Sautee Georgia: Folk Art and More
Georgia’s White County encompasses areas of natural beauty and unique small towns that offer heritage arts, enticing attractions, working
farms and
plantations. Just driving through these towns, visitors are afforded the opportunity to view ancient Indian burial mounds and historical homes,
such as the beautiful Hardman Estate and Baptist Church from the 1870s (most photographed church in northern Georgia).
An excellent town to visit for heritage and folk art is Sautee, located a few miles east of Helen. The Sautee Nacoochee Center and the
Folk Pottery Museum of North Georgia is one of the best and fascinating museums to visit for
incredible living heritage folk pottery. Collectors fly from around the world to
obtain these indigenous and sometimes unusual pottery pieces. The museum and the pottery pieces tell the story of Mountain Heritage and folk traditions of
Southern Appalachia that goes back 200 years. The pottery collection is widely varied, from lovely ornamental grape motifs and landscape scenes to the
highly collectible face or head jugs. The museum has created an outstanding exhibit that leads visitors through the years of folk pottery art and
presents video chronicles on families and their generational technique.
North Georgians are known for their highly creative art forms and one especially captivating art shop in Sautee is The Gourd Place. The shop and museum is located on picturesque grounds adjacent to a small lake. Owners Priscilla Wilson and Janice Lymburmer created intriguing usable art with gourds years ago and the pieces were a big hit. The Gourds are intricately carved and turned into everything from gourd dolls and kitchen vessels to plates with a clay overlay and highly decorative art pieces. It is amazing to see the fine carving of a needle’s width on the gourds and the wide color variation used to create art pieces. For additional information, visit www.gourdplace.com.
If you wish to stay in the Sautee, the Stovall House Country Inn & Restaurant is located in the foothills with stellar views of rolling fields and serene mountains. The rooms are comfortable and fashioned with period décor. The Stovall House’s cuisine is absolutely divine with the distinction as rated one of the top 50 restaurants in Georgia. And, with seating in front of windows that face pastoral views, you won’t want to leave. Stovall House is a perfect retreat and the service is impeccable. For additional information, visit www.stovallhouse.com Read more about Georgia Attractions  Patrice Raplee is an experienced travel photojournalist and editor of Travel Excursion and Seattle Spotlight for Positively Entertainment
magazine. In addition, she writes a monthly travel column for the award-wining site Offbeat Travel. She is a member of North American Travel Journalists
Association (NATJA), International Travel Writers Alliance (ITWA) and the Recording Academy. Her photographs and articles have appeared in numerous
international publications, as well as NW newspapers such as the Seattle Times, the Stranger, Seattle Weekly and the Oregonian. As a freelance
photojournalist, she has also worked with acclaimed musical entertainers, such as Santana, Billy Joel and Steven Tyler. Patrice travels the globe to
cover destinations that feature fascinating culture, art, culinary, history and soft adventure.
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Sautee definitely possesses a wide variety of interesting attractions, as well shops, teashops, B& Bs, superb restaurants and a special little place called
the Old Sautee Store. Built in 1872, the general store has kept its period ambience. It is worth a visit to explore the old-fashioned artifacts and great
new specialty foods, gifts and even apparel and jewelry.
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