Blue Ridge, Georgia

After a long and successful career as co-owner of a graphic design firm in Atlanta, Steve Martin was ready for a change. His sleek high-rise condo, BMW, and fast-paced urban life had lost much of their appeal. So at 50, he left Atlanta behind and moved about 100 miles north to a humble cabin in the quaint mountain village of Blue Ridge, Georgia. Sixteen years later, Martin says it’s one of the best decisions he’s ever made.

“I’m so glad I had the nerve to do it,” says Martin, who now owns and operates Blue Ridge Design Workshop, a small one-man operation along the town’s bustling Main Street. “I have such a sweet life here. It’s just a charming, beautiful place.”

Over the years a growing number of people have followed Martin’s lead, and it’s easy to see why. Situated in the Chattahoochee National Forest, Blue Ridge, with only about 1,300 full-time residents, has a small but thriving downtown area with an eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, art galleries, and shops. The area also offers a bounty of outdoor adventures, particularly along the Toccoa River, which flows north through Georgia for nearly 60 miles before turning into the Ocoee as it snakes into Tennessee.

Martin first visited Blue Ridge after friends invited him to spend the weekend at an isolated cabin. He fell in love with the town’s laid-back vibe and communal spirit, and soon bought his own cabin about 10 miles outside of town. Once he settled in Blue Ridge full time in 2000, he opened his graphic design shop and painting studio along Main Street.

“There are so many people like me who have moved here,” says Martin. “There’s something very special about this town that attracts entrepreneurs and creative types who want to live a simple, scaled-back kind of life.”

This includes Patrick Walker, owner of Blue Ridge Brewery, one of Martin’s favorite hangouts. The popular brew pub has about 12 house beers, fare like burgers, pizzas, and salads, along with an outdoor patio and live music.

Walker explains that his parents had a cabin in Blue Ridge that the family often visited on weekends. After he graduated from college and started his own family, he and his wife decided they needed “to do whatever it takes” to make Blue Ridge their home.

The couple bought a house in downtown in 2007, with dreams of opening a restaurant. Two years later, after the town passed an ordinance allowing restaurants to sell beer, wine, and liquor, Walker and his wife opened Blue Ridge Brewery, located just five blocks from their home. Walker’s parents also help run the brewery.

Walker says that since 2009, two other breweries have opened, along with about a dozen restaurants. “When we first started to come here it was so laid-back and quiet,” Walker says. “That’s starting to change, but Blue Ridge still maintains its small-town coolness, and there’s just so much more to do now.”

Blue Ridge was founded in 1886, after the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad built a line along the Toccoa River to transport cotton and other crops. Today, the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, one of the town’s most popular attractions, runs along this line. Visitors can board the train at the town’s historic 1905 depot and enjoy a 26-mile, four-hour round trip along the Toccoa River with layovers at McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee. It’s a great way to see the area’s scenic mountainside and explore a few neighboring towns.

Other not-to-miss attractions include Harvest on Main, located next to a spacious downtown courtyard inside a gorgeous stone building with cedar roof shingles. Noted chef/owner Danny Mellman uses local ingredients to create an international, Southern-inspired menu.

Next door is Christy Lee’s Courtyard Grille. This elegant but laid-back spot has a mouthwatering selection of steaks, seafood and pasta, along with a lively outdoor bar and patio with live music.

For fine dining, Black Sheep is situated inside a beautifully restored 1914 house that was built by Colonel William Butt, a former Blue Ridge mayor. The restaurant specializes in upscale Southern comfort food, such as shrimp and grits, BBQ pulled pork, and steaks, and even offers its own brand of moonshine, including apple pie, peach, and chocolate cherry flavors.

The downtown area is also home to myriad boutiques and shops. After years of overseeing her Atlanta-based handbag and jewelry operation Canoe, Lynn Kemp moved her business to Blue Ridge six years ago.

Like so many others, Kemp first vacationed in Blue Ridge, and then she and her husband decided to move there full time. The couple lives along the shore of the 3,290-acre Lake Blue Ridge, where they go boating during the spring and summer. Kemp operates Canoe out of an expansive facility along Main Street with a retail store and showroom where the company designs and manufactures its custom handbags and jewelry, which are in more than 700 stores around the country.

