Helen, Georgia

A coworker of John’s suggested we visit this quaint little German-type town just north of Atlanta, so we took a road trip on one of his days off.

Helen is a mountain town in northeast Georgia, close to the Tennessee border nestled in a small mountain valley. The town formed naturally during America’s early days of colonialization, gold seekers and lumber barons. But like all those towns, as time moved on and the lumber and gold prospects diminished, so did the town. This picture is from the Helen website.

In 1969, three business men, noticing their town’s lack of interest to tourist heading north to the Blue Ridge Mountains, were wondering if there was something that could be done to spruce up the town and make it a tourist stop.

They sought out the help of an artist, John Kollock, who agreed to help them out. He took pictures and made some sketches. He said that the location of Helen reminded him of some of the German and Bavarian towns he had seen during his service. The townspeople loved his idea and over the past 40 years has transformed itself into Georgia’s third most visited city. This picture is from the Helen website.

We don’t know what an ACTUAL German town looks like, but in our mind’s eye, this would be it.

The buildings and the signage give a feeling of being transported to another place as soon as you step out of your car. The smells of sauerkraut, Bratwurst and beer add to the illusion of a German village.

There is a central courtyard of sorts with all variety of shops, restaurants and outdoor seating so you can enjoy the live music.

I love all the bright-colored buildings.

I’m not sure, but a Cinderella horse drawn ride is NOT what I expected to see in a German town.

There are little windmills with little Dutch boys and girls scattered around town. You could make a game out of trying to find them all.

There is a big one just outside of town.

Though kind of hokey because you know its not actually a German town, the atmosphere is appealing. We are anxious to return here to enjoy magic of feeling transported to a different place, which is saying something since we normally do not visit a place more than once. There is just too much to see in our great big country, but this little town deserves a re-visit.