Last night was the first night we were back in our own beds after a 5 day road trip from Ohio to Georgia and back. Luke’s company is based out of Norcross, GA, and every once in awhile he needs to actually go to the office to do work that just can’t be done from home. This time, we decided to go down as a family and see what we could find for fun in Georgia.
Our trip started on Saturday with a quick stop over the Ohio/West Virginia border for a family reunion. So the first part of our trip was over 14.5 hours! The girls were troopers though and we pulled into the hotel around 11:30PM.
On Sunday, we focused on the geology and history of Georgia by heading North towards the Cleveland area. We stopped off at the Gold N’ Gem Grubbin’ Mine. The area was a mine in the gold rush Georgia had in the 1800’s. The entire Northern area of Georgia is full of gold, and they say only 30% has been taken out, still leaving 70% there. Unfortunately, it’s in such small quantities, that most of it is found by placer mining. Still, they had buckets of dirt you could purchase to try your hand at both panning for gold, and sifting for gemstones.
On our way back, we stopped in Dahlonega to take a look at the Historic Gold Museum in their old county courthouse, one of the oldest courthouses around! The museum was set up very well, with information on the Dahlonega Mint, the land lottery for gold territory, and the conflict with the Native Americans that lead to The Trail of Tears. I had zero idea that the gold rush in Georgia was responsible for this part of United States history.
We didn’t have much time to explore the town, but it was a cute, set up with lots of small shops, and you could tell it was full of history. It is definitely one of those tourist trap towns that you could spend the entire day walking around enjoying the sites and then need another day or two because you didn’t see everything you could have.
We will most certainly end up in Georgia again, and focusing on Northern Georgia, checking out the different places to pan for gold and learn about that early history of Georgia, is something that is on our list to explore further. For the history and geology buffs out there, it is certainly an area worth visiting!
Keep checking back for more of our Georgia trip!
~Holly
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