I agree, besides renting a cabin there is no place to stay that is first class. The problem is that cabins are becoming hard to find on weekends unless you can plan way in advance. So the choices are the Ramada and and Days Inn. These are good for a overnight traveler but to stay there for a vacation or hoilday….not my cup of tea.

I would love to have a resort in BR!! I have been to the resort at Young Harris on a few occasions and have had a grand time, dressing up and being treated with class and sophistication.

A resort is exactly the thing BR needs. Think of the additional tourist dollars that would come to Blue Ridge if we had a comparable resort not to mention the job opportunities. I was saddened to hear that the Resort would not begin construction until 2010 if that. I certainly don’t want every franchise chain in the world (Olive Garden, Applebees, etc), we already have every fast food chain here, but a place such as the Brasstown Resort would allow BR to keep and develop it’s unique personality.

We have to fight the “same ole, same ole” development that happens from town to town and grow Blue Ridge as an independent and quaint community with it’s own personality!

As a new business owner in the Blue Ridge area, I am constantly impressed with the passion and enthusiasm for which local business owners work to promote and preserve their community. One thing that can help visitors locate a cabin rental on busy weekends is calling the Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-899-MTNS (6867). They maintain a list of cabin rental companies with availability on a week-by-week basis. Acting as a central point of contact, they are able to educate visitors to available accomodations.

If you are looking for a luxury cabin in Blue Ridge, please visit our website at http://www.bluestonecabins.com Our cabins have hot tubs, fireplaces, and satellite television.

I was glad to see the TVA put a halt on the discussions with Fannin Co. about the “resort”. If you looked closely at what Fannin Co. had planned you would find that it was not a resort at all. I was a combination of retirement homes, office buildings and a park. If memory serves me correctly, there were no plans for any nightly accommodations or upscale restaurant. Everyone knows you can’t have an upscale restaurant unless you serve something stronger then ice tea or coffee. The project would have been what you would expect from a small county with very few funds.

There are several issues with getting an upscale “resort” on Lake Blue Ridge. The first one is the one mentioned earlier ¬ alcoholic beverages. The other is the lake level. TVA has improved this but compare it to the other lakes in GA with resorts, golf courses or nice hotels. All the others (Lanier, Burton and Oconee) maintain lake levels year round. Yes, Lanier does go down some in the winter but not 20 feet. Look where the Ritz Carlton was built. Oconee lake levels vary about a foot throughout the year. We have all seen how ugly the dirt is when Lake Blue Ridge is down 20 feet in the winter. I don’t think you will ever see a nice resort on Lake Blue Ridge until the lake level is maintained in the off season. Let’s face it, winter is the off season, it’s cold and gray and the lake is ugly then. Resorts need more than 6 months of high capacity to make a profit.

Steve

You are right about both issues regarding a Resort on the lake. I have been pondering all of this. As a Commercial Realtor, I have done much investigating on this project. My thought is not a lake Resort but a Mountian Resort Convention Center. Meeting rooms, banquet/Restaurant facilties, as well as an upscale spa with Corporate Retreat Ammenities. Yes, I have also included privte cabins and condo/tel ownership. Riding stables, Tennis, hiking, rafting and hunting etc. - enough to keep conventioneers busy. A mountiantop view of the lake and serene vistas are what will sell this property. I already have a few Major Hotel Flags and some financing to try to put all of this together. It is all Possible. Just Need Some County Commission support and Blessing. The alcohol consumption and sales on premise is the only major issue! I own a home in Blue Ridge and will Retire there with gods help, but I am not a Registered Voter in Fannin County to help make this change on the ballot. Its really the voters than can make the differance. Years wasted never help anyone, not even in an election year. Just listen to all the town meetings they are having, they all seem to agree.

What is the latest of the Blue Ridge Golf & River Club? After a bunch of noise when they first begam selling lots I haven’t heard much lately.

We do have to be very careful. My family had been going to Helen, GA for 30 years and watched that city become an outlet mall with traffic congestion.

