TRAVEL Exploration closer to home yields a Toccoa travelogue

Exploration closer to home yields a Toccoa travelogue

Travels with Charlie

Veteran Georgia journalist Charles Seabrook has covered native wildlife and environmental issues for decades. For “Travels with Charlie,” he visits and photographs communities throughout the state.

Skyrocketing gas prices have put a crimp in my travel budget. Even so, I can’t stand staying cooped up at home. I’ll still be taking daytrips to explore Georgia’s towns and countryside.

But for right now, until fuel costs go back down (if they ever do) my trips will be to destinations closer to home — shorter jaunts that won’t break my wallet for gas.

One such outing recently took me to the city of Toccoa in Stephens County, nestled in northeast Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountain foothills. In my 2018 Toyota Tacoma pickup, I burned less than a half tank of gas driving from my Decatur home to Toccoa, where I spent an enjoyable day visiting a spectacular waterfall, a wonderful museum, a state historic site — and the delightful town itself.

Just north of town I visited the stunning Toccoa Falls on the campus of scenic Toccoa Falls College. At 186 feet high, Toccoa Falls is one of the tallest (taller than Niagara Falls) freefalling waterfalls east of the Mississippi.

After paying a small entrance fee, I walked to the falls along a short, paved trail besides a mountain stream. Then, around a curve, the waterfall suddenly appeared; it took my breath away. I lingered on a bench at the base 1

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of the falls to marvel at the great natural beauty.

Six miles north of Toccoa, I went to a place straight out of Georgia’s history: Traveler’s Rest State Historic Site. Its centerpiece is an early tavern and inn built 9

between 1816 and 1825 on what was then Cherokee land. Enslaved people probably did much of the construction. Because of its architectural significance and role in the early history of the area, Traveler’s Rest was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The state of Georgia beautifully maintains it, and visitors can see many of its original artifacts and furnishings. In the heart of Toccoa, I explored one of Georgia’s best small museums, the Currahee Military Museum, housed in the town’s old railroad depot.

The museum’s main focus is the Paratrooper Infantry Regiment that underwent exhaustive training just outside town in the early 1940s at Camp Toccoa and Currahee Mountain.

Some 6,000 of the men became qualified paratroopers in World War II. Scores of books and articles have been written about them. One of the books, “Band of Brothers” by Stephen Ambrose, became an award-winning HBO mini-series, some of which was filmed around Toccoa. One of the museum’s exhibits is a 1922 horse stable that was used as housing for soldiers during WWII in Aldbourne, England. The stable was dismantled and flown to the United States in 2004.

In Toccoa, I stopped at the Paul Anderson Memorial Park to see the statue of Anderson, a Toccoa native and Olympian who held the title of “World’s Strongest Man.”

Then I strolled through town. With its restored downtown, renovated Stephens County Court house, spiffed-up Ritz Theater and other historic buildings, it was obvious that Toccoans take great pride in their town.

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1 — Statue of Toccoa native son Paul

Anderson, once known as

“World’s Strongest Man 2— 186-foot tall Toccoa Falls, one of the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi 3 and 4 — Travelers Rest State

Historic Site inn and tavern built between 1816 and 1825 5 — Stephens County Courthouse, c. 1908, in Toccoa is on the

National Register of Historic

Places 6 — Toccoa’s old railroad depot now houses the Currahee Military

Museum 7 — James B. Simmons House, c. 1903, in Toccoa is on the National

Register of Historic Places 8 — Restored historic Ritz Theater, c. 1939, in Toccoa 9 — Downtown Toccoa, much of which has been refurbished and restored 10 — Horse stable on display at the

Currahee Military Museum (Courtesy of Stephens County

Historical Society)

Photos by Charles Seabrook