I love the downtown cam. It gives me a chance to be in Blue Ridge when I’m not even there. We have a place in Morganton that we try to get to as often as we can but when I’m at home in Sugar Hill, I look at the downtown cam several times a day to see what is going on or to see what the weather is like there. I also like the mountain cam and the lake cam. Thank you so much for having those cams for us to view.

We are enjoying the new webcam.

The downtown features enable
us to vicariously spent time in BR

Thanks for the webcams! We have a cabin in the McCaysville area but don’t get up as often as we’d like. This is a great way for us to stay connected to the area and have mini web-vacations!

Thanks again!

I love the webcams! I have been frequenting the site for many months and have observed all of the growing pains. I appreciate your efforts and admire your determination to make this site a success. I have shared the site with many friends. After checking my mail in the AM, my next stop is Blue Ridge. We have a place in the mountains, this is the next best thing when we cannot be there. Keep up the great work!

THE IMPROVED WEB CAM IS GREAT!! I frequent it many times a day when I’m on the road to check on the activity in town and to tell business associates of the environment of OUR town. This improvement came at the right time with the peak of the season last weekend. I sent the site to family and friends across the country and have received glowing comments!!

You should be applauded by everyone in the town for showcasing Blue Rige to the world!!

Congrates!!

New camera is great,enjoy viewing all the time, even though I live a mile from it’s location..I will tell friends from near and far to enjoy too! Thanks.

This new, improved cam is terrific. You have made good improvements on all your sites. Congratulations for a job well done. I enjoyed the Halloween Safe Zone viewing, and look forward to viewing more events in the future. Keep up the good work…and thank you.

we saw our family on the halloween webcam downtown.
all the way from cookson, oklahoma.
we were ecstatic!
there were standing by the fudge factory.

Hi,

I really enjoy the three cameras and the weather station at Lake Blue Ridge Dam. I am currently working in Houston, TX (wife resides in Morganton). I generally return to Morganton area every 8-weeks for a short home visit. I use the cameras and weather station to stay focused on weather conditions in Fannin County (GA)area.

Channel-9 from Chattanooga formerly had weather station at East Fannin Elementary School that is no longer accessible by me. The data from Bule Ridge Dam weather site is real World data.

Thanks so much for taking the time to install and maintain the facilities to make the cameras and weather station available to all.

i live on tybee is ga and have a daughter 3grandsons and soninlaw who live in blue ridge.we call sometimes to ask them if thier out to stop by cam so we can get kwik look at everybody.

dan carpenter tybee island ga

Hello from Bonifay, FL
I had the pleasure of visiting Blue Ridge in July 2005. Since then, I have been visiting the webcams. I am thoroughly enjoying the new cameras downtown, at the lake, and the new mountain cam. Thanks for the update and the beautiful scenery they create. Keep up the good work.

Absolutely love the new downtown camera. Can’t beat seeing what’s happening in real time. A minor comment is that some of the zoom shots are not very informative, like the one of the steeple. “Out of the Blue” should also be giving you a little for the advertising.

On your, (free), wireless access points you might add Bank of Blueridge on the connector.

My wife and I were blessed seven years ago to be able to purchase a vacation/retirement cabin between BR and Epworth. We try to get “up there” about four times a year and the webcam just helps us to endure the time until we can get up there again.
The beauty of the area and the friendliness of the people can’t be matched anywhere.

A friend/merchant was telling my wife about a mother and child standing in view of the cam and jumping up & down with something in their hands. Turns out it was an award that the child had received in school, and they were trying to show it to dad serving in Iraq!

If you’re reading and he missed you on the cam, or if anyone else wants to do something of this nature, please comment below or shoot me a private email and we’ll set up a time to keep the cam centered on one specific location for an extended period. Thanks to all that have taken the time to comment; I always read every single word.

I’m Todd’s sister; I live in New Jersey and I check out what’s happening in BR every day! Thanks for helping me stay in touch.

I have a cabin in Cherry Log. I love to look and see what is happening. It is very relaxing to look at living in Atlanta.
Thanks for the incredible work.

