History, Mystery & Scenery

The Southern Appalachian Mountains gently taper to an end here in the northernmost edge of Georgia. Milder temperatures, scenic backroads and abundant attractions make this region one of my favorites for weekend getaways. There are breathtaking scenic wonders, quaint small towns, fascinating museums and more to discover. Being an avid road-tripper, I endeavor to make a journey to this area each year and always find another spot to add to my favorite-places list. Here’s a collection of 10 spots worthy of a visit on your next trip to the Peach State.

Alpine Helen

Helen, a tourist town of less than 600 residents, features Bavarian-style buildings filled with souvenir shops, restaurants and chocolatiers. I always find it charming.

“Helen is a very unique little town. If your favorite thing is chocolate, there’s the chocolate shop. If you come to a German town, you want some cold German beer, some pretzels and some German music. It’s a nice little town, very friendly and welcoming to bikes,” said Dan Terlizzi, the owner of Two Tire Tavern, a popular casual dining spot on Main Street. “That’s how I fell in love with it. I’m originally from New York and had restaurants up there. I came down here and fell in love with the town.” 

The alpine-themed town is centrally located to many of North Georgia’s attractions, making it a great place to stay on a travel excursion. There’s music and shopping galore and holiday celebrations like Oktoberfest and Winterfest make it a great destination any time of year.

History buffs will appreciate the historic 1895 Stovall Mill Covered Bridge in nearby Nacoochee north of Helen. Not far away, the Nacoochee Indian Mound, built more than 500 years ago by the Mississippian Culture, sits majestically in a pasture next to Highway 75.

BabyLand General Hospital

Anyone alive in the 1980s knows about Cabbage Patch Dolls. The dolls, which still retain a devoted fanbase, are native to Georgia. A visit to this “hospital” in Cleveland gives you a chance to witness their birth from the Magic Crystal Tree and adopt one of your own.

The staff, wearing nurses’ outfits, greets visitors and guides tours. They also hold adoption ceremonies complete with birth certificates for some of their hand-stitched original dolls.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Creator Xavier Roberts began delivering his handmade Little People Originals and exhibiting them at arts and crafts shows in the Southeast. By 1983, more than 3 million Cabbage Patch Dolls had been adopted. He and some friends renovated an old medical facility in Cleveland, opening the original BabyLand General Hospital to the public. A stunning new 70,000-square-foot facility, complete with pillars and wrap-around porch befitting a regal Southern estate, now houses the hospital and gift shop where new Cabbage Patch Dolls can find enthusiastic parents.

Admission is free to BabyLand General Hospital, and the facility also features The Gardens at Eula Springs. Created as a tribute to the founder’s mother, Eula Roberts, and her love of plants, highlight is the blooming of the native azaleas in spring.

Automotive museums

North Georgia features two wonderful museums, one dedicated to stock-car racing and another for notable or collectable cars.

In Dawsonville, the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame sits amid an impressive municipal complex and shopping center. Inside, visitors get to see racing cars from the 1940s to present, including the town’s local father-son racing legends, “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville” Elliott and his son, Chase Elliott.

“We have Bill’s first-win car. Chase’s first-win car. They are in the exhibit together,” said Steve Cox, a volunteer with the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. The museum opened in 2002 and chronicles the rich racing history of this county. “Originally Raymond Parks is from here. He’s one of the people who helped found NASCAR. He had four drivers running four cars from local people from here.”

About an hour’s drive away in Clarkesville, the Miles Through Time Museum is located in a charming antique mall and flea market and displays about 100 cars and motorcycles. It’s rather unique as a museum since it’s more of a co-op than one united collection. It all started when Sean Mathis inherited his grandfather’s 1959 Cadillac.

“It’s not my collection. It’s literally just that car,” Mathis, 39, said of the high-finned pink Caddy. “Thirteen cars have been donated by individuals or museums. Right now, we have about 100 cars on display. Most of them are on loan, family heirloom vehicles.”

Other museums, large collections and just some ordinary automobile enthusiasts have loaned their vehicles to Miles Through Time so the public can appreciate them.

“That’s the story we want to share,” Mathis said. “It triggers the memories, and that’s the point of that car in here. You know somebody who had that car if you’re over a certain age. You’ve got people who come in here to reminisce, and you’ve got the younger generation who needs to come in here and find something that triggers their interests. That’s the whole point of this museum. We’re preserving and educating automotive history, but we’re actually trying to make it so this stuff stays interesting to people.”

