Ray promotes growth, tourism

Michael Ray believes that with Fort Mountain as a scenic backdrop, the city of Chatsworth is strategically located to pull in tourists who are making a vacation pilgrimage.

[COME ON]

Can you really see any one coming here to vacation. If they do it will be camping in the mountains and they bring there on supply and drive fuel efficiant cars. so how will we benifit? If you loaded up your kids and took them to a place with nothing to do they would be so mad,the whole vaction would be runied. We have nothing, they may start on this side of the mountain but they"ll spend there money in ellijay or some where else. Get real this will never be a tourist location

[Oh Yes]

Nor will it ever produce a spelling bee champion, obviously.

[TheSmartGuy]

Oh Yes wrote:

Nor will it ever produce a spelling bee champion, obviously.

Ha!

[Been There]

I've driven from Atl. to Chatsworth to hike, hunt, camp in the Cohutta. The McDonalds always gets my business on the way out and the Ingles grocery gets it on the way in. What would make it in that area, in my opinion, is a private base camp type thing. If you had a central parking area where people could camp or start trips on horses or on foot up into the woods. Put a hotel, campsites, secure parking and a restaurant and tie it into a network of trails, that'd be neat. Also, if there was an "upper camp" some hike or helicopter in only lodge, that would be neat.

[Hopeful]

Been There wrote:

I've driven from Atl. to Chatsworth to hike, hunt, camp in the Cohutta. The McDonalds always gets my business on the way out and the Ingles grocery gets it on the way in. What would make it in that area, in my opinion, is a private base camp type thing. If you had a central parking area where people could camp or start trips on horses or on foot up into the woods. Put a hotel, campsites, secure parking and a restaurant and tie it into a network of trails, that'd be neat. Also, if there was an "upper camp" some hike or helicopter in only lodge, that would be neat.

I agree but how do you get a investment co. or a single investor to beleave that he will ever see a [profit. Your talking about 12-14 milliom dollars and you can do the research and every 5 years the lodge is over turned thruogh bankruptacy or private sales cause it will never carry a profit and thats been going since its been built.

[Been There]

You're right on all counts! I guess what we've just done is "invent" the state park with lodges and trails and employees and a restaurant and campsites, haven't we?

I guess for a minute there I was talking about what would be fun and not what would be a good business idea.

[Garbage Lady]

Love Red Top Mountain cabins

[thought]

I believe that your idea is great. The only hold ups that I can think of would be the close proximity to Ft. Mtn. State Park and the econimic downturn. It would be hard to justify and additional park when all the state employees are on furloughs.

[Been There]

you got it. it would be nice to have something like that but it's essentially the same as the park. I guess chatsworth is really different from the area I'm thinking of= Eton, Jack's River, Lake Conasauga, etc. One nice thing though is that whatever happens nearby, the Chats restaurants get a share.

[Shaw Enough]

Been There wrote:

you got it. it would be nice to have something like that but it's essentially the same as the park. I guess chatsworth is really different from the area I'm thinking of= Eton, Jack's River, Lake Conasauga, etc. One nice thing though is that whatever happens nearby, the Chats restaurants get a share.

Stone Mnt is where you need to go

[GaGirl 56]

Tourism, yes. I believe Gilmer and the surrounding area has so much to offer anyone wanting a relaxing vacation whether staying in a beautiful rental cabin or camping in the mountains or by a river. Nice restaurants, great entainment seems to go on all the time. What I don't feel we need necessarily is more growth. Reading the paper recently I counted 9 pages of foreclosures. Why build so many more when we have so many now standing empty. Promoting ourselves as a family area with good schools, churches and family life would be much better. Seems to me it would be better to attract those looking for a better way of life for their families. Those that could buy some of these homes now standing empty or buying a small plots to build they're own homes. Tearing up the mountains to attract tourism hurts when so many trees are destroyed. Lots of clear cutting seems to go on to expose views and the mountainsides began to wash away filling mountain streams with sediment that impedes the water flow to the rivers.. It's sad to see.