EXPLORE-Helen-Sautee-GA

This is a special place. The fertile and well-watered

valleys at the intersections of the Chattahoochee River,

Dukes Creek and Sautee Creek held immense beauty in the

deep past and still do today. Beginning roughly 2000 years ago, a relatively large population of Native Americans chose to live in these valleys surrounded by forested hills

and abundant wildlife. The Nacoochee Mound, an iconic

landmark set in what they called the “Valley of the Evening

Star” is now visible near the intersection of Georgia

Highways 17 and 75. The mound was a central feature of

their community, and it remains central to ours today.

In the early 1800s, small groups of white settlers came

here following ancient trails along the eastern side of the

Appalachian Mountains. In 1822, two larger groups that

included as many as 60 families arrived from the North

Carolina counties of Buncombe, Rutherford, and Burke.

They brought the skills, tools, materials, livestock (and

slaves) to form an almost self-sustaining, plantation-like

community. The names of these early settlers are still

names of people one sees and meets here today.

These tours reveal both ancient and modern stories of

Sautee Nacoochee. Two millennia of Native American life

were followed by two centuries of rapid change—people

growing food, mining gold, lumbering the great trees,

enduring slavery, the Civil War, reviving agricultural wealth,

weathering the Great Depression and more war, and lately,

developing tourism. Railroads, automobiles, telephones

and tourism have changed how life is lived here, but what

has not changed is the deep sense of a community that

treasures its people and the rich, beautiful land.