We have a cabin outside of Blue Ridge and reside in Orlando. We try to get up there as much as possible, so now we can visit the area and get the “actual” weather conditions, and also get our “mountain fix”. Thank you for a great job and helping all of us to stay in touch with Blue Ridge.

The new webcams are GREAT.
I go to the site every day to see whats
going on. ALso your new weather page is fantastic.
From Miami we dont really get a real picture of what is happening in Blue Ridge but with your cams and weather i ar right there!!!

We just bought property in Blue Ridge and love checking out your webcams. What can I say that hasn’t already been said in the previous 18 comments–except ditto. Thank you for providing a great service to all of us who cannot enjoy Blue Ridge full-time. I am looking forward to seeing the “Light up Blue Ridge” festivities on your webcam. Wish I was there. Happy Holidays and thanks again for a GREAT job.

We were there in 2005. This is a big improvement. I look at the camera site almost every day. Enjoyed the visit & train ride. We are from near Gainesville Florida. No mountains Here!

I have vacationed in Blue Ridge every summer for the past three years and look at the web cams every day. I just put my home on the market in North Port Florida and as soon as it sales I plan to relocate to to Blue Ridge area. I have lived in Florida for the last 30 yrs. and looking foward to living in Blue Ridge. Thanks for the nice views you provide each day, it keeps my mind in the mountains where I long to be. Thanks again. Hi Matt,Lisa Fenske

i love blue ridge, blue ridge is a great town

I live in Tyrone, New Mexico and I have a daughter that has a B&B in Hiawassee. Altho I know BR is a ways from her I check your site every day to get an idea what the weather is like and also check out the different sites in your quaint town. I hope to be able to visit BR someday.

Downtown Blue Ridge looks so pretty with all the Christmas lights and decorations. I love being able to view them via the webcam. Light up Blue Ridge was so much fun to attend. This was our first time attending that celebration and it was wonderful.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for the downtown cam, Chris and I took nightly walks there and your cam brings back many wonderful memories. I miss my beloved Blue Ridge. I hope to visit soon as this town will forever hold my most prescious memories.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WAY TO LOOK AT “HOME” WHEN YOU ARN’T THERE.WE LOVE IT UP THERE AND TRY TO GO TO OUR OTHER PLACE EVERY OTHER MONTH.I USED TO LOOK AT THE WEB CAM IN BLOWING ROCK UNTILL YOURS WAS INSTALLED AND NOW ITS A DAILY VISIT. ALWAYS CHECK OUT WHATS HAPPING UP THERE AND NOW WITH THE NEW CAMERA SET UP ITS GREAT. WE APPRICATE IT SO MUCK… GREEN COVE SPGS, FL.

I enjoy all the Blue Ridge webcams. I’d like to come visit sometime and am planning to do so this next year.

Today I saw 3 ducks on the lake cam !!!

Merry Christmas from Pensacola, FL

I caught the ducks too. It’s a mating pair of Mallards that hit the cove for food runs, but this is the first time I’ve seen them with a duckling in-tow (which is almost their size). I guess the others have flown the coop or didn’t make it but (looks like a) he appears ready for Winter ‘07.

In the summer of 2005 I saw a dog in the water. Looked like he was fetching a stick!

Kip,

I love the webcams!!

We have a rental cabin in the Aska area and unfortunately don’t get to come as often as we like so so this a great way to feel like we’re there.

I first became familiar with your work here when I was researching lake info and have spent time scrolling through your lake posts.

I enjoyed every minute of it.

Keep up the great work!

Doug Miracle
Alpharetta, GA

It is great to be able to see what I am working for. I live in California but have property I am going to retire on in Mineral Bluff. Thanks for the webcams, they help me get through the night.

i love the Webcam,
Greetings from Germany

Enjoy looking at the Web Cams. I look at web Cams all over the world. A good way to tour the world.
Jerry Hood
Young Harris, Ga

I love the web cam. It keeps me in touch with Blue Ridge between visits. Miss you all.

Thanks so much for the webcam. We live in Florida and when I heard Atlanta airport was re-routing flights due to an ice storm I checked the webcam and was thrilled to see snow. I have watched all morning and wish I was there. The web cam is so nice!! I can’t wait to come up next weekend.

