SALACOA, GEORGIA

Excerpt from ''Georgia Place-Names'' by Kenneth K. Krakow:
'SALACOA CREEK'. Pronounced "Salla-coee"
or "Sally-coee" by old timers. A tributary of the
Coosawattee River, which rises in southwest
Pickens County, flows through corners of Cherokee
and Bartow counties, and up through southeast
Gordon County. The stream, as well as the SALACOA
VALLEY, were probably named for an old
Indian town of SAL(L)ACOA in northwest
Cherokee County. Some families from Virginia
settled here in 1850, and adopted the old Cherokee
Indian name for the place, which is on Salacoa
Creek. Hawkins recorded the name as SALE QUO
HEH, which he said meant, "Silke Grass." John
Goff reported the name is of Cherokee origin, and
signifies "Silk Grass Place" or "Bear Grass Place."
He said the town was in Gordon County, on Pine
Log Creek, eight miles east of Calhoun. Mooney
wrote that the Indian word is from Salikawa' yi
or "Bear Grass." Lloyd Marlin relates that the
name is from the Indian word Selu-egwa, to signify
"Big Corn," alluding to the fertility of the area.