This week, travel with us to Georgia for a ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway; experience life in the 1800s at Historic Westville Village; and watch pigs race for Oreos at the Georgia National Fair.
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A Journey Through Time and Terrain, Part 1
Ride the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway through North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee
By the Backroad Portfolio staff
There was a time when silver coaches glided through pine forests and past moss-draped oaks; dining cars served sophisticated meals on white tablecloths; and travelers watched the landscape unfurl at a civilized pace. The journey itself was the point.
In this four-part series, we explore the railways that wind through southeastern mountains and forests, starting with the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway. Its trains pull out of the historic 1905 depot in downtown Blue Ridge, Georgia, for a 26-mile round trip through the foothills along the Toccoa River with the option of a layover in the twin border towns of McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee. It’s a journey everyone should experience.
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Historic Westville Village
3557 South Lumpkin Road
Columbus, Georgia
Step into a carefully assembled mid-19th-century Georgia town where original buildings—homes, a wooden courthouse, shops, and workshops—have been relocated and restored to show daily life before and after the Civil War. Interpreters demonstrate blacksmithing, leatherwork, quilting, and other trades while the village hums with the rhythms of a bygone community. The 1970s gathering held here helped launch the Artist-Blacksmiths Association of North America, now the world’s largest organization of its kind. The result is a living portrait of rural Southern craft and culture, and how it has evolved over the years.