I love the webcam and would love to live in Blue Ridge and become a Deputy. Currently I live in Cardiff, UK and I’m 16yrs old.

When I was in school on Thursday it was about 10.30am and I had an Information Technology (IT) lesson and looked at the webcam to see it snowin of course because of the time difference it was about 5.30 and there was loads of snow coming down and it looked amazing.

Love the Webcam, especially the Lake Cam!!!

Did the IT professor bring up the cam in the lecture? That would be pretty cool after all of my daily headaches!

BTW, I’ve seen ads in the local paper about job openings/training for Fannin County/Blue Ridge/Ellijay LEOs. I’ll see what I can dig up. Great bunch of folks from everything I’ve seen, never heard a complaint, dedicated to the community, very proud of them.

Welcome and thanks for stopping in from across the pond.

To everyone else, I would thank you each post-by-post, but I’d prefer to stay out of the way (UK, Germany, Iraq, elsewhere chiming in, how cool) and thank you all at once here real-quick. The wonderful comments, emails and advice have convinced me that a Toccoa River cam (not yet) would most likely be a hit. It’s not for-sure. If the cam’s site checks out, perhaps less than a month to go live. W/o testing beforehand, I’m thinking whitewater/broadband/audio, we’ll see…not even sure if it’s hardwired broadband yet…ya heard it here first because you cared enough to read on, thanks. ~Kip

Greetings from New York!
We were in Blue Ridge in October looking at cabins and houses and also had a great vacation, we loved the train ride, a Toccoa web cam would be really great!
I just saw your lake cam and mountain cam, now I know who is doing the work, thanks Kip,
we love those mountains, it’s so nice to see so many people writing in to say hi
keep up the good work!

[...] No doubt after all of the great guestbook comments that a majority of that was consumed by the webcam watchers, but that’s still folks tuning-in, and again thanks. Knowing that there’s a decent audience definitely makes it all worthwhile, not to mention there’s some great dialog going on in the recent comments >> [...]

Hello from Florida’s East Coast!!!

We are going back to Blue Ridge for Easter weekend and love checking out the webcam shots to remind us of what we have to look forward to. We were in the mountains last Memorial Day and can’t wait to be there again next month. I noticed that the mountain cam is not listed anymore. Has is been removed? If so, I will miss it terribly. It reminds me of the view from the cabin we rent.

Hi Deanna, welcome.

The mountain cam is dead for now. After 4 short months on the air and a sizable amount of time & money spent installing and promoting the mtn cam, the owners decided to sell their rental cabin (without cluing me in of course).

It was never so much as hinted to me that selling was even a remote possibility when I was asked by this person to place the cam there. I would never have done it, and I apologize for putting a cam/website out there that had the lifespan of a house fly. Nonetheless, I will find a reliable home for it eventually.

Kip,
My name is mercy and 1 year ago this month we visited our friends
from miami that had just purchased a cabin, we loved the city so much that on that same weekend after looking at only 3 cabins we bought ours, that just gives you an idea how much we love the town. Every day, every time I have a chance I check on the web cam, all of them and I always tell my husband, if we would only be able to have one in our area, our cabin is located at Mountain Tops with a beautiful view of the mountains. So by now you probably understand what I’m trying to say, YES, you are more than welcome to use our home and I can assure you we will not sell our cabin, as we plan to retire there. If there is anything we can do to help you, please contact me at my e-mail. Thanks again Mercy & Roberto

Hi Mercy & Roberto,
I didn’t plan on another workload w/ the mtn cam so I’m going to be focused on commitments for a bit, but I will definitely be in-touch via email. I’m presume you have broadband right? Thanks so much!

Hi Kip!
That’s our relaxation home and we don’t even have a telephone line. The only entertainment we have up there is our cable television. We look forward to going up there to relax and get away from the hussle and bussle of Miami, FL. I will definately look into getting a broadband for the future, and maybe we can then have a cam out our place. We’ll keep in touch, you have our email if anything. Thanks!
Mercy and Roberto.

