Blairsville, Georgia Guide: Things to Do, Events and Living Here

Blairsville at a glance

Blairsville is the county seat of Union County, and the city describes itself as the county's sole incorporated community. It was incorporated on December 26, 1835. The town is small: the U.S. Census Bureau estimates 878 residents inside city limits on July 1, 2025, in a county of 27,859. Everything outside town, including the mountain community of Suches and most of the Lake Nottely shoreline, is unincorporated Union County, so county rules are the ones most visitors and owners deal with.

The New Georgia Encyclopedia lists Union among the eleven Georgia counties in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The 1899 courthouse on the town square sits at about 1,893 feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and in 2011 Blairsville was designated an official Appalachian Trail Community.

Things to do in Blairsville

Hike and camp at Vogel State Park

Vogel State Park, established in 1931, is the second oldest state park in Georgia. It sits at about 2,500 feet at the base of Blood Mountain, 11 miles south of town at 405 Vogel State Park Road, and covers 242 acres with 34 cottages, 90 tent, trailer and RV campsites and 18 walk-in sites. The park is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and a ParkPass costs $10 per vehicle or $70 a year.

The park's trails range from the easy 0.8-mile Byron Herbert Reece Trail to the 4.1-mile Bear Hair Gap partial loop, about two hours, and the 12.9-mile Coosa Backcountry Trail, about nine hours, where backcountry camping is allowed by permit. The 1.5-mile Reece Farm Heritage Trail ends at the Reece Farm.

Drive up to Brasstown Bald

Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia at 4,784 feet. The summit is in neighboring Towns County, but most visitors come up from Blairsville: the Forest Service route is US 19/129 south for 8 miles, Georgia 180 east for 9 miles, then Georgia Spur 180 north for 3 miles to the parking lot. The site is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for each adult 16 and older and free for children 15 and younger. A 0.6-mile paved trail climbs from the parking area to the visitor center and viewing platform. It is very steep, so a shuttle runs as an alternative, with the last departure at 4:30 p.m. The observation deck looks over four states.

Get on Lake Nottely

Lake Nottely is a Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir that lies entirely in Union County. TVA built the dam from 1941 to 1942, says most of the shoreline is federally protected national forest, and lets the level drop about 20 feet from summer to winter for flood storage. Union County runs the Poteete Creek Campground and Recreation Area at 1040 Poteete Creek Road, 13 miles north of Blairsville off Georgia 325. It has 88 campsites open April 1 to October 15, plus a boat ramp and swimming beach that need a $5 parking pass per car. The county's outdoor recreation page also lists a 1.7-mile Nottely Reservoir Trail along the bank, reached from two parking lots about half a mile from the dam.

Waterfalls and quiet forest stops

Helton Creek Falls is a free, year-round stop: take US 19/129 south for 11 miles, turn left on Helton Creek Road just past the Vogel entrance, and go 2.2 miles to a small pullout. The trail is an easy 0.2 mile with many abrupt changes in grade. Near Suches, Lake Winfield Scott centers on an 18-acre lake, but its campground, beach and picnic pavilion are closed until further notice. The fishing pier off Georgia 180 remains open.

The Forest Service's Track Rock Petroglyphs, carvings Native Americans made over several hundred years beginning around A.D. 1000, is temporarily closed with no reopening date posted.

Walk part of the Appalachian Trail at Neel Gap

Mountain Crossings at Walasi-Yi, 12471 Gainesville Highway, is 3 miles south of Vogel on US 19/129. The stone building was finished in 1937, and the Appalachian Trail passes through it, the only covered portion of the trail. The store is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 30.7 trail miles north of Springer Mountain.

Downtown, the old courthouse and Reece Farm

The Union County Historical Society runs the Old Courthouse Museum in the 1899 courthouse on the square, which the society saved from demolition after it was condemned in the 1970s. The museum is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. all year, and also Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. from May to December. The society's Mountain Life Museum, 25 Veteran's Memorial Drive, opens Thursday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., May to December. Admission is free at both.

The Byron Herbert Reece Farm and Heritage Center, 8552 Gainesville Highway, shows early 20th century Appalachian farm life with restored barns and a petting farm. It is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no general admission fee.

Shop the farmers market and spend an afternoon at Meeks Park

The Union County Farmers Market runs Tuesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., June through October. The Hunter-England Cabin on display there, built between 1832 and 1834, is the oldest cabin in Union County. Meeks Park, about one mile west of town on Highway 515 and open since 1992, has 4.62 miles of walking trails, a splash pad, a community pool, a skate park and a disc golf course, and its second site adds a canoe and kayak launch, with fishing on Butternut Creek and the Nottely River.

