# Which GA mountain county?



## Para Bellum (Oct 7, 2019)

I'm posting this here and in the fly fishing forum because those are the people I'd like to hear from.  If you could live anywhere in the Georgia mountains, which county would you choose to reside in and why?  Doesn't have to have anything to do with bears, trout, hunting or fishing.  Could be school systems, politics, weather, etc.  I really do appreciate any opinions and really hope to hear from a certain few folks who frequent these 2 sub-forums.


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## Jgebb (Oct 7, 2019)

Union


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 7, 2019)

We have a school system here that most counties would envy. They have the best of everything, including the views (especially the primary and elementary). The politicians get along for the most part. The Sheriff here here is remarkable, as is his entire force ! The prices of homes here are remaining stable, but they are all the place. Taxes, well, the fact that there is so little property here that is not owned by the gov't or ga power helps keep land prices up, therefore driving the values up. Shoot, come spend a few days and look around. The outdoor stuff to do is endless ! I will be glad to introduce ya to the sheriff, a county commissioner or 2, the mayors of a city(very small towns more like communities) or 2. The thing that has opened this area up over the years has been the 4 laning of US 441 ! It is now 4 lanes, except very little around Mountain City, from I-85 up into NC. Many commute as far as Atlanta, but that would get old fast, but is done !

I might add that the 3 or 4 lakes here where the banks are lined with summer homes (high end homes), add a tremendous amount of tax dollars to the coffer. Thus giving our schools the finances to have the quality of education they have offer in the public arena. There is also 2 preparatory schools located here where students come from all over to attend.


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## strothershwacker (Oct 7, 2019)

Mountains are too crowded now.


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## Unicoidawg (Oct 7, 2019)

strothershwacker said:


> Mountains are too crowded now.



This^^^^


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 7, 2019)

strothershwacker said:


> Mountains are too crowded now.


True. I was just being the nice guy that I am !


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## Para Bellum (Oct 8, 2019)

strothershwacker said:


> Mountains are too crowded now.



I knew this would come up.  You can rest easy young man.  I have no intentions of leaving the Piedmont.


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## Para Bellum (Oct 8, 2019)

greg_n_clayton said:


> True. I was just being the nice guy that I am !



And I appreciate it.  Very much.


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## kevin17 (Oct 10, 2019)

Fannin here. Mainly bc it’s my home town. Yes it has gotten very crowded but you can still get away from the out of towners. There are various WMAs, lakes and national forest for any type of hunting and fishing. It just was is close to my heart. God family and the mountains.


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## twincedargap (Oct 10, 2019)

Union offered a nice balance for me. Close to six gaps for cycling, plenty of public land for outdoor Rec, Blairsville big enough for shopping and occasional dining necessities, fair taxes.


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## 35 Whelen (Oct 10, 2019)

The wife and I just moved to Pickens County, next door to the grandchildren!


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## rigderunner (Oct 10, 2019)

Union or Fannin for me


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## Buckman18 (Oct 10, 2019)

I'd say Stephens County/Toccoa is best. Its get just hot enough in the summer to gripe about, and gets just enough snow in the winter to talk about. And if you drive through Toccoa, youll see its about deserted. Be a great place for Floridians and metropolitans go start a community and culture and then maybe theyll stop trying to change ours.


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## Heath (Oct 10, 2019)

Buckman18 said:


> I'd say Stephens County/Toccoa is best. Its get just hot enough in the summer to gripe about, and gets just enough snow in the winter to talk about. And if you drive through Toccoa, youll see its about deserted. Be a great place for Floridians and metropolitans go start a community and culture and then maybe theyll stop trying to change ours.



  Toccoa.....


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## Buckman18 (Oct 10, 2019)

Heath said:


> Toccoa.....



Its a beautiful piece of Americana.


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## Heath (Oct 10, 2019)

Buckman18 said:


> Its a beautiful piece of Americana.



You’ve give me an ache in my ribs!  Is that patented, or can I use that?


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## Para Bellum (Oct 11, 2019)

Thanks everyone.  I appreciate the insight.


