Bona Allen Shoe Factory
Built in 1919 by the Bona Allen Company, the brick shoe factory beside the Buford railroad tracks helped earn the town its nickname, "The Leather City," turning out hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes a year and supplying saddles to Hollywood cowboys. Local lore holds that the grind took a darker turn: one worker was found hanging from a pair of boot straps one summer morning, and a later fire is said to have killed several more men inside the plant. A weathered tombstone still rests beneath the exterior stairs, its occupant unexplained, and visitors have long whispered that the dead laborers never clocked out, working on into the night. The building later housed the Tannery Row Artist Colony and the Tannery Row Ale House, which leaned into the legend with an annual "Paranormal Party" billed at Buford's haunted shoe factory. Today the Ale House appears closed, but the haunted reputation of the old factory endures.
📍 554 W. Main St., Buford, GA, Buford, GA · Get directions