Don’t mess with that relaxation on my account, seriously! My pop’s company has an office in Ft. Lauderdale that I visit on occasion, and during rush hour it’s like Manhattan traffic (for me) from the hotel to the office. I’m sure Miami is right up there with Atlanta (where I grew up). I think I need a relaxation home with TIVO (shrink 4 hrs of commercial cable TV to 2hrs) & without Internet/land-line/cell service.

Your gesture is golden though; keep the cabin as-is!

The web cam is great! whenever I am in the office and having one of those days I go to the web cam to see what’s going on in town.
we live in Florida and recentlty bought a cabin in Blue Ridge. and look foward to the day that we can move there. I would like to thank all the people of Blue Ridge for making it what is today. A GREAT PLACE!

Many thanks from Richard and Pattie.

can you say the best blood pressure treatment in town - thanks for your work

I can’t wait to see the lake up, boats and the fun begins

I was born in Blue ridge Georgia my Grandfather Josuha Thomas Wishon and Nancy Rogers Wishon who are deceased now is buried at Cherry Log Cementary and my mother Hester wishon Lawson Stokes who is also deceased who was born in BlueRidge Ga , My people I still have an aunt Mrs.Pauline Wishon my uncle Trumas Wishon who is deceased also is buried there my cousin Doyle Wishon lives there also and I am very proud to be from BlueRidge Georgia I am 60 years old now my name is Gertrude Orlena Baker my maiden name was Lawson daughter of Hester Lou Gracie Wishon Lawson Stokes she has passed away June 24th of 1995 I would love to have up dates on what is going on in my hometown and more pictures on the computer for BlueRidge georgia of Fannin County which I am very pleased to be from there my grandparents used to live on the old road of blueridge and my uncle Clyde Collins and my aunt Reathel Collins and family used to live there and their son david my cousins .

IGertrude Orlena (Lawson ) Baker I am from BlueRidge Georgia I am very proud to be from BlueRidge Georgia my GrandParents Mr.&Mrs Thomas J. wishon who are deceased today used to live there many years ago my mother Hester Lou Gracie Wishon Lawson Stokes was her daughter and Mr.&Mrs. Wishon,s granddaughter and I have cousins who still live there doyle and Debra of Trumas Wishon and Pauline Wishon my GrandParents are buried in Cherry Log Cementary and I am very proud to be from BlueRidge Georgia and my family we love BlueRidge I would love to see more of BlueRidge on the computer for BlueRdge Georgia please send me a news letter from there I would really appreciate it very much My address is 3401 Campbell Street Apt901 Chattanooga Tennessee 37406-4421

I would love to recevive your news letter from BlueRidge Georgia since I am from BlueRidge I try to keep up with what is going on up there from my cousin Doyle Wishon who keeps up some of the cabins in BlueRidge Mountains who live in BlueRidge the son of Pauline and Trimas Wishon my aunt and uncle Iam very proud to be from there my hometown I miss very much the way it use to be is no more what I have be told my grandfather ,s old place has been turned into a dump for tanks and I would love for someone to clean it up I am very upset at this my grandfather and grandmother would be very upset this has been done on their old land and now you need to clean it up and let me know it has been done at once I will be keeping in touch witrh my cousin and he will let me know I am ashamed of BlueRidge or who every did this to their land Mrs. Gertrude Baker 3401 Campbell Street Apt901 Chattanooga Tennessee 37406-4421please connect nme at once .thank you.

Hey Kip!
Just want to give you a heads up that we have added your link to our Blue Christmas web-site.

Also, it was brought to my attention, that my email address for the Business Owners Association is incorrect. The correct email is ChefRickT@aol.ocm

We need to get together, as it is LAKE season!

Hi to Shelly,
Later, Rick

Thanks Rick. Fixed. S says hey.

too bad you changed it so an additional plug in is needed to see it .

it was fine until that happened.

Changed it back. Thanks for the advice; it was heeded. I hate Java & knew I was barking up the wrong tree.

