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Cruising the New Hospitality Highway, from the Banks of the Chattahoochee in Sandy Springs to the Rolling Mountains of Dahlonega Traffic snarls and road rage may be par for the course on many highways and byways in and around Atlanta, but not so on Georgia 400. With a new cooperative venture funded by grant money from the Georgia Department of Economic Development/Tourism Foundation, driving on this thoroughfare just became a lot more hospitable. The scenic Georgia 400 corridor, officially designated in July as “Hospitality Highway,” is like a welcome mat that unfurls from Sandy Springs in North Fulton County to the mountain town of Dahlonega in North Georgia’s Lumpkin County and linking Roswell, Alpharetta, Cumming/Forsyth and Dawsonville along the way. And signs, warmed up with the state’s signature Georgia peach logo, proclaim with typical Southern good manners: “A Hospitality Highway Community.” “This designation will help us make more people aware of all the many, many things happening in the 400 corridor — residents and visitors alike,” said Dotty Etris, executive director of Historic Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau and spokesperson for Georgia 400-Hospitality Highway. “This is a true tourism promotion product and a cooperative effort by six different destination marketing organizations, all marketing the region with great opportunities for a day trip, a weekend, a week or even longer.” Each community offers a plethora of recreational pursuits. As a matter of fact, Etris promises that, “at each turn along the way, something fun and interesting can be found.” A Road by Any Other Name The road to recasting Georgia 400 as the Hospitality Highway began three years ago at a conference attended by Etris and Janet Rodgers, president and CEO of the Alpharetta Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We had been toying with a way to emphasize Roswell and Alpharetta and all the great things we have to see along Highway 9 ‘from historic downtown to downtown,’”
Etris recalled. “We came upon the Hospitality Highway idea and, after much brainstorming, decided to focus on Georgia 400 because it is so heavily traveled and we wanted to get the word out that there is so much to see and do along that corridor.” It is an idea that has been traveling through a few states. According to Etris, several states officially and unofficially adopted their own “hospitality highways,” including Highway 90 along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. “Georgia already had the Golden Isles Highway, the Wine Highway and the Wiregrass Trail. Georgia 400, with its exceptionally varied and almost infinite amenities, seemed the perfect choice.” The Georgia Department of Economic Development/Tourism Foundation immediately came onboard as a partner in the campaign and provided a cooperative marketing grant to assist with the project. The venture earned the Georgia Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus’ “Best of the Best” Bill Hardman Sr. Marketing Professional Award. “This initial project was so well-received that Janet and I decided we wanted to make this Georgia’s Official Hospitality Highway,” Etris said. “However, we realized that we would have to bring more of the communities onboard to get widespread support from the legislators in order to do so.” The Kindness of Strangers The two reached out to Dahlonega, Dawsonville, Cumming/Forsyth, and Sandy Springs (which had only recently become a city) and were met, appropriately enough, with open hospitableness. “Now, instead of simply exits 6 to 11, we can say from ‘Metro to Mountains,’” said Etris, adding that they wanted an inviting tagline that would encompass the region’s history and sensibility. “Since we have historic sites in Roswell (magnolias) and North Georgia at one time had a reputation for moonshine and now the wineries are producing merlot, we decided to use ‘magnolias, moonshine and merlot.’” Bill Hardman, Jr., president and CEO of the Southeast Tourism Society, calls the cooperative venture “a model promotion for the very thing we do as a region: collectively put our regions together. Getting six communities to market themselves as a destination under one consistent theme is one of the most unique and creative cooperative promotions I’ve seen in a long time,” he said. Every single state lawmaker from the area strongly supported the plan and easily passed legislation recognizing Georgia 400 as the newly christened “Hospitality Highway.” Since the promotion crosses two of Georgia’s travel regions, Atlanta Metro and Northeast Mountains, it provides an opportunity to encourage residents to explore other areas and to present all of the attractions along the way to visitors as they travel to and through the area. “The Georgia 400 corridor has so many cars going by daily and our areas have a great ‘transient’ population with a 40-percent turnover in many areas,” Etris noted. “This will help folks new to the area become more informed about the opportunities in the region and those traveling from home to work along the corridor become more familiar with the things they are daily passing by.” In addition to its “Metro to Mountains” campaign, the six-community partnership is currently promoting the area’s natural attractions: “Where Mother Nature is at Home.” Eventually, members plan to promote their folk-life heritage and abundant visual and performing arts opportunities. An arts trail and history tours may also be developed. Individually, each community is a gold mine of recreational opportunities; combined, they yield an undulating montage of attractions, including dining, shopping, lodging and historic and natural sites that welcome unbridled exploration. And visiting each is now as hospitable as a drive in the park. Mother Nature, Merlot and More The six-community region is a paean to Mother Nature, from the forests and waterfalls of North Georgia to the lakes and rivers flowing in and along the towns to the metro areas’ parks and urban canopies — those great green swatches of manicured wilds that make the city feel more like the country. Amicalola Falls State Park, the Chattahoochee National