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BLUE RIDGE

NORTH GOERGIA
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Blue Ridge is a quaint town 2 hours north of Atlanta in Fannin County. Surrounded by the Cohutta Wilderness and the Chattahoochee National Forest, yet easily accessible to Atlanta and Chattanooga, Blue Ridge offers the best of north Georgia mountain living. A thriving tourist business has brought steady and healthy growth to this idyllic community. At the virtual center of Fannin County is Lake Blue Ridge, providing over 100 miles of mostly public shoreline. The 3,290 acre lake and surrounding area boasts over 90 national forest campsites, several boat ramps, a full service marina, public swimming and picnic areas. Also, Blue Ridge offers world-class trout fishing, rental cabins, and a thriving downtown community with shops, restaurants, and cultural activities, Most of all Blue Ridge offers a laid back lifestyle with little traffic and stress.

For more information on Blue Ridge and Fannin County visit the
Fannin County Chamber of Commerce web site.

http://www.blueridgemountains.com

From The New York Times

By CHARLES PASSY
Published: September 29, 2006

To drive to Blue Ridge, Ga., from Atlanta is to immediately realize the small town’s appeal. As you head north, the hectic, sprawling urban landscape slowly gives way to something more sedate and soothing; you practically feel the terrain changing beneath your car’s wheels. By the time you arrive — the trip takes about 90 minutes — in this bucolic town with 1,000 year-round residents, there’s no mistaking that you’re in the mountains.

Indeed, the Blue Ridge Mountains are Blue Ridge’s biggest draw, the scenic magnet that in recent years has attracted scores of second-home owners — typically, Atlantans looking for a weekend retreat or Floridians seeking a respite from the heat and humidity. That and the fact that about 40 percent of the land in Fannin County, Blue Ridge’s home, is nationally protected, thereby guaranteeing that views should remain relatively unchanged.

But there’s scenery and there’s the scene — and there’s no denying the latter has quickly evolved to meet the needs of this fairly well-heeled group of new arrivals. Stroll through downtown Blue Ridge, where a scenic railway is one of the region’s principal tourist draws, and you’ll find all the sign of affluent civilization, from an independent bookstore to a Starbucks-style coffee shop (upscale chain stores are notably — and some might add, thankfully — missing, however). This is clearly no longer a backwoods mountain town.

Nor does it have backwoods prices for real estate. You can easily pay as much as $500,000 for a cabin. Is it worth the cost? Most new arrivals say yes, especially around this time of year, when the mountains are a study in painterly colors — reds, oranges, yellows and browns — as the leaves turn.

Sure, you can hike those mountains — or you can go boating or fishing at the 3,290-acre Lake Blue Ridge, the area’s major aquatic attraction — but the primary activity for many second-home owners is doing, well, little to nothing. “I like to read and do crossword puzzles and veg out,” said Joe Gruenhut, an Atlanta resident who spends long weekends at his Blue Ridge cabin.