Taste local wine

Each tasting room below posted its hours on its own site on October 11, 2026. Hightower Creek and Crane Creek, often listed with Blairsville, are in Towns County and appear in our Hiawassee guide.

Tasting room	Where	Posted days
Paradise Hills Winery Resort and Spa	366 Paradise Road, Blairsville	Open daily; tastings end by 6 p.m.
Odom Springs Vineyards	637 Odom Road, plus a tasting room at 36D Cleveland Street on the square	Farm: Wednesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 to 5 p.m., Monday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Tuesday
Redtail Mountain Vineyard	400 White Road, in the Coosa Valley	Fall hours Thursday to Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.
Living Water Winery and Vineyard	291 Living Water Lane, Blairsville	Daily; Monday to Thursday noon to 7 p.m., later on weekends

Blairsville events calendar: October 2026 to October 2027

Verified October 11, 2026 against each organizer's page or the Blairsville-Union County Chamber's event listing. Rows marked "not yet announced" are recurring events whose organizers had not posted the next date.

Date	Event	Where	Source
October 17 and 18, 2026, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (first weekend was October 10 and 11)	Sorghum in the Mountains festival	Meeks Park, 490 Meeks Park Road	Sorghum in the Mountains
Tuesdays and Saturdays through October 2026	Union County Farmers Market, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.	Union County Farmers Market	Farmers market
December 1 to 31, 2026	Tour of Trees, more than 50 decorated trees and wreaths, free	Union County Community Center, 129 Union County Rec Road	Chamber listing
December 5, 2026, 8 to 11 a.m.	Holly Jolly Christmas and Breakfast with Santa, free	Union County Community Center	Chamber listing
December 5, 2026 (start time not yet posted)	Christmas Parade	Old Union County Courthouse	Historical Society
December 2026, not yet announced	Kris Kringle Mountain Market	Union County Farmers Market	Farmers market
December 2026, not yet announced	Vogel State Park tree lighting, ending with the lighting of a blue spruce	Vogel State Park	Chamber festivals
July 17 and 18, 2027	Butternut Creek Festival, arts and crafts	Meeks Park	High Country Artisans
Labor Day weekend 2027, not yet announced (2026 was September 5 and 6)	Mountain Heritage Festival	Mountain Life Museum	Historical Society
October 2027, not yet announced (2026 was October 3 and 4)	Indian Summer Festival	Woody Gap School, 2331 State Highway 60, Suches	Festival site
October 2027, not yet announced	Sorghum in the Mountains festival	Meeks Park	Sorghum in the Mountains

Getting to Blairsville and when to go

These are approximate drive times from downtown Blairsville without traffic. Fall color weekends and the sorghum festival add time on US 19/129 and around the square.

From downtown Blairsville to	About	Miles
Vogel State Park	15 minutes	11
Young Harris	15 minutes	9
Hiawassee	25 minutes	16
Murphy, North Carolina	30 minutes	21
Blue Ridge	30 minutes	23
Suches	35 minutes	21
Cleveland	40 minutes	31
Dahlonega	45 minutes	34
Helen	50 minutes	32
Ellijay	50 minutes	39
Gainesville	1 hour 15 minutes	55
Cumming	1 hour 20 minutes	61
Downtown Atlanta	2 hours 10 minutes	98
Chattanooga, Tennessee	2 hours 15 minutes	101
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport	2 hours 30 minutes	110
Asheville, North Carolina	2 hours 40 minutes	119
Knoxville, Tennessee	2 hours 45 minutes	113

The Blairsville Municipal Airport, run by the city about 2.5 miles outside city limits, has a 5,000-foot runway.

Seasons and crowds

October is the busiest month, with fall color, the sorghum festival and the last weeks of the farmers market. Summer is lake season, with the Poteete Creek campground open April through mid-October and the Butternut Creek Festival in July.

What the weather is like

NOAA's Blairsville Experiment Station sits about 1.7 miles from downtown at about 1,949 feet, and its 1991 to 2020 normals show about 60 inches of precipitation a year and roughly 3 inches of snow, most of it from December to March.