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## Joe Brandon (Oct 11, 2019)

Best town in my op is the valley in the sky, Suches..


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 11, 2019)

Metro Trout said:


> Thanks everyone.  I appreciate the insight.


Just curious , if you are not movin, why the questions about the area?


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## NGAHILLBILLY (Oct 11, 2019)

I'm partial to union being a suches boy. Used to be a great place before all the out of towners and metro vacationers moved in. Still a good little town for the most part. The mountains sure ain't what they used to be


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## Snookpimpin (Oct 11, 2019)

guess its not a good time to say I'm from Florida and looking for a job near Blairsville so I can get out of Florida.


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## SouthGa Fisher (Oct 11, 2019)

NGAHILLBILLY said:


> I'm partial to union being a suches boy. Used to be a great place before all the out of towners and metro vacationers moved in. Still a good little town for the most part. The mountains sure ain't what they used to be



So when does one get out of the "out of towner" stage? Do you have to be a generational family? No offense whatsoever. I hate being lumped in with tourists just because I haven't lived here my entire life.

I can almost guarantee you would have no clue I haven't been around these parts since I was born, unless you asked who my folks were, because they aren't from here. 

And like I said, no offense, I'm just curious as to why someone like myself contributes to the whole "mountains sure ain't what they used to be" thing. I love it up here, I pay my taxes, clean trash up from boat ramps and trails, try to make it an even better place than it was. But somehow I make it worse...?


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 11, 2019)

SouthGa Fisher said:


> So when does one get out of the "out of towner" stage? Do you have to be a generational family? No offense whatsoever. I hate being lumped in with tourists just because I haven't lived here my entire life.
> 
> I can almost guarantee you would have no clue I haven't been around these parts since I was born, unless you asked who my folks were, because they aren't from here.
> 
> And like I said, no offense, I'm just curious as to why someone like myself contributes to the whole "mountains sure ain't what they used to be" thing. I love it up here, I pay my taxes, clean trash up from boat ramps and trails, try to make it an even better place than it was. But somehow I make it worse...?


Pretty sure "out of towners" is just a short , polite way of sayin " those liberal yankees that moved south to florida then moved half way back and landed in the north georgia mountains and or area lakes and are now tryin to ruin what was once nice rural areas."


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## RedHills (Oct 11, 2019)

Snookpimpin said:


> guess its not a good time to say I'm from Florida and looking for a job near Blairsville so I can get out of Florida.



That all depends...was your Great Grandfather one that was run out of town on a rail, or was he one with just a little more ambition than most when he left Georgia and helped settle Florida? Oh never mind, it wont matter ?


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## SouthGa Fisher (Oct 11, 2019)

livinoutdoors said:


> Pretty sure "out of towners" is just a short , polite way of sayin " those liberal yankees that moved south to florida then moved half way back and landed in the north georgia mountains and or area lakes and are now tryin to ruin what was once nice rural areas."



I think you are right...and I'd agree to a point. I don't think they are trying to ruin rural areas. It's just the amount of people. There are way more people here than where I'm from. But when you live in a place as beautiful as it is up here people are going to come in. 

I reread my post and it seems kind of snobbish at the end. My bad on that.


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 11, 2019)

livinoutdoors said:


> Pretty sure "out of towners" is just a short , polite way of sayin " those liberal yankees that moved south to florida then moved half way back and landed in the north georgia mountains and or area lakes and are now tryin to ruin what was once nice rural areas."


They are called "halfbacks" over here. From up North to Florida then halfway back....to the North.

I am 5 generations here in Rabun County. Would make my grand youngins 7 !You can tell who ain't a "native" by their last name.....for the most part. Of course you have the ones that is said to have "married in here" !


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 11, 2019)

greg_n_clayton said:


> They are called "halfbacks" over here. From up North to Florida then halfway back....to the North.
> 
> I am 5 generations here in Rabun County. Would make my grand youngins 7 !You can tell who ain't a "native" by their last name.....for the most part. Of course you have the ones that is said to have "married in here" !