Dahlonega Gold Museum

In Dahlonega, where the road divides at the town square, sits one of Georgia’s oldest standing courthouse buildings, now home to the Dahlonega Gold Museum.

Many people are not aware that Georgia and North Carolina both had gold rushes in the early 1800s. North Georgia attracted thousands of prospectors to mine the region’s gold deposits. A branch of the U.S. mint opened in Dahlonega in 1838, coining more than $6 million in gold before the Civil War.

“Our collection is focused primarily on three things—the 1829 gold rush, which was the first major gold rush in the United States, about 20 years before that little, tiny one in California that they’re so proud of. We also focus on the history of the Dahlonega Mint that was established here due to the gold production. We also have a full set of gold coins on display, very rare. Then the history of the building itself, which is the old Lumpkin County Courthouse built in 1836,” said Marcia Bennett, a ranger with Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites. The museum is open seven-days a week, except for holidays, and a tour takes about 45 minutes to cover the two-story building. Nearby, a host of restaurants and souvenir shops make for a pleasant stroll around the square.

Amicalola Falls

Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge contains a spectacular 729-foot waterfall as well as hiking, camping and other outdoor recreational opportunities.

“Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge is home to the tallest waterfall in Georgia and the perfect area for a scenic ride through nature. Accommodations range from lodge rooms to cabins and campgrounds, all with breathtaking mountain vistas,” said Heath Carter, regional vice president of sales and marketing for Coral Hospitality. “Whether staying the night or just looking for a great place to dine, Cascades at The Lodge is an area favorite, offering stunning views along with great food.”

The lodge features 57 resort-style rooms with scenic vistas and modern comfort. There are also 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom private cabins for rent. The park offers RV spots, luxury safari tents and even primitive campsites, making it perfect for whatever budget or comfort level a traveler desires. I promised myself to return for an overnighter someday.

Brasstown Bald, Bell Mountain

Brasstown Bald, the highest peak in Georgia, sits north of Helen off Route 180 and makes for a pleasant stop on any tour of the region. The admission fee to the federal park includes a free shuttle bus ride to the summit, which contains a spacious visitors center, restrooms and exhibits about the area’s geology, climate and history. Several hiking trails are accessible, and there’s an actual logging train locomotive on display inside the mountaintop center.

From the tower, visitors enjoy a 360-degree view of four states—when the weather cooperates—from the 4,784-foot summit. Lake Chatuge is visible to the north, another of my favorite road-trip destinations.

About 20 miles from Brasstown Bald near the town of Hiawassee is Ball Mountain. This summit, free to visit, offers more impressive views, in my opinion, than Brasstown’s taller peak. There are no signs pointing the way, so visitors must find their way to Shake Rag Road off U.S. 76. A narrow, paved road snakes its way to the graffiti-covered rocky summit of Bell Mountain. Look for a gas station across from the cluster of electrical transformers where what looks like a driveway takes you up some sharp switchbacks to a parking area.

The 18-acre summit became a county park in 2016. An elaborate observation deck and stairs allow visitors a fantastic view of Lake Chatuge and the surrounding mountains.

Taccoa Falls, Currahee Military Museum

Toccoa is home to one of the region’s most beautiful waterfalls. You can find it behind the Taccoa Falls College bookstore, where they ask for a modest admittance fee. It’s worth it to visit the peaceful, well-kept park next to the base of the falls.

At 186-feet high, Toccoa Falls is one of the tallest free-falling waterfalls in the Eastern United States. The falls are easily accessible on a gently sloped, gravel path.

Not far from the falls in downtown Taccoa, the Currahee Military Museum celebrates the story of Camp Taccoa, where 18,000 paratroopers trained during World War II.

Just mention “Band of Brothers” to any World War II history buff and they’ll know the story of the brave soldiers who helped liberate Europe from Hitler’s grasp. The museum is housed in the old railroad depot in downtown Taccoa where recruits arrived for training.

“Most people come here because of ‘Band of Brothers.” This wouldn’t be here without the series,” said Jason McFarlin, a museum board member. “We’ve had others like ‘The Dirty Dozen,’ which was based on the (demolition specialists known as the) Filthy Thirteen, who trained here. ‘Saving Private Ryan’ was based on an actual person who trained here, but the ‘Band of Brothers’ series is really what made it take off.”

