in White Plains. He then killed himself at the Rabbittown General Store.

In 1959, Viola Hyatt was convicted of shooting and then dismembering her brothers Lee Harper, 48, and Emmett Harper, 55 in Rabbittown. She drove around tossing the parts out along country roads. West of Piedmont along Young's Chapel Road is a creek locally known as Arm and Leg Creek. The road is short, and there are only a few options, but I was not able to find that name on any map.

On 30 January 2018, Brown Bridge over Choccolocco Creek on nearby Brown Bridge Road was dismantled for re-use on the Chief Ladiga Trail in Jacksonville.