Yep we got the "half backs" here in hart county too. Not as bad as yall got em, they mostly live around the lake so if you dont live on the lake you dont have to deal with em much.


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## SouthGa Fisher (Oct 11, 2019)

Greg that’s why I said you wouldn’t know I wasn’t from here “unless you ask who my folks are.” Most small towns are like that. I really wish I had the years in these mountains that y’all have. But that means I’d have to give up some of my blue water time ?.

To the OP, I’m in Habersham and wish I was further north in Rabun or maybe a little NW in Union, Fannin or Towns. Those areas suit my lifestyle much better. Sorry for the hijack bud!


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## NGAHILLBILLY (Oct 12, 2019)

Didn't really post that trying to ruffle no feathers. I am generational here but know a few that have relocated here that you would think has been here forever. Great people. Like the one feller said last name means something but not everything. The ones I'm referring to are the transplants that move here and try to change the whole way of life. Things they've never seen they consider cruel or mean when it's been our way of life for generations. You've been here long enough and seem to understand the mountain lifestyle you can now consider yourself an Appalachian American too. We can all look around and see who really fits in and who wants to come exploit the "natural" way of life. Like I said sorry wasn't trying to raise anybody's pressure up.


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## Killer Kyle (Oct 12, 2019)

"Welcome to Toccoa. Heart and soul of the North Georgia Mountains".


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## Killer Kyle (Oct 12, 2019)

livinoutdoors said:


> Just curious , if you are not movin, why the questions about the area?



He's probably a developer looking to build a subdivision. I can see the sign now...
"Bearwilde Estates: Luxury adult living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Homes from the 300's."

Coming to a once wild and picturesque mountain top near you.


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 12, 2019)

Man, all this talk bout toccoa, yall are gonna spill one of north ga best kept secrets. A true treasure. They got a coffee shop on 17 i saw, looks hip. Can buy meth and go huntin all in the same lil town!


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## Para Bellum (Oct 12, 2019)

Joe Brandon said:


> Best town in my op is the valley in the sky, Suches..



Beautiful area for sure.


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## Para Bellum (Oct 12, 2019)

Killer Kyle said:


> He's probably a developer looking to build a subdivision. I can see the sign now...
> "Bearwilde Estates: Luxury adult living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Homes from the 300's."
> 
> Coming to a once wild and picturesque mountain top near you.



I’m a field forester.  I’m also not a fan of what you speak of so rest easy.


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## Para Bellum (Oct 12, 2019)

livinoutdoors said:


> Just curious , if you are not movin, why the questions about the area?



I explore up there a lot on the weekends.  I also like to hear what folks like about certain areas.  Politics, demographics, terrain, beauty, wildlife, etc.  Just simply interested.  Wasn’t trying to ruffle any feathers and not building any subdivisions.


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## Para Bellum (Oct 12, 2019)

SouthGa Fisher said:


> Greg that’s why I said you wouldn’t know I wasn’t from here “unless you ask who my folks are.” Most small towns are like that. I really wish I had the years in these mountains that y’all have. But that means I’d have to give up some of my blue water time ?.
> 
> To the OP, I’m in Habersham and wish I was further north in Rabun or maybe a little NW in Union, Fannin or Towns. Those areas suit my lifestyle much better. Sorry for the hijack bud!



No apology necessary brother.  May I ask why you’d prefer to be further NW from Habersham?


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 13, 2019)

Snookpimpin said:


> guess its not a good time to say I'm from Florida and looking for a job near Blairsville so I can get out of Florida.


What do you do ?


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 13, 2019)

livinoutdoors said:


> Man, all this talk bout toccoa, yall are gonna spill one of north ga best kept secrets. A true treasure. They got a coffee shop on 17 i saw, looks hip. Can buy meth and go huntin all in the same lil town!


Don't forget the crack down on Broad !


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## strothershwacker (Oct 13, 2019)

Snookpimpin said:


> guess its not a good time to say I'm from Florida and looking for a job near Blairsville so I can get out of Florida.


Plenty  of work and homes in Fulton, Dekalb, & Cobb county. In the heart of North Georgia with plenty of wildlife and things to do!