Where are all the cams, all of a sudden I can’t find the cam sites and I have had it bookmarked for a few years. The streaming video stopped coming up about a month ago but I could still see that 60 second up grade and the down town but now nothing.
This is very odd.
I have spybot search and destroy that I have to run at least twice a week to clear the trash and I use Norton 06 could any of this be the reason?
Did you move the web site to a different www?
I know we have a water problem but just curious, is TVA compounding the problem of the people on the lake for the benefit of the white water rafters?

Paul I was testing some new software for the cams that didn’t go so well and I’ve reverted back to the old method of refreshing the still image. Try hitting ‘Ctrl’ + ‘F5′ keys on the webcam home pages for a hard “Refresh”.

On the cam home pages, you’ll find links to other cams under the “Multimedia” tab.

The streaming video is working fine on my end so that may be Norton. You might need to allow the “Axis Communications” ActiveX control in Norton somehow; I haven’t used Norton for a few years. Try shutting down NIS to see if the video works:

http://www.blueridgelakecam.com/lowres.html

http://www.blueridgewebcam.com/lowres.html

I guess the TVA is releasing for the drought and power generation. Looks like we may have reached full pool this year unless we get brushed by a hurricane or two.

All the webcams and the info with them are great.Hope you get the the mountain cam going again.My wife and I love to look at them all.We bought property in Blue Ridge last year and are looking forward to moving up there from South Florida one day.Looking at the webcams,especially the mountain cam,always relaxes us and brightens our day.Great job.

Thanks Ron. I really enjoy your comments; thanks for jumping in on the debate. Hope you all will continue to do so.

The mountain cam will return. I have several webcams returning from warranty work soon.

Have a great view and a great connection? Contact me here.

The Toccoa River cam is GREAT! It’s a nice picture of the river.

Glad you like it Ron, thanks!

We always vacation in the Smokey mountains but decided to come to Blue Ridge this summer. We have a river cabin rented for next week. I have been enjoying the cams very much!

I enjoy looking at the blue ridge cams everyday. I notice that the weather cam has been stuck on 9/3/07 for a few days. Is this a problem with my computer or is the transmission from blue ridge experiencing difficulties? Thank you, ccc

The weather server is down. It’s in a server closet & I have to drag it out and hook it to a monitor, so it gets pushed down on my daily list of stuff to fix. One of these days I’ll stick a tiny flat panel in there. I should have it back up here in a few. Thanks Carol.

added: my server might need an OS reinstall—it’s whacked. Hope to have it back up before Monday, sorry.

Kip, Thank you for taking the time and your effort to restore the weather station. I sincerely hope that this task did not add to your technical woes too greatly! Your weather station has been invaluable to me in my attempts to create a weather pattern/history for Blue Ridge so I can determine whether a northener such as myself can tolerate the warmer climate during the summer months. Thanks again, ccc

Mike and I love the webcam. We can’t be in Blue Ridge fulltime so it’s nice to visit via the webcam. Our grandchildren love to see the birds come and go on the feeder. Thank you for generously allowing us to view those images.

“THANK YOU SO MUCH” for all your effort and hard work to bring us a little
of Downtown Blue Ridge where ever we are. We missed the cam very much and we are thrilled is back. Thanks again to all the guys that helped and to GH. God bless you all. Mercy and Roberto

Im so glad to find this site,I live in Blueridge and am presently mobilized in Iraq ,and every now and then I have my wife go downtown there so I can see her and the kids.Once again Thanks,and I hope the camera will stayon and working til Sepember when I get home.Yall take care,and I cant wait to get back home.

Thanks Susan, Mike, Roberto & Mercy!

It’s a honor to have you here Mr. Rhodes. Send me an email anytime if you want me to stop the cam’s panning so you can get a better shot of your family (kipdraper at gmail dot com). It should have a nice long run at its current location.

Thank YOU and your bros for your service. Stay safe and I’m looking forward to you and your family posing for the cam in September for your friends that are still over there serving their country.

By the way, Steve gave me a great idea: every day freeze the cam on a gazebo close-up for a certain amount of time so folks can hook-up online. I’m trying to determine the best time of day to do this. Any ideas?

