Welcome to Two Days Away, our series featuring weekend-long itineraries within a five-hour drive of your city—because sometimes we all just need a little adventure fix.
Famous for its crisp mountain air and hiking trails, North Georgia is home to a number of rustic mountain destinations that serve as refuges from the hubbub of Atlanta—namely, Blue Ridge, Helen, and Clayton. But there’s also a lesser-known hidden gem near the base of the Appalachian Trail that shouldn’t be slept on either: Dahlonega.
Dahlonega’s claim to fame is that it was the site of the country’s first major gold rush. As legend has it, a young Georgian named Benjamin Parks took a stroll on a brisk October day in 1828 when he stumbled upon a “curious yellow-colored rock.” Nearly two decades before California got in on the action, Parks’ discovery sparked a gold rush that drew hordes of would-be miners and continued until the start of World War II, when the mining equipment was dismantled and repurposed for scrap metal…