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 13, 2019)

strothershwacker said:


> Plenty  of work and homes in Fulton, Dekalb, & Cobb county. In the heart of North Georgia with plenty of wildlife and things to do!


Dont forget the booming film industry on the southside in henry, clayton, and other counties. A true sportsmans paradise!


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## SouthGa Fisher (Oct 13, 2019)

Metro Trout said:


> No apology necessary brother.  May I ask why you’d prefer to be further NW from Habersham?


I typically spend the majority of my time up that way because there are less people, and it’s easier to just get away from everything. I have places around Habersham that are like that but something is just different about it up there. I can’t really explain it.


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## Joe Brandon (Oct 13, 2019)

There's even places, roads, communities, that have their own words and languages almost. Take for instance Warwoman Rd. Their are families who have been there for Lord knows how long and they have and use words I've yet to hear. You can get as rural as you want. It's actually really neat.


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## SouthGa Fisher (Oct 13, 2019)

Joe Brandon said:


> There's even places, roads, communities, that have their own words and languages almost. Take for instance Warwoman Rd. Their are families who have been there for Lord knows how long and they have and use words I've yet to hear. You can get as rural as you want. It's actually really neat.



I’m gonna be honest, I create new words on the road during October and November when the leaves begin to change.


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 13, 2019)

Joe Brandon said:


> There's even places, roads, communities, that have their own words and languages almost. Take for instance Warwoman Rd. Their are families who have been there for Lord knows how long and they have and use words I've yet to hear. You can get as rural as you want. It's actually really neat.


Easy greasey.....half of me is in the Warwoman Community  ! LOL


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## Joe Brandon (Oct 13, 2019)

greg_n_clayton said:


> Easy greasey.....half of me is in the Warwoman Community  ! LOL


It's a great place!!! One of a kind place! A beautiful place, I bet its a great place to call home!


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## Para Bellum (Oct 13, 2019)

Joe Brandon said:


> There's even places, roads, communities, that have their own words and languages almost. Take for instance Warwoman Rd. Their are families who have been there for Lord knows how long and they have and use words I've yet to hear. You can get as rural as you want. It's actually really neat.



Familiar.  Clemson grad.  Used to spend a lot of time up that way.


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## Killer Kyle (Oct 13, 2019)

Snookpimpin said:


> guess its not a good time to say I'm from Florida and looking for a job near Blairsville so I can get out of Florida.


Ain't no snook in these mountain streams, but the fishing is fine anyway! If your name implies you fish for snook, then I envy you in that regard. I have spent some time in south Florida poking around and searching for snook. Boynton, Del Rey, West Palm Beach, Ft Meyers, and Sanibel. Catching snook in a foot of water in the surf with a fly rod and while your feet are in dry sand is some of the most challenging, yet some of the most exciting fishing that I have ever done. I plan to make Sanibel Island an annual week long pilgrimage for the rest of my life. Not to mention the other species you come across...while fishing for snook...reds, ladyfish, lots of jacks and baby tarpon, and bluefish. If I ever had to abandon the high ground and move to saltier shores, I'd most likely land in Ft. Meyers with snook at my back door. I hope to get back down there soon again!


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## Killer Kyle (Oct 13, 2019)

Joe Brandon said:


> There's even places, roads, communities, that have their own words and languages almost. Take for instance Warwoman Rd. Their are families who have been there for Lord knows how long and they have and use words I've yet to hear. You can get as rural as you want. It's actually really neat.


