Where can you find live music, wine slushies, outdoor dining at trendy new restaurants, a boutique hotel, a splash of history, stunning mountain views, and plenty of fun? Look no further than Clayton, Georgia , nestled in the North Georgia Mountains. This isn’t your grandparents’ Clayton anymore.
“We have some of the best shopping, some of the best restaurants,” Clayton Mayor Kurt Cannon told WSB-TV’s Nelson Hicks. “Years ago, I would drive to Atlanta or to Highlands (North Carolina) to go to a restaurant. Today, all of those folks are coming here to our restaurants.”
Clayton has long been known as a retirement haven, a place where Atlanta’s working crowd comes to enjoy their golden years. However, over the last decade, the town has undergone a transformation. Today, Clayton is a vibrant blend of the old and the new.
“The town has always been charming, the town has always been nice,” Tyler Caswell from the Bridge Creek Inn said. “Those beautiful lakes have always been there. Those beautiful mountains have always been there. The potential has always been there. About 10 years ago or so, I would say kind of a hip, modern vibe started popping up in all these different businesses. Different business owners started turning over. Now, you’ve got this really cool exciting, kind of progressive town with awesome food, art galleries, clothing boutiques, outfitting shops (and) guide shops.”
Caswell, a longtime visitor to Clayton, is now part of the town’s revitalization. He owns the Bridge Creek Inn, a boutique hotel on Main Street. While the building has stood for over 100 years, it was recently rebuilt to house a new hotel, event space, and restaurants.
“Availablity, affordability, accessibility is our thing,” Caswell noted. “We’re really only 90 minutes from Atlanta. You’re not going to break the bank with our room rates. And that doesn’t go (just) for (the Bridge Creek Inn). that goes for the whole town. It’s affordable and it’s easy to get to, and it’s surrounded by incredible natural resources.”
The Bridge Creek Inn is part of a downtown landscape filled with new businesses that celebrate Clayton’s natural surroundings. Of These Mountains is one such business.
“We’re a vibrant, small town,” Kendall Rumsey from Of These Mountains said. “We embrace our heritage here. We love the history of our town. As you walk through town, you’ll see old buildings that were built in the early 1900s, but those buildings are now incorporated by vibrant, young businesses like mine, that bring a whole new vibe to downtown.”
Highroads Tasting Room , another new addition to downtown Clayton, opened earlier this year.
“I grew up here, been in and out, back and forth, the mountains always call me back,” Lynda Ann Price from the Highroads Tasting Room said. “Clayton has always been such a quaint, cozy place that is a real welcoming environment, welcoming community. This time when (my husband and I) came back, we just sensed such a fresh energy.”
Highroads Tasting Room features locally produced wines by Jabe Hilson.
“Jabe Hilson’s wines measure up to wines around world,” Price noted. “We do carry his and feature his wines, and do tastings of his wines and meads, but they measure up to those mountain region wines in Southern France, Northern Spain and Chile. We carry wines from those areas, too. And we would love for (visitors) to take a flight and compare our local wines with those wines and you’ll see that Rabun County is doing a good job with winemaking.”
New restaurants, bars, shops, art galleries, and outdoor outfitters line the streets of downtown Clayton. Yet, not everything is new. Reeves , a staple on Main Street, anchors the downtown area.
“We are at Reeves on Main Street,” Sonya Shook said. “We have been here since 1928. We are one of the original businesees on Main Street, probably one of the last original businesses on Main Street.”
The company will celebrate 100 years in business in 2028.
“We have loved the growth here in downtown,” Shook said. “This is originally a hardware store that my great grandfather started in 1928, but with the growth of tourists here in downtown, we are no longer just a hardware store. We have everything you can imagine.”
Planning a visit? Mark your calendar for August 10, when Clayton hosts the Downtown Clayton Block Party . The event features vintage cars, food trucks, a DJ, and more.
“We do two block parties here every year in downtown, one in the spring and one in the fall,” Rumsey said.
If you have time, explore the natural beauty just outside downtown Clayton, too.
“This the best place that you can imagine doing anything that you can do outdoors,” Mayor Cannon said. “You can leave the town and go hiking, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, fishing, anything that you can imagine outdoors. We have the most beautiful lakes in the state, in the southeast, with Lake Rabun and Lake Burton, but then you can come into town at night and have the best dinner that you can find in the southeast.”
Clayton, Georgia, offers the perfect blend of history and modernity, making it a great weekend getaway.
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This story is sponsored by Rabun County.
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