North GA Mountains

Joined
Nov 26, 2016
Location
central NC
My husband and I are heading to the Gainesville, GA area in early April so I can participate in an event at the Piedmont Hotel and visit all the local sites related to General Longstreet. This is our first visit to this area, other than driving through once several years ago. I would welcome any suggestions for restaurants or things to see and do. We are staying at a B&B near Clarkesville. We plan to visit as many waterfalls as we can. Is Helen, GA worth a side trip? I will appreciate any feedback.
 
Well,I for one have not yet been to Gainesville myself although I should have but while your in the area you might want to visit Dahlonega,Ga. Which is at the end of Georgia 400.Beautiful little town in the moubtains,not big population is only 5000 but it has good restaurants and nice shops a d it's right in the middle of the mountains.here is a quick link to Dahlonega.

www.dahlonega.org

if you check the site you will see that it is known for its waterfalls and bubbling streams.
 
My husband and I are heading to the Gainesville, GA area in early April so I can participate in an event at the Piedmont Hotel and visit all the local sites related to General Longstreet. This is our first visit to this area, other than driving through once several years ago. I would welcome any suggestions for restaurants or things to see and do. We are staying at a B&B near Clarkesville. We plan to visit as many waterfalls as we can. Is Helen, GA worth a side trip? I will appreciate any feedback.
Then if you have time you have Chickamauga/Chattanooga Park and also nearby Resaca.
 
My husband and I are heading to the Gainesville, GA area in early April so I can participate in an event at the Piedmont Hotel and visit all the local sites related to General Longstreet. This is our first visit to this area, other than driving through once several years ago. I would welcome any suggestions for restaurants or things to see and do. We are staying at a B&B near Clarkesville. We plan to visit as many waterfalls as we can. Is Helen, GA worth a side trip? I will appreciate any feedback.

Dahlonega, Georgia was the center of a gold rush before California. The gold on the Georgia capitol dome is from this town. It's rare, but they sometimes find undiscovered veins.

Headwaters of the Chattanooga River, which is the border between S. Carolina and Georgia. It was the location for the novel and film Deliverance.
 
My husband and I are heading to the Gainesville, GA area in early April so I can participate in an event at the Piedmont Hotel and visit all the local sites related to General Longstreet. This is our first visit to this area, other than driving through once several years ago. I would welcome any suggestions for restaurants or things to see and do. We are staying at a B&B near Clarkesville. We plan to visit as many waterfalls as we can. Is Helen, GA worth a side trip? I will appreciate any feedback.

I live about 50 miles from Gainesville but worked at a private high school there when I lived closer. I am embarrassed to say I have never visited any of the sites related to Gen. Longstreet up there. When I worked there my favorite place to eat was the Longstreet Cafe. They have a website you can check them out. Country food in a serving line style.

Helen is a good day trip. It is made to look like a German town. City codes require everything to look "Bavarian". Lots of shops and eateries. Lots of folks go there to tube down the Chattahoochee River . A company has tubes they put you in the water and pick you up down river and bring you back to your car. May be too cool in April.

North of Clarkesville is the small town of Dillard Ga. A really good spot to eat is the Dillard house. A little pricey but good food.
 
If you venture over toward Blue Ridge there is a great scenic train ride. It takes you about 25 miles or so along a mountain river valley.

If you venture out of the NE Ga area down toward Stone Mountain there is of course the largest relief carving in the world. I am partial to it since it is a carving of General Robert E. Lee, General Stonewall Jackson, and President Davis on horseback. There are a few rides and attractions at the Stone Mountain park as well.
 
If y'all are into shopping there are Tanger outlet malls near Commerce and Dawsonville.

A good sized waterfall at Amicalola State Park near Dawsonville. Dawsonville is headquarters for Elliot racing as well.
 
Look forward to pictures :smile:

Have wanted to visit that area for a while, have a lot of ancestry from there. One ancestor was a gold miner in a now ghost town of Auraria (about 6 miles outside of Dahlonega).
 
