As you drink in the beautiful scenery that surrounds you, whether it be on an awe-inspiring mountain-view drive, admiring the trees, rolling hills full of flowering greenery everywhere you look, or walking around quaint towns with eclectic shops and restaurants, you may have stopped to think “what was all this like back in the day?”

Let’s take a step back in time and peel away years of progress and development, to an age when the land was primarily raw and untouched. A time when Native American Indians roamed the woods and fished the rivers. When pioneers started venturing in from the east to settle an area that held the promise of a fresh beginning and a good place to put down roots.

Before there was a Fannin County, before there were settlers carving out farms and building homesteads, the Creek and Cherokee Indians were the most prevalent natives habituating the land until the Indian Removal Act of 1830, opening their assets up for occupation by the many settlers moving westward. Ever see a stout, bent, right-angled older tree while hiking? It may have been bent as a young sapling by a native American Indian. They used this practice to mark trails!

1854 saw a partitioning of the much larger counties of Gilmer and Union, forming what is now Fannin County. Residents who were not proprietors of some type of business in town were eking out a living on farms, and much of the land you see on a scenic drive was probably at one time or another host to primary crops such as corn, wheat, cotton, and of course, orchards!

The town of Blue Ridge before its inception was nothing more than a field. Hard to imagine looking at it now, isn’t it? Blue Ridge was built around the train that eventually made its way north from Atlanta. When the “Little Mary” (it was a Marietta & North Georgia rail line nickname at the time) rumbled and chugged into Blue Ridge, there was no fanfare or town festivities because there was no town then, only a quickly built depot and an area that was platted out for roads and buildings. As more people came further north from Atlanta, more shops, hotels, and restaurants sprang up along the track line, and Blue Ridge grew to a bustling population of almost 1,200 people by the early 1900’s. Most of the beautifully historic buildings you enjoy walking along, dining at, or shopping in today were built between the late 1800’s and its hey-day building boom of the 1920’s to 50’s.

The silhouettes of the rugged mountains have not changed all that much since Indians roamed them and settlers pioneered the terrain. If you take a scenic drive through their peaks and valleys, the road you are traveling on may have once been only a horse trail over a century ago, with fields and meadows dotted on either side hosting crops or an orchard. As you wind your way around the many twists and turns of picturesque highland areas, imagine a pioneer giving a wave while he maneuvers his horse and plough on the hillside.

The rivers and waterways always provide amazing views and activities while visiting the area. Rafting, tubing, and fishing are heightened as you listen to the musicality of the water as it swirls and rushes by you. But did you know the water has history as well? You may see some “V” shaped rock formations in various parts of the river. Centuries ago, these were built by early native American Indians and used as fish traps. The women and children would splash down the river toward the trap, and the fish would be scooped up at the “V” in baskets or nets. Pretty ingenious for 200 years ago!

Whether walking or driving, exploring land or water, Fannin County and the beautiful north Georgia mountains is a great place to enjoy and experience all the fantastic scenery and historic towns of the present, while envisioning how it all may have been a long time ago; a time before progress and development shaped the landscape!