Spend a Weekend in Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains

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When a friend called to tell me about the fabulous time she and her family had while exploring the foothills of Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, I was inspired to take a road trip to the region with my teenage daughter, Sophie, and experience the rich culinary scene, history, and culture of Appalachia together.

With our bags packed and a playlist heavy on K-pop, we set out on the seven- and-a-half-hour journey from Charleston to our base, Barnsley Resort, near Adairsville, Georgia. The route took us down back roads surrounded by pine forests and countryside dotted with rural communities, farms, and churches. After crossing over scenic Lake Marion and into Orangeburg, South Carolina, we picked up I-95, which led to the halfway point, Augusta, Georgia, where we stopped for lunch at Frog & the Hen, an upscale sports pub located just off the highway. The next leg of the journey required navigating traf- fic in and around downtown Atlanta. That aggravation was worth it, though, as after an hour-and-a-half drive north of the city, we reached the lush Blue Ridge foothills. Home to the top-ranking farmer’s market in Georgia and George Washington Carver Park, established in 1950 as the first state park for African Americans during the Jim Crow era, the area also encompasses Red Top Mountain State Park. Once an important mining site, the nature preserve offers 15 miles of trails to hike and bike along Lake Allatoona’s shoreline, where visitors can rent recreational boats for fish- ing large- and smallmouth bass, sailing, windsurfing, or yachting.

Aerial of Ruins and Gardens at Barnsley Resort Georgia — Aerial of Ruins and Gardens at Barnsley Resort

From I-75 N, we took the exit for GA-140 to Main St. North/Old U.S. 41 South. This historic “Dixie Highway” was built between 1915 and 1927. Imprudently named for its Southern track, the road extends from Florida to Michigan and passes through the foothills into Adairsville. The quaint town, which is listed in its entirety on the National Register of Historic Places, has a small train depot and bandstand, a clapboard church, and a town hall. At the edge of the village alongside the railroad tracks is an inn that’s been converted into The Water Tower Grille, a charming restaurant and bar that presents an impressive bourbon selection, wings that were voted Best of Georgia from 2021 through 2024, and—according to staff—a ghost. Considering that Adairsville’s history is interwoven with the Cherokee people who resided in the area before they were forced out onto the Trail of Tears, as well as Scottish settlers, Confederate suppliers, enslaved workers, builders of a massive railway line, Union spies, and Prohibition-era bootleggers, this local lore isn’t surprising.

Pickle ball at Barnsley resort — Barnsley Resort Pickleball

Outside of town a few minutes down the road is Barnsley Resort, the 3,000-acre picturesque country estate where we’d booked our stay. The 55-room inn greets travelers with a lobby designed in the style of an English hunting lodge, its wood-paneled walls hung with paintings of bird dogs and horses, the furnishings upholstered in leather and plaid, and built-in shelves arranged with hard- bound books and Staffordshire dogs. With room keys in hand, we followed a map that led us from the inn to an ad- jacent hamlet of 39 bungalows laid out like a walkable European village.

There we found our designated home-away-from-home, Wheaton Cottage, a two-story house with two bedrooms, two full baths each with a clawfoot tub and black-and-white checkerboard floor, a kitchenette, a living room with a wood-burning fireplace, a sitting room, and two porches with a swing and rocking chairs. Tastefully decorated with custom block-print floral window treatments and patterned wallpaper, the cottage is outfitted with waffle robes, slippers, and plush bedding. On the back lawn are four hammocks ideal for loung- ing and reading a book in the sunshine.

After dropping our bags, we went for a walk to get the lay of the land. On a bluff overlooking spectacular formal boxwood gardens are the ruins of what was once a grand Italianate manor house, its ex- posed brick walls crawling with ivy and its ceilings open to the sky. The resort’s website acknowledges that if the bones of the house could talk, they would tell stories of a Civil War battle that ensued from Sherman’s march across this land, a Union occupation, and a devastating tornado in 1906 that tore the roof off, leaving the villa in disrepair.

As the sun began to set, Sophie and I headed to dinner at The Woodlands dining hall in the resort’s golf club over-looking its course designed by legend Jim Fazio. With menu options such
as parmesan-crusted triggerfish, beef carbonnade, fireside chili, and jumbo lump crabcake, it was difficult to make a decision. I went with chili-glazed beer-battered grouper tossed with dijon aïoli and herbs grown on-site. The heat off the back end followed by a slow sip of a crisp white Côtes du Rhône was synchronicity at its finest.

For dessert, we picked up s’mores sup- plies in the lobby of the inn. Cozying up in a couple of Adirondack chairs around one of many crackling fire pits that are positioned around the resort, we enjoyed a magical evening under the stars.