My father was a military brat, so he really doesnt have any noticeable accent. Born at Ft. Benning. He was raised in his primary years in Germany, Mississippi, and California. He and my grandparents finally made it back to GA near the end of my grandfather's career where he went to high school in Burke County. He moved up to Clarkesville for work when he graduated high school. My mom, however was born in Gastonia, NC and raised there in her early years. She moved to Clarkesville in the early 70's. While in Gastonia and Clarkesville in the early years, my mother came from a humble family. Many today would call them hillbillies or hicks. Into my mother's teenage years, she had no running water, no insulated house, and no toilet. Both in Gastonia and Clarkesville, my mother used an outhouse, took baths in a tin tub with water heated on a coal and wood stove. She ate pinto beans and cornbread cooked every single night by my great grandmother who raised her while my grandmother worked the night shifts in the textile mills. My great grandmother couldnt read or write, and never had a drivers license.  My mother, her mom and grandmother, and her sister and brother used to sleep side by side on pallets made of quilts next to their wood and coal stove to keep warm. Most people would call this lifestyle hillbilly I guess. 
But my mother has something special from her humble beginnings today. Her language. She always surprises me with words and phrases that are steeped in old timey origins which I sometimes have to pause and think about before I understand them. If something is leaning against something else, it is leaning again' it. If you are surprised by a fond person approaching, she says "well....lookycomin'yunder!!!"
If you have eaten so much of a dish that you cant stand eating it any longer, then you are "founded" on it. 
My mama's country upbringing and speech is something that I love about her dearly. Her speech is a connection to our past as Americans, and gives us a lot of insight about how country folks lived not too terribly long ago. I hope we all pay attention to the old speak of the old timers. Our appalachain and old timey speech is quickly being forgotten, but I think it is a trait and tradition worth passing down to future generations for the sake of history and heritage. I hope these old ways of talking are never forgotten!


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 13, 2019)

Joe Brandon said:


> It's a great place!!! One of a kind place! A beautiful place, I bet its a great place to call home!


LOL....it has calmed way down over the years !! Been a bunch of beer drank, a bunch of cooking and a whole bunch of likker made in that community  !!


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 13, 2019)

Killer Kyle said:


> My father was a military brat, so he really doesnt have any noticeable accent. Born at Ft. Benning. He was raised in his primary years in Germany, Mississippi, and California. He and my grandparents finally made it back to GA near the end of my grandfather's career where he went to high school in Burke County. He moved up to Clarkesville for work when he graduated high school. My mom, however was born in Gastonia, NC and raised there in her early years. She moved to Clarkesville in the early 70's. While in Gastonia and Clarkesville in the early years, my mother came from a humble family. Many today would call them hillbillies or hicks. Into my mother's teenage years, she had no running water, no insulated house, and no toilet. Both in Gastonia and Clarkesville, my mother used an outhouse, took baths in a tin tub with water heated on a coal and wood stove. She ate pinto beans and cornbread cooked every single night by my great grandmother who raised her while my grandmother worked the night shifts in the textile mills. My great grandmother couldnt read or write, and never had a drivers license.  My mother, her mom and grandmother, and her sister and brother used to sleep side by side on pallets made of quilts next to their wood and coal stove to keep warm. Most people would call this lifestyle hillbilly I guess.
> But my mother has something special from her humble beginnings today. Her language. She always surprises me with words and phrases that are steeped in old timey origins which I sometimes have to pause and think about before I understand them. If something is leaning against something else, it is leaning again' it. If you are surprised by a fond person approaching, she says "well....lookycomin'yunder!!!"
> If you have eaten so much of a dish that you cant stand eating it any longer, then you are "founded" on it.
> My mama's country upbringing and speech is something that I love about her dearly. Her speech is a connection to our past as Americans, and gives us a lot of insight about how country folks lived not too terribly long ago. I hope we all pay attention to the old speak of the old timers. Out appalachain and old timey speech is quickly being forgotten, but I think it is a trait and tradition worth passing down to future generstions for the sake of history and heritage. I hooe these old ways of talking are never forgotten!


LOL......that's "foundered"....not founded. All this you say is all too familiar !! I got 2 sisters, on cold mornings in the winter, they got to get dressed around the heater while Greg was stuck having to get dressed in a cold donkey back room !


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## mizzippi jb (Oct 14, 2019)

Foundered... Like a horse that lamed up


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## Danuwoa (Oct 16, 2019)

We still talk like that down here in South Ga. most of us anyway.  Some of it is beginning to disappear from the younger people’s speech. But it amazed me when a Marine buddy of mine who lives farther north of here brought a friend with him down here to hunt and the guy kept remarking on how “country” we all sounded.  This guy was from Georgia too.  He didn’t mean it as an insult but after he had mentioned it I kind of rolled my eyes.  We talk the way people from Georgia are supposed to talk.  It’s those who are from here and don’t talk that way that need fixing.