If you venture over toward Blue Ridge there is a great scenic train ride. It takes you about 25 miles or so along a mountain river valley.

If you venture out of the NE Ga area down toward Stone Mountain there is of course the largest relief carving in the world. I am partial to it since it is a carving of General Robert E. Lee, General Stonewall Jackson, and President Davis on horseback. There are a few rides and attractions at the Stone Mountain park as well.

Thanks for sharing some information with me! My husband is a railroad fan so Blue Ridge is already on our list of places to visit for the scenic train ride. We're planning to combine it with a trip to Chattanooga later this spring. We want to explore the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Dillard House is definitely a place we'll want to investigate. We both enjoy good, country cooking! Stone Mountain is a must see for everyone, especially a southern belle. :wink: I love that place. The relief carving is incredible!

@nitrofd - We visited Chattanooga several years ago and we loved Ruby Falls and Chimney Rock. Both are a little "touristy," but beautiful. We would definitely visit them again. Sometimes it's fun to "go like a local" and other times it's fine to be a plain, old tourist!

Thanks again to everyone for sharing information and ideas.
 
My husband and I are heading to the Gainesville, GA area in early April so I can participate in an event at the Piedmont Hotel and visit all the local sites related to General Longstreet. This is our first visit to this area, other than driving through once several years ago. I would welcome any suggestions for restaurants or things to see and do. We are staying at a B&B near Clarkesville. We plan to visit as many waterfalls as we can. Is Helen, GA worth a side trip? I will appreciate any feedback.
Helen is a really neat town. There are a lot of water falls in north Georgia. My daughter lives in Rome. A couple of years ago I went to Gainesville and visited General Longstreet's grave.
 
Thanks for sharing some information with me! My husband is a railroad fan so Blue Ridge is already on our list of places to visit for the scenic train ride. We're planning to combine it with a trip to Chattanooga later this spring. We want to explore the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Dillard House is definitely a place we'll want to investigate. We both enjoy good, country cooking! Stone Mountain is a must see for everyone, especially a southern belle. :wink: I love that place. The relief carving is incredible!

@nitrofd - We visited Chattanooga several years ago and we loved Ruby Falls and Chimney Rock. Both are a little "touristy," but beautiful. We would definitely visit them again. Sometimes it's fun to "go like a local" and other times it's fine to be a plain, old tourist!

Thanks again to everyone for sharing information and ideas.
What ever you do stay away from "Rock City",this is were tourist ripoff earned it's name.
 
Thank you bunches for the link. Dahlonega has been added to our list. I'll share some pics and information after our trip. I may even persuade you to check out Gainesville. :smile:
My daughter lives N.E. of Atlanta so we would visit several times a year,but my health issues now mainly keep me at home.
Chattanooga Choo-Choo has become a wee bit old over the years so know that in advance.
If you have time you can go about 60 miles south to Marrietta,that is where the railroad museum is and the feature display is the "GENERAL",the famous locomotive of the Andrews Raid and the movie the Great Locomotive Chase.when you there you are right at Kennesaw Mountain which is worth a visit but avoid the weekends there.
 
A beautiful area. Encourage you to visit Amicalola Falls State Park if you are interested in waterfalls. A few miles up from the top of the falls is the summit of Springer Mountain which is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail which follows the ridges over 2,000 miles to Katahdin Maine, passing a lot of Civil War history along the way, such as Shenandoah Valley, Harpers Ferry, South Mountain.
Yes, Helen is styled as a Bavarian village and I believe they have multiple festivals throughout the year to encourage tourism, not being content with mimicking Oktoberfest in the fall.
 
The Appalachian Trail runs through several of the gaps just above Helen and one of them, Neel's Gap, on old US Hwy.19, has an old CCC lodge through which the AT runs (the only building through which the AT passes in its 2000 mile length) now has an outfitters store and make a great starting place for a short day hike.
 
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