Alpine Village in the Georgia Mountains

The Stars and Stripes were waving majestically in the wind at a height of 4,784 feet on the summit of Brasstown Bald, formerly called Mount Enotah, the highest mountain in Georgia. Although I was fortunate enough to become a U.S. citizen in 2000, and have lived here since 1978, the “Red, White and Blue” has created a very special feeling for me. I have repeated this many times, but after living in numerous countries, America is my favorite, and our flag makes me proud. I will always appreciate the freedoms we enjoy.

A visit to the Brasstown Bald Mountain makes for a complete change of scenery from our Florida lowlands. There are several options to reach this highpoint. There is a winding road up to a parking lot and from there it is a steep half mile walk along a paved walkway lined with rhododendrons. There also is a shuttle service to this spectacular 360-degree view of the Georgia mountains. Serious hikers have numerous alternatives starting at different points. It is located roughly an hour and a half north of Atlanta and they are the closest mountains to southwest Florida.

One can extend the “alpine experience” with a visit to Helen, Georgia that has become one of the busiest tourist destinations in the state. Drive the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway from nearby Blairsville towards Helen for spectacular views of the mountains and blossoms in May. Arrive in the middle of a totally unexpected “wanna-be” German-Bavarian village hidden in a mountain valley.

Around 1928 some 20,000 adventurers descended on the area after a deer hunter by the name of Benjamin Parks slipped on a rock crossing the river and discovered gold. That was some twenty years before the California Gold Rush. The early pickings were great, but it soon became clear there was not much more than the surface, and sifting sandy water from the rivers through gold pans became too laborious for such a small yield. In the 1960s, Helen was a dying lumber town where absolutely nothing was happening when several businessmen got together to discuss the dim looking future of the town. Local artist, John Kollock, from nearby Clarkesville had spent his time in the military in Germany and loved the Bavarian Mountain villages. Soon he was drawing these picturesque homes and businesses and developed a way to add fake fronts to the existing buildings in town. Helen was transformed with the typical facades, exterior murals and turrets of so many of the Bavarian villages in southern Germany. German names, German beer and German food arrived on the scene, horse drawn carriages are available for rides and the rest is history. Today a whopping three million visitors come to Helen's 2.10 square mile center every year! Waiters are dressed in the typical Bavarian lederhosen and Tyrolean hats, and one can buy all the mountain souvenirs at shops with German names. There are two wedding chapels and a German bakery. The Innsbruck Resort and Golf Club – named after the city of skier’s fame and Winter Olympics in Austria – is situated in the center of the city on the border of the Chattahoochee National Forest and offers a challenging golf course with major elevations and clocks in at 6,502 yards.

A wide range of annual festivals keep drawing tourists and even during Covid it did not slow down nearly as much as the rest of America. When I visited recently, Helen was in a festive mode in celebration of a Trout Fishing Tournament. Traffic was at a stand-still. The country's longest-running Oktoberfest, one of the largest events of its kind in the South, and an elite hot air balloon race, top the program in this fantasy town. Other villages nearby profit from Helen’s fame and offer excellent restaurants and entertainment. In Sautee Nacoochee we had a great sandwich in a tiny store that was recreated in the fashion of the rustic style of the old days of the gold rush.

In my experience traveling around the world, I strive to find unique places. With my past stories I have taken you to destinations requiring long travel. However, the Georgia Mountains and Helen are right here in our own country and can be reached within an easy two-day drive. One is not forced to stick to the highways, and you will be surprised how relaxing it can be to follow country roads without the traffic of I-75. It does never cease to amaze me how little traffic there often is so close to the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway. It is so refreshing to see how much wide-open space we still have in this country, so if it takes as little as a couple of extra hours to avoid all that, to me it is certainly worth it.