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## Killer Kyle (Oct 21, 2019)

greg_n_clayton said:


> LOL......that's "foundered"....not founded. All this you say is all too familiar !! I got 2 sisters, on cold mornings in the winter, they got to get dressed around the heater while Greg was stuck having to get dressed in a cold donkey back room !


Greg, our upbringing might have been similar. I grew up in an uninsulated house. We didn't use coal though. We had a gas tank with one gas heater. It was a big heater with ceramic plates. We had a kerosine heater in the living room to heat the rest of the house. In the wintertime, I shared a bed with my big sister until I was 9 years old because we couldn't afford to heat my bedroom in the wintertime. We kept my bedroom door shut and blankets over the door to keep the cold out. We used a small Pelonis heater to heat our bathroom and my parents bedroom. 
I never even knew we were poor back then when I was young. I didnt realize it until I was in my mid 20's I guess. 
Despite the knowledge that I grew up poor, I wouldnt trade those childhood memories for the world. We didnt have much growing up, but we had good parents and a lot of love. I never realized how much my parents sacrificed for me and my sister until well into my adult years.


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## Bkeepr (Oct 22, 2019)

I like Rabun county.  I like the little sassy red squirrels at Warwoman WMA.


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## The mtn man (Oct 22, 2019)

Back to move ins, the issue people have with move ins, is that when they move to the mountains, they dont blend, not all, but most, country people are country people , no matter where you go. If they move here and bkend, then fine, welcome, thanks fir contributing to our mountain economy. But when people move here and are appalled at some of the things we have always done, and demand that we stop. Then you are the move ins some speak of.  We dont like being told what to do by someone who moved here. In my line of work i meet most every person that moves in to the county i work. And honestly, south floridian half backs can be a pain, but the Atlanta people are absolutely hands down the worse. If that offends anyone from atlanta, i apologize if i hurt feelings, but truth is truth.


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## transfixer (Oct 22, 2019)

I have relatives and roots in the Blairsville area, also in Murrayville and Gainesville,   years ago I wanted to move up north of Ellijay, anywhere between there and Blairsville,  but couldn't make a living in my chosen career up there,  probably could now,  but its lost a lot of its allure to me now,  its nothing like it was when I was growing up.   If I moved now it would have to be somewhere more backwoods than most of N.Ga has become.  Progress has ruined the mountains in my eyes.


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## splatek (Oct 22, 2019)

Any colleges hiring up there, I'm fixing to get up that way ASAP....


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 22, 2019)

transfixer said:


> I have relatives and roots in the Blairsville area, also in Murrayville and Gainesville,   years ago I wanted to move up north of Ellijay, anywhere between there and Blairsville,  but couldn't make a living in my chosen career up there,  probably could now,  but its lost a lot of its allure to me now,  its nothing like it was when I was growing up.   If I moved now it would have to be somewhere more backwoods than most of N.Ga has become.  Progress has ruined the mountains in my eyes.


Ruined it big-time! These get rich quick builders, developers, and reality company's have sped it up. Got a new big development coming down the road that was on a fine piece of property that is now ruined.


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## greg_n_clayton (Oct 22, 2019)

tree cutter 08 said:


> Ruined it big-time! These get rich quick builders, developers, and reality company's have sped it up. Got a new big development coming down the road that was on a fine piece of property that is now ruined.


This is what makes all the public lands (USFS) so nice around here. And let's not forget Ga power ! Their property can be considered public here ! You just need to go to the local land office amd get a free annual permission card !


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## NGA44 (Oct 23, 2019)

greg_n_clayton said:


> This is what makes all the public lands (USFS) so nice around here. And let's not forget Ga power ! Their property can be considered public here ! You just need to go to the local land office amd get a free annual permission card !



Yeah until the USFS sells that land too like they are doing now. Bunch of low down crooks working with that bunch IMO.


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