Kim Southern - Blue Ridge Real Estate

"Welcome to Waffle House!!" That's what the combined chorus of voices greets you with as you walk through the door of what may be the most iconic restaurant in the South.

The Waffle House chain began its storied journey in 1955 when the first restaurant opened in Avondale Estates, a suburb of Atlanta. Since then, the chain has grown to over 1,500 restaurants in 25 states (pity the other 25 states!).

Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the restaurant has served presidents, celebrities and "common folk" alike. It was even the site of a much publicized dust-up Kid Rock had at a Waffle House in Atlanta recently!

According to the Waffle House Website, http://www.wafflehouse.com/funfacts.asp, during the last 53 years, the chain has served over:

If you laid all the bacon strips served by Waffle House end-to-end, they would stretch 21,000 miles!! (Don't ask me how they came up with .24 of an egg...but it was counted, by God!)

In case you are wondering what prompted my Waffle House history lesson, its because my family and I had Easter brunch yesterday at our local Blue Ridge Waffle House--my favorite Waffle House of all that I've visited. That's right, I said Easter brunch. The place was packed with every manner of person, from young families dressed in their Easter finery, to a few forlorn characters who looked like they'd been up a little too late last night overindulging in something...and I'm quite sure it wasn't jelly beans.

We only go to Waffle House about six times a year, but we always love it. The food is always good, the service is always good, and you can't beat the greeting you get when you walk in! There is something comforting about the place. You get a sense that all the world can be going to hell in a handbasket, but there will always be Waffle House.

And for that I am grateful.

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BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE RACE

April 12, 2008 -- 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Running, biking and paddling for 35 miles is definitely NOT my idea of a good time! Yet, for some hardy souls, the Blue Ridge Mountain Adventure Race is an event that draws them back to the North Georgia mountains year after year.

I would, however, LOVE to come up with a team name! Here are some that others have used in years past that are hilarious:

3 Jews in a Boat

Coach Says it's Okay to Bleed from the Ears

Two Bitches & One Lucky Dog

For Those About to Bonk, We Salute You

No, Really, We're OK

Slower Than We Look

Once, Twice, Three Times a Loser

Hope We Live to Regret This

4 Balls and a Chain

Are they not GREAT??!!!

The inaugural race was held in 1998 and each year since then the course and the challenges of the event have changed. The land-based portion winds its way along the trail system of the Chattahoochee National Forest, and in years past has included portions of the Benton MacKaye Trail, the Aska Adventure Area and the Rich Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Lake Blue Ridge and the Toccoa River have both been the water-based venue for the race.

Race participants may be asked to run, trek, mountain climb, kayak, canoe, mountain bike, rappel, or do orienteering. In addition, they are asked to take part in any number of "mystery events."

The race has up to 100 teams of three, and each team must be co-ed. The course is designed to be completed within six to nine hours. The finish line is in downtown Blue Ridge, where there are lots of festivities for race participants and spectators alike, including live music, food and a climbing wall.

For more information on this exciting event, visit: http://adventureracega.com/

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Towards the middle of Spring, the mountains of North Georgia are positively boisterous--awash in a riot of color and sound. This is the Spring that gets all the attention, that garners all the accolades.

Yet, for me, it is early Spring that I find most beautiful. The daffodils--those early risers--are in bloom, but most of the other flowers and blooming trees are still asleep, still getting their beauty rest.

It is now that the trees covering the mountain sides begin their journey from barren boughs to life-filled branches. They begin to take on almost imperceptible hues of reds and greens. Each passing day brings an ever-so-slightly heightened intensity of color.

On certain mornings, just as the sun is coming up, the mountain sides--with their shy splashes of color set against sober browns and greys--look for all the world like a huge watercolor painting.

These are the mornings when I think, "Ah, if only I were an artist..." I am not, but, thankfully, we have many artists who call Blue Ridge home.

Many of them belong to the Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association. The BRMAA brings people together whose talents bridge the artistic spectrum from music, to dance, to art, to theater. The association has grown considerably in membership and scope during its rich 30 year history.

According to BRMAA's mission statement:

"The primary goal of BRMAA has been to enhance and preserve the quality and accessibility of the arts in this region, to honor our rich heritage of mountain culture, while promoting contemporary multi-cultural arts. While art enriches the lives of our residents, the arts act as a catalyst for economic development in the community. As an organization, the Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association, endeavors to provide opportunities in the realm of art for personal growth of the individual and the economic growth of our community."

And, boy, have they ever succeeded!

Having found a permanent home in the historic Old Fannin County Courthouse, BRMAA offers a wide range of classes for all ages--from 3 to 103! Whether your tastes run from basket weaving, to stained glass, to photography, to beginning ballet, to watercolor painting, you'll find a class that's just right for you.

To see the full list of classes offered, click here.