I am glad I am not the only one who does this while visiting other areas, trying to convince some people to stand in front of a camera and wave is like trying to pull teeth. I don’t thing anyone involved with this camera quite understands the impact it has on those who are able to look at it and dream of being in Blue Ridge more than twice a year on vacation. I had to swallow hard when reading the comment from Travis, I think the fact he has access to his family by visiting your humble site quite frankly, says it all. Please consider freezing the camera at whatever time you think would be most convenient, but more importantly, put the info on a sign below the cam, and on this site. God Bless your efforts, and God Bless America where we can say silly things like complaining about potholes in roads other that countries will never have.

It appears that the time stamp on the webcam is an hour ahead.

Regardless of that trivial point, we LOVE the webcam. Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to get it up and running!

Its very nice to be able to see the traffic and weather down town.

my daughter was in a accident on 515 nov 1 2007.we stayed in the hospital for7 months.
it was great just to get to show her are hometown while we were gone. it was great just to see home.love the web cams. thanks for everyone prayers for amanda jones

Charlie and Sue Bosworth , Saint Petersburg , Florida
We have been going to Blue Ridge for a few years now and are in the process of looking for a log home to purchase in the area. We are getting closer all the time. We are hoping to move there in the next couple years. The web cam view of downtown showing snow is breaking our hearts. Can’t wait to be a part of the comunity.

beautiful veiws, love the christmas tree shot, we were there for light up blue rigde and are heading to the hills in cherrylog tomorrow. cant wait!! the mountains are calling and i must go. merry christmas and happy new year to all. from billy,neila,trinity labelle fl.

Grammie and Baba are in Kuwait. The daughters and their families are at a cabin there in your area. Hope everyone has ag reat time. Thanks for the webcam.

LOve the video - Thanks for sharing…

you’re doing a great job
thank you so very much

Love the cam! I am coming down there for the first time in July and it’s wonderful to be able to get a real life look at were I’m going first..Thanks a lot for posting this cam.

Thanks for the webcam shots. I am viewing it from Baton Rouge, LA. We will be returning (were there in the spring of 2008) to the area in a couple of weeks and it was nice to get a good look at the downtown area again.

We really enjoyed our stay last year and are very excited about going back there this year.

What’s is up with the road downtown? What a mess. We’ll be back if and when it ever gets finished.

It’s called growth, Bill. Do you come here for the streets or the scenery?

You are right D. The street is growing pot holes. More every time we come.

We were just there around June 26 and the downtown area is looking really nice. Pot holes (which we didn’t see) and all is a beautifull area to visit and the people are really nice. We own a home and we can wait to go back.

Love the cam. It gives you a good perspective of the weather too before arriving to Blue Rdige.

Love this community. great people ! We come up every year and always look forward to the next time we vacation here.

Glad we found the webcam. great addition…… nice job !

Enjoy the foliage everyone !

We love the Blue Ridge Cam. We check it every week. Although we are all the way down in Fort Myers, FL it makes us feel like we are visiting. Thank you for all you do with the cam.

The Cam down town is amazing… kinda odd that you can look at ppl with it and all but its great!

Just found this camera and love it. I really miss visiting the mountains of North Georgia. I would rather live there than visit there from Bradenton, FL. where we live. I think my soul belongs in the mountains, but my family thinks I’m crazy. Until now I have only been able to view the webcams on the ETC website, which are not near as good. So thank you for helping me keep checking in on the area. I would love to view other webcams you could tell me about.

Hello North Georgia has a nice web cam overlooking Lake Blue Ridge near the Marina.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY HATE THIS STUPID WEBPAGE

Sarah, please explain why you don’t like “this” webpage.

I haven’t been able to get the streaming video at all today. We own a cabin in Cherry Log and love to check the snow via the webcam. Has it been down all day?

Yes, the webcam host is moving so the cam will be down for at least a week. I have to hire a bucket truck and move the cam to new location. The Aska cam has the snow…

Please get the web cam working. I live in New Orleans, but visit twice a year. (Family cabin on Toccoa River) Looking at BR on a daily basis gives great satisfaction and a sense of being there……..