Helen, Georgia, USA
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Helen is a little town in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains of the eastern United States. It lies about a half hour's driving distance from the Georgia-North Carolina border.
The whole town was actually built to mimick a town in Bavaria, and the main street does look rather German. The main street slopes gently downward, bridges the Chattahoochie River, and then makes its way off into the hills. On either side of the steet, you'll find restaurants, fudge shops, T-shirt shops and any other number of tourist type stores. Off of the main street there are side streets and even little rather German-esque cobbled alleyways. For some reason, there are several fudge shops on the main street, I wonder why somehow people associate Bavaria with fudge? Most of the restaurants serve somewhat German cuisine, and I think they may even import genuine Germans from oversees. (At least the waitress where I ate was pretty authentic, Georgians dont do accent impressions real well)
The best things I found in Helen were down one of the side streets. If you are facing down slope on main street, hang a right on the first or second street past the river. As you walk down the street, you will see a shop on your right, that looks like any of the nicknack shops out on main street, but you will notice a curious music coming from it. This music is the result of an instrument known as a Crossbow Xither. The name comes from the shape, ie, it looks a bit like a cross bow when viewed from the top. Playing this instrument, is someone who looks like a steriotypical hillbilly. A genuine bearded, overalled, flannel wearing rebel. The Xither has somewhere around 180 strings, and was built by afore mentioned hillbilly.
Walking past the Xither store, if you look left across the street, you will see the local coffee shop. Its rather a nice place, and the iced vanilla latte I had there was quite satisfactory. There is a deck out back that overlooks the Chatahoochie, a very nice experience. According to the counter person, their espresso machine was used during the Olympic games that were held in Atlanta, some 50 miles to the south. Its a nice machine too, so i dont doubt her.
The whole town was actually built to mimick a town in Bavaria, and the main street does look rather German. The main street slopes gently downward, bridges the Chattahoochie River, and then makes its way off into the hills. On either side of the steet, you'll find restaurants, fudge shops, T-shirt shops and any other number of tourist type stores. Off of the main street there are side streets and even little rather German-esque cobbled alleyways. For some reason, there are several fudge shops on the main street, I wonder why somehow people associate Bavaria with fudge? Most of the restaurants serve somewhat German cuisine, and I think they may even import genuine Germans from oversees. (At least the waitress where I ate was pretty authentic, Georgians dont do accent impressions real well)
The best things I found in Helen were down one of the side streets. If you are facing down slope on main street, hang a right on the first or second street past the river. As you walk down the street, you will see a shop on your right, that looks like any of the nicknack shops out on main street, but you will notice a curious music coming from it. This music is the result of an instrument known as a Crossbow Xither. The name comes from the shape, ie, it looks a bit like a cross bow when viewed from the top. Playing this instrument, is someone who looks like a steriotypical hillbilly. A genuine bearded, overalled, flannel wearing rebel. The Xither has somewhere around 180 strings, and was built by afore mentioned hillbilly.
Walking past the Xither store, if you look left across the street, you will see the local coffee shop. Its rather a nice place, and the iced vanilla latte I had there was quite satisfactory. There is a deck out back that overlooks the Chatahoochie, a very nice experience. According to the counter person, their espresso machine was used during the Olympic games that were held in Atlanta, some 50 miles to the south. Its a nice machine too, so i dont doubt her.