Dave…

Interesting topic… I’m working in this industry myself and I don’t agree about this in 100%, but I added your page to my bookmarks and hope to see more interesting articles in the future…

The Ocoee region (Copper Basin) or Northern Fannin would be prime for a world-class resort - start something on par with the Ritz Carlton on Lake Oconee Reynolds Plantation. Look at Greensboro, GA 10-15 years ago and now. It used to be a terribly depressed town with sky-high poverty, a dead commercial district and what looked like no hope for the local residents. Now, the resort has breathed new life into the region, turned Greensboro into a quaint, trendier town with quality restaurants, art galleries, boutiques and lots more people walking around with more $s in their pockets (locals and visitors alike)..

Or look at Barnsley Gardens near Adairsville, GA. One of the nation’s best luxury small resorts. I wish many of our local officials would get a vision of what our area could become with some effort and MARKETING, versus just sitting back and infighting all the time on the various councils and commissions. I found it downright SCARY how several candidates running for Polk County commission recently responded to the question of what their vision for the county is - too many people said “I don’t have one”. This is a scary thought coming from a local leader! Our leaders in the region need to realize that we are in a serious competition with many other N. GA communities (and surrounding states - NC, etc.) to land quality economic assets (resorts, high-end restaurants, upper-end hotels, etc.) that will cause meaningful change and better peoples’ lives over the long haul - and create even a more quality destination in time. We live in a global economy - if Fannin and Polk don’t think beyond the county line, then Lumpkin, Gilmer and Rabun just may - and also eat our lunch in the meantime!

John Blankenship
Copperhill City Council

I grew up in Blue Ridge & occasionally visit with my husband & dogs in tow. I’ve stayed at the Douglass Inn, but don’t consider that an option since my last experience there. (The room smelled like urine & the carpet was greasy. They had tried to mask the odor with room freshner - maybe the reason for the greasy carpet? The room freshner was worse than the urine. It was so strong that it burned my nose.)
I’d like to spend a few day with my mom during the holidays, but don’t want to commit to renting an expensive cabin for a week. An alternative would be very nice.

If all the “part-timers” would become “full-timers” and REGISTER TO VOTE IN FANNIN, UNION, POLK TN, CHEROKEE N.C. or wherever you choose to hang out in the area, things would change favorably - and more QUICKLY!!

While we rightly practice the principal of one person, one vote in the U.S, you DO have some say as to where you want to call “home” - if you own more than one home. Probably many of the Floridians may not want to sacrifice the no state income tax status they enjoy in FL, but move to Georgia for a while and then move back to your other place later- after you’ve helped elect some progressive politicans in the area. And if you live in some other part of Georgia already, why not just move your primary residence and vote to Fannin - what’s the difference if you don’t have kids in school? Of course, best case scenario is that all involved can work together for positive change and economic development - old timers and new comers alike. But new people who can vote and have more of a say sure can’t hurt things either!

Fannin is number 10 in the nation for housing starts - if it were #10 in the nation for new registered voters in the county, people’s heads would spin with how quickly we would have some of the items mentioned.

[...] The local Realtor rumor mill now has Ritz-Carlton eying a new resort on Lake Nottely. You may recall that they were supposedly looking to put a place on Lake Blue Ridge, but that mutated into a Holiday Inn or Sheraton or something, that then vaporized into nothing. I haven’t spent much time on or around Nottely but from what I’ve seen it just doesn’t have the wow-factor of LBR, probably because it’s a shallower lake and the TVA’s drop is much more noticeable. If this rumor becomes reality, that’s sure to change; year round high water has to be the contingency for the Ritz and that lake. [...]

