Helen: Georgia’s little ‘Bavaria’ in Blue Ridge Mountains

Helen — There’s more to “Alpine” Helen than bratwurst, beer and cuckoo clocks.

Base yourselves in the kitschy Bavaria-in-the-Blue Ridge, and your one-tank trip can take you through nearly 200 years of Georgia mountain folk pottery. You can shop for Swedish farmers’ cheese and just-ground grits and cornmeal, hike to waterfalls, picnic by Georgia’s smallest covered bridge, explore one of our premier state parks, and end the day doing the “Chicken Dance” at Oktoberfest.

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Nacoochee Grill

Dining at the Nacoochee Grill in Helen makes visitors come back for more.

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William Schemmel / Special

Five-face totem jug by Dwayne Crocker of Gillsville is one of many pieces of folk pottery on display at the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia.

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Alpine Helen/White County Convention & Visitors Bureau

In fall, the leaf-peepers descend on Helen and the surrounding area, where the mountains are drenched with vivid color.

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• Folk Pottery Museum Of Northeast Georgia: Face jugs, syrup jugs, five-spout wedding jugs and moonshine jugs, big-tailed blue roosters, garden ornaments and other utilitarian and decorative objects shine like semi-precious stones at the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia, in Sautee-Nacoochee, a mountain valley community four miles southeast of Helen.

The two-year-old museum and most of its permanent collection were a gift from Dean and Kay Swanson of Cornelia, former owners of the Standard Telephone Company. The oldest exhibit is a decorated, 600-year-old Native American bowl unearthed by The Smithsonian from the Nacoochee Mound, near Helen, in l915. One of the rarest pieces is a five-spout wedding jug made in 1870 by James Jones, in Union County.

To mark its second birthday on Sept. 1, the museum will open a yearlong exhibit of international pottery. The 25 pieces are from the private collection of Dr. John Burrison, the museum’s curator, folklorist at Georgia State University and author of “Brothers in Clay: The Story of Georgia Folk Pottery.”

To see potters at work, visit www.folkpotterymuseum.com, and link to Folk Potters Trail, or pick up a brochure at the museum. (10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday 1-5 p.m. Sunday; admission, $4 adults, $2 children; 706-878-3300).

• Old Sautee Store: The big-schnozz troll on the porch of the Old Sautee Store, at the GA 17/255 junction, a few yards from the pottery museum, is a holdover from former Norwegian proprietors. A small museum of yesteryear canned goods is a legacy of the store that opened in 1872. Among today’s goods are Swedish farmers cheese and glogg mix, Georgia peach-apricot preserves, watermelon rind pickles and sweaters, T-shirts, jewelry, toys and books on mountain lore. The Old Sautee Market & Eatery prepares sandwiches, salads, breads and fruit. (9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5:30 p.m. Sunday.) Have lunch by the store, or a drive a few minutes out GA 255 and have a picnic at the small park by the Stovall Covered Bridge, at 36.8 feet long, Georgia’s shortest. Sharing the GA 17/255 corner, other shops tempt your budget with Native American jewelry, home furnishings, pet stuff, soaps and lotions.

• Nora Mill Granary, Grist Mill and Country Store: On a visit to the 132-year-old granary (1-800-927-2375, www.noramill.com), you can watch corn ground by water-power from the Chattahoochee River into cornmeal and grits, which you can buy by the bagful. Also, pancake, waffle, and biscuit mixes, candy, bread, cookbooks and kitchen utensils.

• Unicoi State Park (off GA 75, a short drive north of Helen) has 1,081 acres of highlands and woodlands threaded by mountain streams and 12 miles of hiking trails. The 53-acre lake invites swimming, boating and fishing. Accommodations include the motel-type Unicoi Lodge, with a full-service restaurant and a mountain crafts shop; two- and three-bedroom cottages; and 96 camping sites. (706-878-2201, wwww.georgiastateparks.org).

• Alpine Helen’s Oktoberfest is a rollicking way to wind up your mountain adventure. From mid-September to early November, the Helen Festhalle overflows with merrymakers in jeans and shorts and Tyrolean lederhosen and dirndls (purchased on Helen’s Hauptstrasse/Main Street). Revelers down brats and German beer as they cavort to the sounds of The Sauerkrauts, the Edelweiss Orchestra and other “oompah” bands.

Where to eat

• The Nacoochee Grill, in the Nacoochee Village dining and shopping development, just north of the GA 17/75 junction, is a contemporary break from Helen’s ubiquitous bratwurst. Crab cake sandwiches, calamari, burgers, cornmeal-dusted trout, baby back ribs, New York strip and salads, with a full bar, are among the choices on daily lunch and dinner menus. (7227 S. Main St./ GA 75; 706-878-8020, www.nacoocheegrill.com) On EveningEdge.com: Nacoochee Grill’s Curry Sweet Potato Salad recipe

• You can order brews, booze and pub burgers at the Nacoochee Village Tavern, also in Nacoochee Village, (706-878-0199), and shop for antiques, candles, pottery and home furnishings.

Rest up

• The Stovall House (1526 GA 255 North; 706-878-3355, www.stovallhouse.com) has five guest rooms in an 1873 house, with private baths, full breakfast; rates: $70 single, $98 double.

• Helen has numerous lodgings options. For information on accommodations, dining and Oktoberfest, phone the Helen Convention and Visitors Bureau, (1-800-858-8027; www.helenga.org).

Getting there

Sautee-Nacoochee and Helen are about 90 miles from Atlanta, off of Georgia 400.