DEL.ICIO.USFor the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/14/08
Dahlonega — Take two South Florida teenagers, put them down in 140 acres of northeast Georgia mountain wilderness in one of the coldest winters on record, challenge them to build cabins and equip them for the task with a few hand tools and peanut butter and sprouts for nutrition, send two "angels" for timely assistance, and three decades later you have Forrest Hills Mountain Resort and Conference Center.
Twelve miles from the Dahlonega square, five miles from Amicalola Falls State Park, a hop-and-jump from the Kangaroo Conservation Center, are 32 cabins, Victorian cottages and group lodges. They're loosely spread around the hilly, wooded terrain and have hot tubs, fireplaces, kitchens, flat-screen TVs and balconies to sip coffee and watch the wildlife.
 Forrest Mountain Resort & Conference Center | ||
| Wedding, honeymoon and corporate packages are available at the Forrest Mountain Resort & Conference Center in Dahlonega. | ||
 Forrest Mountain Resort & Conference Center | ||
| Relaxing in an outdoor hot tub is a popular pasttime at Forrest Mountain. | ||
 Forrest Mountain Resort & Conference Center | ||
| Guests at Forrest Mountain can ride horses, wagons or carriages on the resort's property. | ||
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Guests ride horseback, take horse-drawn carriage and wagon rides, swim in the outdoor pool, hike in the woods, attend weddings, family reunions and corporate seminars, dine in a top-notch restaurant with a couples-only dining room, and rejuvenate body and spirit in a full-range wellness center and spa.
A far cry from 1977, when 17-year-old David Kraft and his sister Denise, 19, arrived on the scene. The only human habitation at the future Forrest Hills was a 160-year-old house with a leaky roof, no electricity or indoor plumbing.
"My dad [Frank Kraft] paid $50,000 for the property and mortgaged our house in West Palm Beach to pay for it," David recalls. "He challenged me and Denise to come up here and build cabins that we'd sell or rent. We had no idea at that time of building a resort. I literally walked off the stage from my high school graduation and got into the car and came up here. Denise, who'd just graduated from community college, had to learn how to drive a stick shift so she could bring a truck up here.
"The power company wouldn't connect us," he adds, "so for the first 10 months we built the first six cabins with handsaws, a chain saw and hand drills. Dad flew up here every few weeks to show us how to do things. He was an electrical engineer, who'd taken some architectural courses.
"I had the most building experience and that was very little. I'd helped Dad build our West Palm Beach house and a vacation house in North Carolina."
In the can-do pioneer spirit, the Krafts made do. They went through their first winter with no heat, bathed in a creek until ice formed, and got their drinking water from a well. They slept in their clothes. But building nearly ended because Frank Kraft couldn't get a construction loan from area banks. That's when Angel No. 1 appeared.
"On a Sunday afternoon, we were sweeping snow off the roof and shingling Goldfinch Cabin, when this big town car drove up," David recollects. "I don't know how that big car got up here. The road was literally a pig trail. But this elderly man got out of the car and asked us what we were doing. The next morning, Dad called and said the man was president of the Bank of Gainesville. He told Dad that with kids like us, there was no way the place wasn't going to succeed. He gave Dad the loan."
The Krafts finally got electricity and continued to do most of the work themselves.
"If we turned on a switch and it worked, we said great. If it didn't, we figured out how to do it right. One of our first guests flushed the toilet and got hot water. They said they appreciated the novelty, but the toilet was too hot to use.
"We put hot tubs in the cabins after Dad went to a home show and saw them in the middle of a house. He said that was the coming thing, so we built the next cabins with hot tubs, and we were one of the first resorts outside of the Poconos to do that."
Angel No. 2 was a writer for The Atlanta Weekly, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's now-defunct Sunday magazine. Her 1982 story about four mountain hideaways included a photo of a Forrest Hills cabin's canopy bed and hot tub.
"At 6 o'clock Sunday morning, the phone started ringing with reservations and it didn't stop for three days. We were taking reservations for cabins we didn't have. So, we built 17 cabins in a little more than four weeks. We'd be walking out the back door as guests were coming in the front door."
"We called it the 'Krafts Photo Finish,' " says Michele Kraft-DeBlois, David and Denise's younger sister, who joined the family business in 1988 as marketing and public relations director.
"The neat thing about our family business is that we each have a part. David builds it, Denise decorates it, and I tell people about it," Michele says.
In 2004, the siblings and their mother, Darlene Kraft, bought out Frank Kraft and brought Denise's husband, Keith Roberson, into the business. With Keith's financial backing, in 2003 Denise graduated from the Hotel Institute Montreux (Switzerland) and in 2005 from the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne with a master's degree in hospitality and hotel management. With her culinary credentials, Denise is in charge of food service.
The family formula is obviously paying off. Since 1991, the resort has experienced a 60 percent return guest rate, virtually unheard of in the hospitality industry.
The siblings' mother gave the resort its name. "It's not a misspelling of 'forest,' " Denise explains. "It means, 'for rest.' And that's what our guests find plenty of."
IF YOU GO
Getting there
From Atlanta, take Ga. 400 north to Ga. 136, turn left and continue 10 miles past Gold Creek Golf Club. About 41/2 miles past Gold Creek, turn right onto Bailey Waters Road. Continue three miles to a stop sign and cross Ga. 52, where Bailey Waters changes to Wesley Chapel Road. Continue a mile and turn left at the Forrest Hills Resort signs.
About the resort
Forrest Hills Mountain Resort and Conference Center, 135 Forrest Hills Road, Dahlonega, GA 30533. 1-800-654-6313, 706-864-6456; www.forresthillsresort.com .
Two-bedroom, two-bath cabins, April-November, $178 per night midweek, $198 weekends, including breakfast for four; three- and five-bedroom Victorian cottages, $299 per night, based on two-night stay. Large groups can rent the 16-bedroom TreeTopper Lodge and 12-bedroom Eagles Nest Lodge. Wedding, honeymoon, corporate and other packages available. The Anidawaehi Center for Lifestyle Change, opening in May, offers an anti-aging retreat, weight normalization, sustainable lifestyle change, rest and rejuvenation, and cleansing and renewal.
Nearby attractions
• The 729-foot cascading cataract at Amicalola Falls State Park is the highest in the eastern United States. You can view the falls from the parking area at the bottom and a bridge across the top. The Amicalola Falls Lodge has 52 newly renovated guest rooms and a full-service restaurant with beer and wine. The park is on Ga. 52, five miles from Forrest Hills, 418 Amicalola Falls Lodge Road, Dawsonville. 1-800-864-7275, 706-265-4703, www.gastateparks.org .
• The Kangaroo Conservation Center, a few minutes from Forrest Hills, has the largest collection of the hip-hopping marsupials outside of Australia. The 300 'roos, in nine species, are viewed on a tram ride through the 87-acre Dawson County Outback and up close in an indoor exhibit area, where you can also see exotic birds, lizards and other animals from Australia and the Pacific. Open through November, admission is $30 for adults; ages 65-over $28; and $25 ages 6-17, plus tax. No one under age 6 admitted. 222 Bailey Waters Road, Dawsonville. 706-265-6100, www.kangaroocenter.com .
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