Other notable retailers include Gatewood Hall, which sells furniture, art, jewelry, baby items, and gourmet snacks. At Out of the Blue, you can find home décor, hand-painted ceramics, and made-to-order custom gift baskets with fine wines and foods from all over the world.

For something truly unique, be sure to check out Oyster Fine Bamboo Fly Rods. Husband-and-wife team Bill and Shannen Oyster run the operation, and claim to be the only company in the world that exclusively makes handcrafted bamboo fly rods. After running the business out of their basement in Gainesville, Georgia, for 12 years, the couple decided to relocate to Blue Ridge in 2008. 

It was the lure of great fishing and the desire to raise their kids in a wholesome environment that brought them to Blue Ridge, says Shannen. They originally bought a remote home in the woods, but “that reclusion got old fast,” so they relocated downtown. “We weren’t planning on living here full-time, but it was in short order we realized we’d be crazy to move,” she says. “We just love the community, and we’ve been fortunate to meet some of the most gracious, sincere, and caring people here.”

Similar to dining and shopping, the arts scene in Blue Ridge is also booming. There are a number of noted fine art galleries, such as High Country Art and Antiques, Multitudes, and Fishbone Studios. Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association produces art festivals and exhibits throughout the year, and each spring during Memorial Day Weekend the town hosts Spring Arts in the Park, with more than 200 booths featuring local arts and crafts. In addition, the Blue Ridge Community Theater, which was founded in 2000, offers dozens of stage productions, performances, and live concerts out of a newly renovated playhouse.

“The arts scene here has really picked up in the last five years or so,” says Joey Roderick, production manager at Blue Ridge Community Theater. “I love the energy Blue Ridge has. At first it may seem like just this small Podunk town, but there’s a lot going on here just under the surface, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Get Out, Stay Out

Explore the area’s natural beauty and enjoy a little outdoor adventure at these fun destinations just outside of downtown Blue Ridge.

Rent a tube or raft at the Toccoa Valley Campground and enjoy a leisurely six-mile float down the river. Along the way, stop at some of the sandy beach areas where you can play on the water and soak up the beautiful mountain surroundings. A shuttle will bring you back to the campground at the end of the three-hour trip. toccoavalleycampground.com.

The Chattahoochee National Forest covers nearly 750,000 acres in northern Georgia and has hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails that wind through rugged woodlands and past scenic rivers and streams. Some of the forest’s not-to-miss destinations include the 270-foot swinging bridge—the longest east of the Mississippi River.

Fed by the upper Toccoa, the 3,290-acre Lake Blue Ridge has multiple access points and is an ideal setting for boating, fishing, and stand-up paddle boarding. There are 65 miles of shoreline, and about 75 percent of the land around the lake is protected within the Chattahoochee National Forest.

For something a little more adventurous, continue traveling north along the Toccoa as it flows out of Lake Blue Ridge. Once the river crosses into Tennessee and becomes the Ocoee, the gentle waters give way to roaring Class III-IV rapids, including the five-mile Upper Ocoee section.

Celebrating its designation as the “Trout Capital of Georgia,” the Blue Ridge Trout Festival and Outdoor Adventures (April 29-30) gathers anglers and river sports enthusiasts for a full lineup of fly-fishing lessons, fishing vendors, live music, food, and more on the Toccoa River.

Wine Country

In addition to beautiful scenery and outdoor adventures, the north Georgia mountains boast the right terrain, soil, drainage, and elevation to enable local vineyards to produce great wines. There are about 25 wineries in Georgia, and the Winegrowers Association of Georgia hosts several events each, including the 2016 Wine Highway Weekend(s) in March. To participate, pay a $40 admission fee at any of the participating wineries and receive a souvenir glass and passport that provides access to all the other wineries over both weekends. georgiawine.com

Lodging

Southern Comfort Cabin Rentals offers several luxury one- and two-bedroom suites in downtown Blue Ridge with jetted tubs, gas fireplaces, full kitchens, and dining areas. They’re a great option for those who want to stay in the middle of the action. They also have dozens of more remote cabins in the area that offer views of Blue Ridge Lake or mountains.  southerncomfortcabinrentals.com.