Take an easy one-mile walk of the site of America’s first gold rush and be delightfully extended to two miles with the exploration of even more history and culture.
Laurie and I were on a rambling driving tour of northern Georgia when we decided lunch would be in Dahlonega, a place we had never been. We were surprised with what we found and decided it deserved more than just a quick stop to allay our hunger. A smart phone search for restaurants also turned up a historic walking tour—our exploration of the town now had a purpose and a theme.
Dahlonega is the site of America’s first large gold rush in 1829, and the 1836 courthouse (where the bricks contain flecks of gold) is now the Dahlonega Gold Museum. Interpretive displays, equipment, gold coins and a five-ounce nugget bring those heady days back to life.
Downtown’s public square (with free parking!) was laid out in 1833. Today its two blocks are attractively landscaped with planter boxes full of luxuriant flowers and an abundance of benches on which to rest under the shade of mature trees. Locally owned shops and restaurants populate well-maintained buildings dating from the late 1800s. In fact, Dahlonega’s entire commercial area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
So, in between sipping a five-cent cup of coffee and browsing through books and souvenirs with local themes in the Dahlonega General Store and watching a molten blob turn into a work of art at the Glass Blowing Shop, we took in bits of history. An 1880s clapboard doctor’s office is now the Historic Villa that welcomes overnight guests just steps from the public square. The 1909 drug store building is home to Woody’s Barber Shop, in business since 1926, and the majority of the gold-leaf covering the steeple of North Georgia College’s Price Memorial Hall came from nearby mines.
When You Go:
The walk: An easy 1-mile historic/shopping tour of the main part of downtown Dahlonega. Exploring a number of other interesting shops and historic sites just beyond downtown could extend the walk to a little over 2 miles.
Getting there: Dahlonega is reached via U.S. 19 less than 50 miles south from the Georgia/Tennessee border or 65 miles north of Atlanta.
More information: The Dahlonega Stories brochure, available on dahlonegadda.org, has a map pointing out the town’s places of historical significance.
The town also has two things found nowhere else in the world. A gold mine shaft that no one knew about was discovered in the basement of a house that was being renovated. Today’s patrons of the Smith House, a restaurant and hotel, can gaze into that deep hole and view items rescued from it. And on display in Hancock Park is the 1875 Chestatee River Diving Bell, looking as if it was created by an ardent Steampunk fan. Made out of boilerplate iron panels, it enabled miners to breathe under water while scouring the river bottom in search of gold.
Picnic Café and Dessertery, where we had that lunch we originally stopped for, is the latest business to occupy an 1897 structure that was the town’s first movie theater. Considering what state we were driving through we just had to order the Sweet Georgia Peach chicken salad sandwich.
END OF PREVIEW
The story above appears in our Jan./Feb. 2019 issue.
