Ellijay, Georgia

“Every big city has its little communities, but they don’t have the quaint, small-town charm.

Michael Goss

Our destination for this past weekend was the quaint town to Ellijay, Georgia in Northern Georgia since we had never been there and felt it was time to check it out. We choose to go the less traveled route and took back roads driving through some beautiful rural country in Georgia. Three and a half hours later, we pulled into this charming town at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. Maybe you have heard of this town before since they have an annual Apple Fest in October and is known as the “Apple Capital of Georgia”.

Ellijay is the county seat of Gilmer County and has been since December 29, 1834. It is located between Ellijay and Cartecay Rivers in North Georgia. Ellijay was originally inhabited by the Cherokee people who named it Ellijay meaning “new ground”, “many waters”, or “place of green things”. By 1837, there were over 20 dwellings, three stores, and one attorney with all the buildings made of logs. By 1900, all the buildings in the town square were made of brick. This town only has a population of about 1700 people helping to maintain the quiet small town feel.

Driving into town, we circled around the town square which looked lovely with a tree covered fountain, memorial for those who served, and picturesque old fashioned town clock. The large three story brick courthouse stands prominently on one corner of the square. The original courthouse was built in 1898 as a Hyatt Hotel which makes this courthouse the only one in the state that was not built originally as a courthouse. The original courthouse was condemned in 2003 and was torn down on January 7, 2008. The new courthouse was built in its place and built to closely resemble the initial building.

We parked near the square and started our day with going to the Canterberry Restaurant which offers a nice variety of comfort foods and we had a nice lunch. Everyone was very friendly and the food was good. Their homemade desserts looked fabulous but we left no room.

After lunch, we walked across the street from the restaurant and went into Cartecay Wine and Craft which opened in 2018 to do a little wine tasting and to see whether it would be worth going to the Vineyard. We entered this eclectic store and first thought to do a tasting but then just ordered a glass of wine for both of us. We had an enjoyable time sipping our fabulous wine and watching the people go by and chatting it up with Denise, our server. We had a lovely time and found out it would be worth it to go the Vineyard. We decided we would head there after checking out the town.

Then we strolled around town visiting many stores. I was a real fan of Main Street Antiques. There are over thirty great stores including antique stores, boutiques, unique stores with art and hand crafted items for sale, as well as loads of fun eating venues. and is laid out very nice. Most of the side walks in town were made of bricks giving it that extra old timey ambiance. We walked down to the river and enjoyed the wonderful views.

Before we left town for the day, we took a drive on Skyline drive which is a tiny street that goes through a small neighborhood but had great views of the mountains. We loved this town and will be back. It was nice to take a step back, relax, and enjoy the company of good people.

Bye bye for now.