Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2018 - 50

JOE TENNIS

ABOVE: Chateau Meichtry
Family Vineyard and
Winery features a tasting
room in Talking Rock,
Georgia.

JOE TENNIS

LEFT: Georgia peaches
are grown on site at R&A
Orchards in Ellijay.

n-Bleu burger-at the recently opened Old
Oak Taproom (423-552-8701), where you
can hear live music on the deck and, as
the name implies, you can also tap into all
kinds of beers.
"With our outdoor area, we have one
of the larger green spaces for a restaurant,"
says owner Ed Murphy. "And when it
turns in the fall, it's just gorgeous out here
with the leaves. We get a lot of red and
dark brown right here."
You'll find the historic and gorgeous
campus of Tusculum University within
walking distance of the Old Oak Taproom.
And, there, you'll also see the actual "Old
Oak"-a towering tree estimated to be as
much as 300 years old.
What's that campus like in autumn?
"It's beautiful," says Murphy. "You've
got oranges, browns, reds-just about any
color that you'll see in any Blue Ridge area
in the fall."

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GEORGIA
My son, John, found this funny: We went
to East Ellijay to reach the Best Western Mountain View Inn (706-515-1500).
Topping the hill, too, we felt a little like
"The Sound of Music"-with "Oh, what
a view!"-as we looked down on "The
515," a Georgia route that cuts through
the mountains to places called Blue Ridge,
Cherry Log and Ellijay.
Engaged in Ellijay and ready for adventure, we anxiously head to the mountains
of the Ridgeway Recreation Area, where
we follow the Tumbling Waters Nature
Trail. John takes the lead, first figuring
out a way beyond a fallen log. Then we
turn left when the trail splits, after about
a half-mile, and reach a 150-foot-long
bridge crossing Tails Creek above a frothy
cascade.
For lunch, we return to town and feast
on fins and feathers at the new Lucy's

Fried Chicken on South Main Street (706636-5829). This restaurant stands near Ellijay's round-about, and it's easy to find.
"Just look for the big chicken," says a lady
on the street when giving us walking directions.
For dinner in Ellijay, I savor spicy
shrimp on a salad at the River Street Tavern (706-635-6166), a relaxed restaurant
where dollars are curiously pinned to the
ceiling along with quarters and a thumb
tack. Then, when a quarter falls, whoever
retrieves it wins a free beer.
Out of town, we take "The 515" to
Talking Rock, site of the laid-back and
happy Chateau Meichtry Family Vineyard
(706-502-1608). Inside the tasting room, I
meet a couple of nursing students nursing
a bottle of wine: Rachel Gondek and Summer Gaskill.
"It's a beautiful landscape," says
Gondek. "And we come here every couple
of weeks."
For a moment, we talk about ghost
tales, and Gondek leads me on a quest to
find a restaurant-and its previous owner-in Ellijay. Still, I am more intrigued
when I heard Gaskill's vague tale of the
"Elf House."
"I have no idea where it is," Gaskill says
with a chuckle. "But you could see supposedly a ghost in it."
And getting there? Well, says Gaskill,
"This person says, 'You have to walk three
miles through the woods in pitch-black!'"
Giving up the ghost, I chat with the

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Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2018

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