The museum features several actual items from Camp Taccoa paratroopers along with period-correct equipment and weapons.

“Of course, the centerpiece is the stables. It was brought over in 2004 from Aldbourne, England. That’s where they stayed before D-Day,” McFarlin said. The wooden structure was disassembled and flown from England by the U.S. Air Force to its new home in Taccoa. Carved in the wooden beams are some names of the American paratroopers who billeted there.

There is a mannequin outfitted in full jump gear complete with deployed parachute, and next to it sits an item viewers of the miniseries will recognize.

“That’s kind of a centerpiece right there, the actual shirt,” McFarlin said pointing to the small white Camp Taccoa T-shirt. When HBO was starting to make the series, a costume designer measured and traced the original to make exact replicas for the show. Across the room is the actual geological survey disk that once sat atop Currahee and soldiers had to touch before running back down to camp. A new one replaced it in the 1970s.

At the original camp site, a C-47 transport plane is on display along with some recreated barracks. It’s also free to hike (or perhaps drive) the three miles up, three miles down on Currahee Mountain.

Track Rock Gap

Crossing the top of Georgia is the Southern Highlands Trail (U.S. 76). This designated scenic highway forms a circle of roads along the mountains of the Carolinas and Georgia.

Just west of the town of Young Harris, Track Rock Gap Road leads to the ancient site where several rock carvings of animal tracks and other symbols await the curious traveler.

The Track Rock site in the Chattahoochee National Forest features more than 100 carvings on several boulders near the top of a mountain pass. The carved stones are literally along the roadside, and a gravel parking area just south offers easy access.

Archaeologists say Creek and Cherokee Indians made the artwork more than a millennium ago. Along with petroglyphs resembling bird and animal tracks are circles, crosses and ovals. The surrounding national forest also holds extensive stonework sites deep in the woods that experts say were built by Native Americans.

Due to recent vandalism, the petroglyph site is temporarily closed, but other mysterious rock walls can be found near the hiking trails.

Expedition Bigfoot

Expedition Bigfoot, a roadside attraction and museum about 10 miles east of Ellijay, focuses on the legend and hunt for the elusive cryptid.

“We’re part museum, haunted house, Disney World,” owner David Bakara said with a smile.

Bakara, who also works as a field investigator for the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, said he first became fascinated with stories of the creature as a child after seeing the cult classic movie “The Legend of Boggy Creek.”

Expedition Bigfoot visitors can examine footprint castings, life-sized Sasquatch mannequins, informative displays and videos containing eyewitness testimony about strange creatures, be they skunk apes, wooly boogers, yowies or yerens.

The attraction also hosts lectures and presentations by bigfoot hunters from across the country. Several artifacts on display are on loan from researchers in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. In addition to the museum, Bakara and his team actively investigate bigfoot sightings in the Blue Ridge. Visitors to the museum frequently share their own strange sightings.

“I’d probably say we get 100 reports a year. That’s speaking conservatively,” Bakara said.

Route 76 Road House Bar & Grill

Fans of Patrick Swayze or Elvis Presley should make a stop in Clayton at the Route 76 Road House Bar & Grill.

Inside, patrons can admire the walls dedicated to the 1989 movie “Road House,” which plays alongside movie memorabilia. Adjacent walls honor the king of rock ‘n’ roll with posters, photos and another TV screen constantly playing Elvis movies.

“Of course, ‘Road House’ is my favorite movie. It’s on loop 24/7,” owner Mark Eskew said. “I also have Elvis movies, all different Elvis movies going. Elvis is in the building, always.”

Eskew, who sports some impressive pork chop sideburns, recently remodeled the building to make it a more upscale grill and live music venue.

“I wanted something different. Being a biker, being a musician, I thought I wanted to open up … something cool,” he said. “We’ve got a big menu, with lots of appetizers, too. I wanted to do really good upscale bar food. Really good, but unique. We have sloppy Joes. We have fried baloney sandwiches. We have fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. We’ve got unique stuff on the menu that nobody else carries.”

At Route 76 Road House, all of the sauces are made in-house from scratch. None of their meats are frozen. The TVs show all the big games, and a small stage hosts live music on weekends, Eskew said.

If great food wasn’t enough, there’s always something good playing on the big screen TVs.