A Cabin Near Ellijay

Most guests come through Ellijay. From Atlanta and anywhere south or east of it, town is the last place to buy groceries and fill the tank, so do both before you leave. Guests driving down from Nashville or anywhere north and west come through Chatsworth instead.

West of town the road climbs toward the Cohuttas, and the last stretch turns to gravel. Cell service quits before you arrive and Starlink picks up at the cabin. Load the directions before you leave town, and plan to arrive in daylight.

The Georgia Apple Festival runs the second and third weekends of October at the Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds, with more than 250 craft vendors, plus a parade and an antique car show. In 2026 the dates are October 10 and 11, and October 17 and 18. Admission is $10, and children under 12 get in free.

Downtown holds its own Apple Arts Festival on the same weekends. It is free, and unlike the fairgrounds it welcomes dogs.

On festival weekends the town fills. The cabin is 25 minutes from the traffic, beside a creek, which is the better place to eat the pie you bought.

The square holds antique shops and boutiques, tasting rooms, bakeries, and coffee. It makes a good rainy afternoon, or a good excuse to get the children out of the creek for an hour.

Mulberry Gap, the mountain bike base camp, sits a few minutes from the cabin and feeds riders. Barnes Creek Falls is five minutes away, a 15-foot slide beside the Forest Service road with a picnic table next to it. Lake Conasauga, the highest lake in Georgia, is up the same mountain.

Sleeps five, with a king bed in the loft and a bunk room for three. One full bath, a full kitchen, a deck, a grill, and a fire pit. Holly Creek runs past the porch, shallow enough for small children to wade, and the rocking chairs face it.

Pick up a bundle of local firewood on the way in. A s'mores kit waits for the first night. Dates and reservations are on Airbnb.