BRMAA also sponsors two art festivals: Arts in the Park and Wildlife & Nature Art Festival & Expo. This year the Arts in the Park Festival--named one the Top 20 Events by the Southeastern Tourism Society--will be held Memorial Day Weekend, May 24 and 25. The Wildlife Festival will take place on September 20 and 21. Both events are held in the picturesque Blue Ridge City Park that straddles the tracks that the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway runs on.

For more information on the festivals, click here.

BRMAA offers year-round exhibits and art shows, as well as a Summer Concert Series. The next event being co-sponsored by BRMAA is the Blue Ridge Writer's Conference, which draws Southern authors from the entire Southeast, will be held on March 28 and 29.

For more information on the Blue Ridge Writer's Conference, click here.

For a full calendar of events for BRMAA, click here.

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Fannin Tobacco and Candy Company

Visitors strolling down the charming main street of downtown Blue Ridge will encounter a red brick building that would have been far more at home in the 1930's or 1940's. Most of the buildings in downtown Blue Ridge are equally as old and equally as quaint. What makes this particular building so unique are the Red Man tobacco murals plastered on either side of the building and the King Edward Cigar sign just under the name of the company that still operates a business here: Fannin Tob. & Candy Co.

The building, and the business itself, seem to have stepped out of a dog-eared sepia-toned photograph, the kind you would have found stuffed in an old trunk up in Granny Black Stock's attic.

A sign on the front door reads "This is not an antique shop. It is a wholesale business." That business, born 37 years ago, is still run by one of the founding partners, Hugh McClure, who along with Bruce Tipton, bought the building in 1971.

By then, the red brick building was already 71 years old--having been built in 1900--and had a colorful history.

After spending its earliest years housing a hardware store, a much-revered figure in Blue Ridge lore, Granny Black Stock, took over the building in the late 1920's. She turned the downstairs into a restaurant and the upstairs into a boarding house. She and her sister lived in a small apartment in the back of the building behind the restaurant.

Cots in the three guest rooms upstairs rented for 50 cents a night and, during the 1930's, were often filled by exhausted CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) workers. The CCC was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to help combat unemployment born of the Great Depression. Workers came to Blue Ridge to help plant trees in the Chattahoochee National Forest-an area that had been decimated by over-logging. WPA (Works Progress Administration-another New Deal government agency) workers were also in town, working on Fannin County's new courthouse.

Local legend has it that exhausted workers were not the only one's who filled the cots upstairs. Granny Black Stock, being the entrepreneur that she was, was already meeting the men's needs for food and shelter. She was rumored to have also overseen a business that would meet another of the workers' needs--and we are not talking about clothing.

Between the time of Granny Black Stock's colorful stay in the building and 1971, the building housed a dry goods store, a laundr-o-mat, and a beauty salon.

For the past 37 years, Fannin Tobacco & Candy Co. has been operating as a wholesale business, distributing-- yes--tobacco and candy. After a long and profitable career, Hugh McClure is ready to close the business and sell the building.

No doubt, the building's next owner will fill it with a business more suited to the tourist trade. Hopefully, the new proprietor will appreciate what makes this building so unique, and will leave the building's colorful exterior at least partially intact.

This one-of-a-kind property is currently listed with Century 21 Professional Realty Group for $650,000.

(Research done for this story included an article written by Dr. Kathleen Thompson that ran in North Georgia Living Magazine)

Lake Blue Ridge

The crystal clear aquamarine waters of Lake Blue Ridge make it one of Georgia's most picturesque mountain lakes. The 3,290-acre lake and surrounding area boast over 90 national forest campsites, several boat ramps, a full-service marina and public swimming and picnic areas. 80 percent of the shoreline on Lake Blue Ridge is in the Chattahoochee National Forest, managed by the USDA Forest Service.

Morganton Point Campground, in Morganton, features a public swimming area, along with 43 campsites, picnic tables and pavilion and a boat ramp. Another boat ramp is available at Lakewood Landing near Morganton. The Lake Blue Ridge Marina offers boat ramp access on a fee basis, along with pontoon rentals.

The lake is home to bass, bream, catfish, perch and crappie, which make the area popular with anglers. It is the only lake south of the Great Lakes where Walleye are caught, and is also known for white bass fishing.

Blue Ridge reservoir is 11 miles long and has 65 miles of shoreline, 25 percent of which is developed. The lake was formed when Blue Ridge Dam was constructed on the Toccoa River in 1930 by the Toccoa Electric Power Company. At the time it was built, the dam was the largest earthen dam in the Southeast. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) purchased the facility in 1939 for hydroelectric power production.

Today, TVA owns approximately 18 miles of shoreline, including the Blue Ridge Dam reservation.

Thanks to the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce for providing this information.

For more information about purchasing a property on this exquisite lake, please contact me at kimsouthern@tds.net, or visit my website: www.georgiamountainliving.com