HELP! My band, “NO big deal” (in Chattanooga, TN), has opened for national acts (Sheryl Crow, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Wet Willie). We played at The Ridges Yacht Club a year ago. This December 29, 2007, I’m bringing my trio (one incarnation of the band) to Brasstown Valley Resort for a wedding reception at noon. We’re booked in Chattanooga (with my 7-Piece band) for New Year’s Eve… since we’ll be at BTVR on the 29th, I’d love to book the band somewhere close for the nights of 12/28, 12/29 and/or 12/30. If you have contact with a club/restaurant owner, please pass this along (or act as Agent and get us booked - I’ll pay a booking fee). Contact me at 423-595-3325. Thanks. Dennis Massengale
“NO big deal” http://www.NObigdealband.com

If you want to be “entertained” please stay in Atlanta. Blue Ridge is for those who want to take a step back and slow down and enjoy the beauty of nature, not those who need to be “waited on” and “belly up to the bar”.

Obviously you don’t live in the Blue Ridge area. Exactly how is the addition of a resort going to better peoples lives over the long haul? Are you thinking of the little minimum wage jobs at the restaurants/resort, or are you thinking of lining the select few’s pockets? The only people with more money in their pockets will be the developers!

I agree COMPLETELY Laura. This is the LAST thing this town needs. I’m 20 years old, I work in retail, I have no money of my own, no car, no health care, nothing. I currently have no way of going back to school ( graduated from FCHS in 06) but I would LOVE to change that in a heartbeat. Its just a matter of getting the money, but I’m getting off topic here. A “world class resort” would offer NO longterm benefits to any of the full timers here ( all 20 years of my life and counting) and sure, it would offer a few crappy jobs of putting up with snobs who think they’re better than us for having what I consider infinately more money than i will ever have. I mean think about it. All we do here is cater to people who HAVE no respect for us. What about those of us that REALLY need the help around here? What about my father who has currently been out of work for two weeks because its slowing down? ( general contractor for phillip morris, rj reynolds and a plethora of other companies) what about my mother who thanks to her we are currently BARELY surviving off of her disability and other checks she gets oh, once a month? I just think that this whole resort thing is a completely bad idea. Almost as bad as ” lake-front porperties” and rental cabins. If you DONT like it here. MOVE! It is NOT an entirely HARD concept to GRASP people

RP,

I own a house in Blue Ridge and you are the reason people fail. You blam others for not haveing and education or money. A resort would bring in many good paying jobs and bring more business to Fannin County. Stop looking at others for your problems, you can help yourself. I Love it and will never move, its people like you that need to move. Its the people that have lived in Blue Ridge for 20 + years is the reason that a liquor law is not in place and the reason that a resort has not been buildt.

if you want a five star resort and liquor to drink. PLEASE. by all means. go BACK to where you came from. its the people like YOU that are wanting to get shitfaced with your evening meal, people like you that cant accept the system is PERFECT the way it is around here already.

also. apparently. you didnt get an education ( blam haveing) and why should i move? im a natural native born and raised here.

RP,
Tourism sustains the current economy in Blue Ridge. Like it or not as construction has declined, our source of income is largely dependant on tourism. If you are in retail you must understand that when one area declines (construction) so will the other areas, in time. RP, you will not be able to sell as much if people have less money to spend. By showing your biased opinion, you are further hampering the chance that others will reap income from tourists visiting our beautiful mountains. Your negative comments about tourists are not shared by everyone. This is not the area to show your narrow views. Please, think before writing offensive statements on a realtor’s website. You are hurting those of us who need the income tourism provides. Also, you might want to re-read your statements before you correct someone else. Your statements include spelling errors, punctuation errors, capitalization errors, and crude language. Again, think and re-read before you write and send. You are representing Blue Ridge and we have much to celebrate.

My husband and I would love to move to the mountains. Blue Ridge is one area we are looking at. However, after reading the comments RP posted, I don’t know that we would be welcome. Are most of the people that live here friendly and accepting of those of us that fall in love with the area and move here?

TJ

This area is a wonderfull place to live. The majority of local people here are very friendly dont let those few that won’t work and feel that someone else should support them bother you.

RP is the type im refering to. Whoa is me I cant find someone to support me and its always someone elses fault.