Forest and the Chattahoochee River each present a menu of opportunities for nature lovers and the Dahlonega Plateau, similar to that of some of the most famous wine-growing regions in the world, gives the area its distinction as “heart of Georgia’s wine country.” So resplendent in natural beauty is the region it almost seems, in some cases, that the cities were an afterthought, albeit charming ones, to nature’s overly generous bounty. “We have parks at the lake, on the mountain and throughout the county with fishing, hiking, riding trails, athletic fields, indoor recreation facilities and walking and jogging paths,” said Kris Carroll, vice president of marketing and communications at the Cumming-Forsyth Chamber of Commerce. The Sawnee Mountain Preserve adds an additional 720 acres of scenic, passive greenspace to Cumming’s naturescape, with several miles of natural hiking trails, plus rock climbing, rappelling, backpacking, birding and environmental education. Recently completed here is Georgia’s first fully handicap-accessible tree house; currently under construction is a new environmental education center. And at the top of the mountain: a natural rock outcropping known as the Indian Seats. “They are 2,000 feet above sea level and boast some of the most panoramic views of the North Georgia Mountains, Lake Lanier and the Atlanta skyline,” Carroll said. Best-Kept Secrets Revealed For a petite mountain community surrounded by the layered peaks of the Blue Ridge, Dahlonega surprises not only with its award-winning wines but with its remarkable number of unique restaurants: 52 eateries, one for each week of the year, include the finger-licking good Smith House, seafood-serving McGuire House, the coastal North Carolina-inspired Back Porch Oyster Bar, Crimson Moon that showcases acoustic performances almost every night along with its gourmet salads and organic coffees and the old-fashioned Connie’s Ice Cream & Sandwich Shop tucked right into Dahlonega’s historic square. History is Roswell’s middle name. Its 640-acre historic district is rich in Civil War history and antebellum homes, including Bulloch Hall, former home of President Theodore Roosevelt’s mother, Mittie Bulloch; the Archibald Smith Plantation Home, a farm house filled with more than 14,000 artifacts belonging to the original family; and antebellum Barrington Hall, a living history lesson about the Roswell Mills. Still, the mill ruins along Vickery Creek Trail and the Faces of War Vietnam War Memorial remain its best-kept secrets. Little known treasures await in Alpharetta as well. Famous for its parks, shopping and Big Creek Greenway, the city is home to two unique attractions. The Honda Rider Education Center, one of just a handful in the country, offers beginner, intermediate and advanced training courses for street and dirt bikes; and the Walk of Memories at the Veterans Memorial Park is a tribute to veterans of the Armed Forces created by the Alpharetta American Legion Post 201 and located on its 12-plus acre grounds. Sitting on 2 acres in the midst of pine trees and military artifacts is the walkway made up of 9,000 commemorative bricks that pay homage to Georgians who have served in every war since World War I. “As you walk from the M60 tank to the Medevac helicopter on the walkway you’ll see sections set aside for Georgia boys in the different branches of the military in the wars and others who served in support positions and on the home front,” said Chief JR Wages of the American Legion, who noted that the Walk is the only one if its kind in the state. “It’s a walk of memories for all military people.” Edging the Appalachian Mountains, Dawsonville dazzles with “America’s Aussie Adventure” at the Kangaroo Conservation Center. This wildlife educational experience brings visitors up-close to the largest kangaroo population outside Australia (250 bouncing ‘roos in eight species) as well as introduces them to African rodents, Dik-diks (tiny antelopes) and a variety of birds including the boisterous kookaburras. Antiquing abounds in Sandy Springs, Georgia’s seventh largest city that hugs 20 miles of shoreline along the Chattahoochee River. First stop: Red Baron’s Antiques for everything from funky fabulous to first-class chic. The shop annually holds catered auctions in the spring, summer and fall that are attended by antique enthusiasts from around the world. “A great café lunch and just a couple of hours to roam around Red Baron’s to see the most unique and exciting pieces absolutely gets you all revved up for some sport shopping,” enthused Kym Hughes, executive director of Sandy Springs Hospitality & Tourism. Hospitality Grows Exponentially Also found at the turns along the way: Appalachian music, arts and crafts in Dahlonega, along with a cozy clutch of bed-and-breakfasts made for romantic mountain getaways; the historical Poole’s Mill covered bridge in Cumming that spans Settingdown Creek; and the promise of top-notch performing arts at Roswell’s Cultural Arts Center, Georgia Ensemble Theatre and the Kudzu Playhouse. A slew of art galleries and restaurants are there for the sampling in Alpharetta and, in Dawsonville, the North Georgia Premium Outlets just beg for enthusiastic poking about for bargains of prominent brands of clothing, furnishings and gift items. In Sandy Springs, turtles add an unexpected bit of whimsy on just about every street corner. “Keep an eye out for those turtles,” warned Hughes of the playful statues replicating the Eastern box turtle indigenous to the region and designed by local artist Jack Elrod. “They are keeping an eye on you.” PN
For More Information
Georgia’s Hospitality Highway
Happy 150th birthday Alpharetta!
To share historical information or donate items for the Sesquicentennial Celebration, please call 678-297-6078 or visit www.alpharetta.ga.us. |
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In 2008, Alpharetta will celebrate its Sesquicentennial Celebration to commemorate the city’s rich and diverse history. Longtime residents of the Alpharetta/Milton area are invited to share their family’s local history to incorporate into the yearlong celebration, which will include special events, activities and historical exhibits.