Month	Average high	Average low	Precipitation	Snowfall
January	49°F	25°F	5.8 in	0.5 in
February	53°F	28°F	4.8 in	0.4 in
March	60°F	34°F	5.6 in	1.0 in
April	69°F	41°F	5.2 in	0
May	76°F	50°F	4.5 in	0
June	82°F	58°F	5.6 in	0
July	85°F	62°F	4.9 in	0
August	84°F	61°F	5.3 in	0
September	80°F	55°F	4.4 in	0
October	70°F	43°F	4.2 in	0
November	61°F	33°F	4.7 in	0
December	52°F	29°F	5.5 in	1.2 in

Living in Blairsville and Union County

Buyers here usually want a weekend cabin, a full-time mountain home, a home near Lake Nottely or a piece of valley land. Whether the property is inside Blairsville or out in the county decides which rules apply.

Area or property type	What to know
In town (City of Blairsville)	Walkable to the square. City zoning, city sewer where available, and the city's lodging tax if you rent.
Mountain cabins around Blairsville and Suches	Check road access in wet weather, the septic permit, and the county rental license if you plan to rent.
Lake Nottely homes	Any dock needs TVA approval, and the lake drops about 20 feet from summer to winter, so see the lot in the low season.
Valley farms and acreage (for example around Choestoe, the Coosa Valley and Young Cane)	Survey, well and septic suitability, and county building and land-disturbance permits.

Schools, health care and services

Union County Schools runs the public schools, including Woody Gap School in Suches. Union General Hospital in Blairsville is a 45-bed acute-care hospital.

Buying in Blairsville: taxes, rentals, septic and lake rules

Current listings and new homes across the county are on our Blairsville, GA homes for sale page, which carries a live search filtered to Union County.

Property taxes and the homestead exemption

Georgia taxes property on an assessed value of 40% of fair market value, and the Department of Revenue takes $2,000 off a homestead's assessed value for county and school taxes when you own and live in the home on January 1. The department's 2025 millage table lists maintenance and operations rates of 3.952 mills for Union County, 6.853 for schools and 1.064 for the City of Blairsville, which applies only inside city limits. A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The Union County tax facts page says to apply for the homestead exemption by April 1 of the first year you want it, and that the county offers no local homestead exemptions beyond the statewide ones. The department now also accepts applications through the 45-day window to appeal your assessment notice.

Short-term rental rules

• Unincorporated Union County. The county's short-term rental ordinance, Chapter 60 of the county code, took effect April 8, 2023. A short-term rental is one rented for no more than 30 consecutive days, and each one needs a county license. The county levies 5 percent of gross rent and fees, and caps licenses at 5 percent of the county's housing units. Occupancy is limited to two people per bedroom plus two, and never more than 15. The county's 2023 rental FAQ says licenses expire each July 31, are not transferable, and cost $150; confirm the current fee with the county before you count on it.
• Inside Blairsville. We did not find a separate city rental ordinance. The county refers city businesses to Blairsville City Hall at 706-745-2000, and the city collects a hotel-motel tax.
• State fee. Georgia adds a $5 per night hotel-motel fee, which an online marketplace collects when the booking runs through it.

Septic, wells and building

District 2 Public Health runs Union County Environmental Health at 46 Hughes Street, Suite B (706-781-3824). It says new on-site systems must be permitted and inspected before use and that not every lot is suitable, so make an offer on land contingent on a soil evaluation. Union County issues well construction permits, and the Georgia Department of Public Health notes that private wells are not regulated and recommends a coliform test every year. The county requires a building permit for dwellings, accessory buildings over 150 square feet and any land disturbance. In June 2026 the county adopted an emergency moratorium on applications to develop property on public sewer, so ask whether it is still in effect before you plan new construction on sewer.

Docks on Lake Nottely

TVA requires approval for all construction on its reservoir shorelines, docks included. Its shoreline FAQ says a new owner should request a permit for existing facilities and notify TVA within 60 days of buying. Ask the seller for the current permit before closing.

How Gold Peach Realty helps Blairsville buyers

Gold Peach Realty is a licensed Georgia brokerage based in Dahlonega, about 45 minutes from Blairsville, and we work with buyers and sellers across Union County. A purchase with us runs like this:

1. We start with how you will use the property: full time, weekends or partly as a rental.
2. We set up a live Union County search and send new listings that fit.
3. For each home you like, we confirm city or county jurisdiction and, if you plan to rent, whether a license is in place.
4. We line up the inspection, septic review and water test, and confirm the TVA permit on lake homes.
5. We negotiate the contract and coordinate the closing.

Comparing towns nearby? Read our Hiawassee and Lake Chatuge guide, our Ellijay guide, our Helen guide and our Dahlonega guide, or browse Hiawassee homes for sale and Blue Ridge homes for sale.

Frequently asked questions