Explore The Wonderful Communities & Take Your Pick
Enjoy unique accommodations ranging from a charming mountain or lake cabin to romantic B & B’s or fine lodging at the upscale Brasstown Valley Resort, and have exquisite dining experiences at our numerous fine restaurants offering the finest in regional cuisine plus enjoy other resort facilities. At the top of Georgia’s Wine Highway near Young Harris is our own Crane Creek Vineyards. Relax on the vineyard decks while listening to live music (check for the schedule) and take the opportunity to sample locally grown and produced wines.
Young Harris, the hometown of former Georgia Governor Zell Miller, holds the Young Harris College. Founded in 1886, Young Harris College is a private United Methodist-affiliated residential liberal arts school. Offering a nurturing atmosphere with a 15:1 student-teacher ratio, the academics program is rigorous. The campus offers a gymnasium, six tennis courts, and large athletic fields, including all the advanced, up-to-date technology plus the 3rd largest Planetarium (check for dates open to the public) in the state. Visitors can also enjoy on-campus theatrical productions and concerts at Theatre Young Harris and the famous John C. Campbell Folk School nearby Brasstown, NC.
Originally named Young Harris College in honor of Judge Young Loftin Gerdine Harris of Athens. It was soon shortened to Young Harris, although Young Harris College, now a four-year college, is still nestled in the heart of town. Located on the campus is Rollins Planetarium, which offers free Friday night star shows. The observatory for the planetarium sits on a hill overlooking Brasstown Valley Resort, one of the State of Georgia's premier mountain resorts. The resort boasts an equestrian center, a spa, a pub, a restaurant, hiking trails, golfing, and conference facilities. Crane Creek Vineyards is currently the only winery located in the immediate area but offers a delightful wine-tasting experience and breathtaking views of the adjacent mountains and valleys.
If you love interesting and unusual animals, plan to visit Destiny Alpacas, where they raise, breed, and shear alpacas. Visitors can interact with the alpacas as well as purchase alpaca products. Young Harris is located along the Southern Highroads Trail.
The site of Murphy, along the Hiwassee River, was known to the Cherokee as Tlanusi-Yi (the Leech Place) because of a legend about a giant leech named Tlanusi that lived in the river there.
The Trading Path (later called the "Unicoi Turnpike") passed by the future site of Murphy, connecting the Cherokee lands east of the mountains with the "Overhill Towns" of Tennessee.
In 1836, during the Cherokee removal known as the Trail of Tears, the United States Army built Fort Butler in what is today known as Murphy. Fort Butler acted as the main collection point for Cherokee east of the mountains. From Fort Butler, the Cherokee were taken over the mountains on the Unicoi Turnpike to the main internment camps at Fort Cass (today Charleston, Tennessee). Today the Unicoi Turnpike is known as Joe Brown Highway. The Cherokee County Historical Museum located in Murphy provides information about the Trail of Tears.
Murphy was once the terminus of the Murphy Branch rail line built in the late 1800s, although the branch no longer reaches Murphy.
Murphy was also the home of the once well-known crafts manufacturer Margaret Studios, which operated a nationwide chain of gift stores for its woodcraft products and housewares, such as lazy susans and gift trays.
Lake Chatuge Real Estate Hiawassee, Georgia is the place to live and be a part of the north Georgia Mountains. If you are looking for a beautiful cabin in the mountains or property on Lake Chatuge, then Mountain Realty is the perfect choice for you.
The Southern Highroads Trail passes alongside Lake Chatuge here. Waterfalls dot the landscape and provide great hiking jaunts. The Hiwassee River is called 'the hidden jewel of trout fishing.' The Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds hosts the Georgia Mountain Fair each summer and concerts year-round. Local art can be found at the Artworks Artisan Center.
Hiawassee is an Appalachian Trail community. The Southern Highroads Trail passes through Hiawassee and alongside Lake Chatuge, a TVA reservoir popular for swimming, boating, jet skiing, paddling, sport fishing, and other water sports. There are several entrances to the Appalachian Trail at various locations in the area.
The Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds hosts the Georgia Mountain Fair each summer. The Anderson Music Hall at the fairgrounds hosts some great shows with top-name stars each year. The Fred Hamilton Rhododendron Garden bursts into bloom from early April to late May. It can almost take your breath away at the sight of more than 3,000 azaleas and rhododendrons. Local artists, inspired by their beautiful surroundings, create works of art on display at the Artworks Artisan Center and for sale.
Hiawassee River is known as "the hidden jewel of trout fishing." Waterfalls dot the landscape and provide great hiking jaunts.
Find your “secret” place in this quiet community tucked away in the southwestern corner of North Carolina, where nature’s beauty abounds! The natural beauty of Clay County lies nearly unchanged through the years. Beautiful streams, Lake Chatuge, and mountains for all to enjoy. Your ideal spot may include a secluded mountain top retreat with scenic views and a babbling brook running beside the deck of your cabin, or you may prefer a lakeside getaway on the shores of Chatuge. We’re sure you can find a place to call your own in Clay County!
There are some 64,200 acres of US Forest land and 7 miles of Appalachian Trail that lie within Clay County. The County seat is Hayesville, NC, but Warne and Brasstown also lie in Clay County. This quiet community offers much to do and see. There are quaint shops, the Peacock Playhouse theater, fine restaurants, accommodations to suit any need, festivals, and special events. The Clay County Courthouse, built-in 1888, is designated in the National Register of Historic Places. You’ll want to visit the Clay County Museum and John C. Campbell Folk School while you’re here too. Did we mention the Cherokee roamed the area?
With mild winters and summers, you’ll want to spend time hiking, exploring, fishing, taking a scenic drive, browsing the numerous shops, and watching the ever-changing mountains in every season! Lake Chatuge lies half in NC and half in GA and offers fishing, boating, swimming, and other recreational activities. There are some nice campgrounds where you can enjoy your evenings beside a roaring campfire under a star-filled sky.
Just a two-hour drive from the major cities of Atlanta, GA, Chattanooga, TN, and Asheville, NC! Come see our beautiful area, stay as long as you can. Don’t miss seeing it all . . . from the Standing Indian Mountain (5,498 ft elevation) to the pristine shores of Lake Chatuge. To find out more about Clay County, go to www.claycounty-nc-chamber.com.
Originally inhabited by Native Americans, Union County attracted many white settlers when gold was discovered in its hills in the 1820s. The county was carved from Cherokee County territory during the Georgia Land Lottery of 1832. Since it was founded almost 30 years before the Civil War, Union County wasn't named in sympathy for the North as is sometimes believed.
Before the Civil War, the county's residents were largely pro-Union. When the state seceded. However, the majority of Union County residents supported the Confederacy.
Union County is also called "The Top of Georgia" because Brasstown Bald, the state's highest elevation at 4,784 feet, is in Union County.
The county seat of Blairsville, incorporated in 1835, was named for Frank (Francis Preston) Blair, a Washington, D. C. newspaper editor. The first county courthouse was constructed in the center of town that year and rebuilt for a final time in 1899. This courthouse would serve the county until 1976, when a new structure was built nearby. The old courthouse was donated to the Union County Historical Society.
In 1922 construction began on the road to run from Cleveland, Ga. to the North Carolina border. The road was completed in 1926, the county's first paved road. During this time, the United States purchased large amounts of land in the county. It consolidated it into the Georgia National Forest. In 1937 the holdings were renamed the Chattahoochee National Forest. Today, tourism is a major industry in the county due to the Chattahoochee National Forest and the creation of Lake Nottely in the late 1940s.