Culture in Cartersville

The next morning, plans called for a trip into historic Cartersville at the southern end of the Appalachian range. The half-hour drive from the resort leads through winding, wooded back-country roads and into a residential district peppered with mansions set back from the street on manicured lawns. In the 175-year-old whistle-stop downtown area, there is parking with access to boutiques and cafés. At the heart of the town is the old train depot, which has been converted into a welcome center where helpful and friendly staff introduce visitors to Cartersville attractions such as world- class museums, including the Tellus Science Museum, the Savoy Automobile Museum, the Booth Western Art Museum, the Bartow History Museum, and the Rose Lawn Museum.

Museum City Table 20 plated food dish — Table 20, Image courtesy of Blake Johnson

Impressively, the Booth Western Art Museum, affiliate of the Smithsonian that houses the world’s largest collec- tion of Western art, is recognized as one of the best 10 art museums in the country by USA Today’s People’s Choice Awards. The institution exhibits Civil War-era sculptures and oil paintings illustrating Native American life and culture. Its Presidential Gallery show- cases a portrait of, and a letter written and signed by, every US president.

Rose Lawn Museum, a grand Victorian house known as the crown jewel of Cartersville, was once home to Reverend Samuel Porter Jones, a lawyer and famous 19th-century American evangelist who influenced the tent revival culture across the South. Of interest, a room on the second floor is dedicated to the legacy of Rebecca Latimer Felton, Jones’ mentor when he studied law as well as a champion of Georgia’s early women’s suffrage movement and the first woman to be a US Senator.

In addition to its vast history, Cartersville boasts a thriving culinary scene. We were spoiled for choice with options like the Appalachian Grill’s “Bleu” Grass burger, The City Cellar & Loft’s country fried steak, Ate Track’s taqueria-style entrees, and Table 20’s famous deviled eggs topped with bacon, scallions, and pepper jelly.

After a whirlwind day exploring the town, Sophie and I returned to Wheaton Cottage and dressed for dinner at Jules, Barnsley’s signature fine-dining establishment. Named for patriarch Godfrey Barnsley’s globetrot- ting daughter, Julia, Jules is inspired by the late heiress’ passion for entertain- ing and her flare for blending interna- tional fare with Southern favorites, all made with local and seasonal ingredi- ents. Jules’ extensive wine list also of- fers selections from around the world.

When our server introduced herself as Daisy Wheaton, it occurred to me that there are seemingly no coincidences in this region—every detail is rooted in history and meaning. I wondered aloud what the connection was between her name and our cottage. As a Barnsley historian, she explained that after Hubertus Fugger, a German prince, purchased the property in 1988, he improved the estate by clearing the overgrowth that was further destroy- ing the ruins of the manor house and commissioned plans for the cottages to be built based on the drawings of the 19th-century architect Andrew Jackson Downing, who designed the Barnsleys’ original villa. He also hired a notable horticulturist, Steven Wheaton—her father—to revive the historic gardens with more than 200 varieties of roses. Our bungalow was named in his honor.

Jules’ menu includes starters such as oysters on the half shell shipped in from Virginia, along with charcuterie served with pimento cheese made with red bell peppers and garlic that are grown in the on-site garden. For a main course, I loved the trout, freshly caught from the nearby Blue Ridge rivers, atop Marsh Hen Mills farro, swiss chard, almonds, and brown butter, paired with a crisp Spanish verdejo. And chocolate mousse with a liqueur couldn’t have capped off the meal any more perfectly.

Choose Your Own Path

For those who would like to adventure in place and enjoy the nature and beauty surrounding the area, Barnsley offers a range of on-campus activities such as golf, kayaking, canoeing, pickleball, swimming, spa treatments, hiking, clay shooting, bourbon tastings, and playing with goats and miniature ponies. After working up an appetite on the archery range, followed by a serene horseback ride through the forests and fields, Sophie and I enjoyed lunch at the Biergarten café, a nod to Prince Fugger’s German heritage with locally made Barnsley beer and Bavarian-themed dishes on offer.

When it was time to head back home, a half-hour detour from Adairsville took us into nearby Rome, another historic town that boasts Georgia’s largest Victorian-era district with charming shops. Once again, lunch options abounded at restaurants and cafés such as La Scala Mediterranean Bistro, Jerusalem Grill, Sam’s Southern Eatery, or the Log Cabin Smokehouse. A climb to the top of the iconic clocktower revealed sweeping views of the city’s three rivers and multi-use trails.

With the ties that bind the region’s food and drink to the land, its history, and the diverse people who have cultivated its unique culture, Georgia’s Blue Ridge foothills stand out as an annual road trip tradition.