Ellijay, Georgia Guide: Apple Orchards, Things to Do and Events

Ellijay at a glance

Ellijay is the historic county seat of Gilmer County. The city sits where the Ellijay and Cartecay rivers join to form the Coosawattee River, and it was incorporated and named county seat on December 29, 1834. A fire in 1912 destroyed 23 buildings downtown. Gilmer has two incorporated cities, Ellijay and East Ellijay; the U.S. Census Bureau estimates 2,008 and 1,816 residents in them on July 1, 2025, in a county of 33,894. Most of the county, including Cherry Log, the Coosawattee River Resort and the land around Carters Lake, is unincorporated.

The New Georgia Encyclopedia lists Gilmer among the eleven Georgia counties in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The courthouse at 1 Broad Street sits at about 1,299 feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, lower than Blairsville or Hiawassee.

Apple orchards and the Georgia Apple Festival

The Gilmer Chamber calls the county the Apple Capital of Georgia, with over 22 varieties harvested from June to November, and says most orchards offer u-pick. Each orchard below posted its own hours or season on its site on October 11, 2026. Orchards set picking days by crop and weather, so check before you drive up.

Orchard	Where	What its own site posts
B.J. Reece Orchards	9131 Highway 52 East	2026 u-pick began August 29, open 7 days a week in September and October; market Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 1 to 6 p.m.; last fall u-pick ticket at 5 p.m.; market and bakery open year round
Hillcrest Orchards	9696 Highway 52 East	Daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in September and October, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in November; weekend u-pick in September and October, $22 per person; growing since 1946
R and A Orchards	Highway 52 East	U-pick weekends through October, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., last ticket at 4 p.m.; market and bakery 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. year round
Red Apple Barn	3379 Tails Creek Road	Apple picking Saturday 10 to 5, Sunday 1 to 4, Monday, Thursday and Friday 11 to 3, on weekends through October or early November; market open August through December 23
Penland Orchards and Farm Market	41 Talona Mountain Road (Highway 515) and 7678 Tails Creek Road	Open every day 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from mid-May through November; family-owned since 1936
Panorama Orchards and Farm Market	Three miles south of Ellijay on Highway 515	A family fruit farm since the 1920s with homemade ice cream and fried pies; no hours posted, so call ahead

Mercier Orchards, often grouped with Ellijay, is in Blue Ridge in Fannin County.

The Georgia Apple Festival

The Georgia Apple Festival, now in its 55th year, runs on the second and third weekends of October at the Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds, 1729 South Main Street. In 2026 the dates are October 10 and 11 and October 17 and 18. The festival FAQ lists hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, admission of $10 with children 12 and under free, rain or shine, and no pets except service animals. The Chamber's parking page says paid lots around town run a free shuttle, and cash is preferred. The free Apple Arts Festival runs downtown on the same weekends.

More things to do in Ellijay

Downtown Ellijay and Harrison Park

The town was laid out with twenty lots, streets and a public square. The Chamber's Downtown Welcome Center at 10 Broad Street is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Harrison Park is a 25.94-acre city park on the former Pinson family farm, with a barn and corn crib from about 1940. The Albert E. Harrison Foundation leases it to the city for $1 a year, in memory of Gilmer County's veterans.

Carters Lake

Carters Lake, run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is the deepest of Georgia's reservoir lakes: 3,200 acres with 62 miles of shoreline, an average depth of 200 feet and parts more than 450 feet deep. Carters Dam, completed in 1977, is the tallest earthen dam east of the Mississippi. The Corps' master plan puts about 3,000 acres of the main lake in Gilmer County and about 275 in Murray County. Explore Georgia notes there are no private docks or development on the shoreline.

Most of the day-use areas charge $5 per vehicle, paid by card only. Harris Branch has a public beach from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day with no lifeguards, and no pets or alcohol. For camping, Doll Mountain Campground has 68 sites, all by reservation, on a steep access road, and Woodring Branch has the 3.5-mile Amadahy Trail, a beginner loop. The Ridgeway campground closed in 2015, but its day-use area remains open. Carters Lake Marina rents boats from May through September and has cabins.

The rivers

Summer floats happen on the Cartecay River. Cartecay River Experience, 2400 Highway 52 East, opens from Memorial Day to Labor Day and posts tube rentals from $15 cash and kayaks from $30 cash, shuttle included. Gilmer County has posted a proposed ordinance that would require a permit for public river outfitting on the Cartecay, Ellijay and Coosawattee rivers in the unincorporated county.

Trails and mountain biking

The Chamber calls Gilmer the Mountain Bike Capital of Georgia. The Forest Service's Bear Creek Trail in Gilmer County is open to hikers and mountain bikers year round, free, with no water: the outer loop is 6.7 miles and the lower loop 3 miles, past the Gennett Poplar, an old-growth tree. The Cohutta Wilderness, in Fannin, Gilmer and Murray counties, covers 37,000 acres with 90 miles of trails; several trailheads open only from early March through December 31. Fort Mountain State Park, in Murray County, sits at about 2,850 feet and has an 855-foot-long stone wall and a CCC stone fire tower.

Taste local wine

Each tasting room below posted its hours on its own site on October 11, 2026.

Tasting room	Where	Posted days
Engelheim Vineyards	Ellijay	Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday to Thursday 12:30 to 6 p.m.; no reservations; four wines for $18
Buckley Vineyards	708 Henry Evans Road	Daily: Monday to Saturday noon to 6 p.m., Sunday 12:30 to 6 p.m.
Grapes and Ladders	2317 Georgia 382 West	Wednesday to Sunday; Thursday until 8 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday

Some wineries marketed as Ellijay-area post addresses in Talking Rock or Jasper, in Pickens County, so check the address if the county matters to you.

Ellijay events calendar: October 2026 to October 2027

Verified October 11, 2026 against each organizer's page or the Gilmer Chamber's event calendar. 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 (Saturday 9 to 6, Sunday 9 to 5)	Georgia Apple Festival, second weekend; $10, children 12 and under free	Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds, 1729 South Main Street	Festival site
October 17 and 18, 2026	Apple Arts Festival, free and pet-friendly	Downtown Ellijay, 10 Broad Street	Chamber listing
October 31, 2026, 9 to 11 a.m.	SayStrong Halloween 5K and Fun Run	Gilmer County River Park, 1561 South Main Street	Chamber calendar
October 31, 2026, 6 to 9 p.m.	Trick or Treat with the Ellijay Lions Club	Ellijay Lions Club, 1729 South Main Street	Chamber calendar
November 27, 2026; parade at 6 p.m.	Merry Mountain Town Festival, with a parade from Ellijay Elementary School and Santa lighting the town Christmas tree	Downtown Ellijay	Chamber listing
December 6, 2026, 4 to 6 p.m.	Gilmer Arts Community Chorus Christmas Concert	Gilmer Performing Arts Center, 408 Bobcat Trail	Chamber calendar
Spring 2027, not yet announced (2026: Woofstock April 18, Ellijay Music Festival May 8 to 10)	Woofstock and the Ellijay Music Festival	Ellijay	Chamber calendar
July 4, 2027, not yet announced	Independence Day Celebration and parade	Downtown Ellijay	Chamber recap
August 2027, not yet announced (2026 was August 6 to 16)	Gilmer County Fair	Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds	Chamber
September 2027, not yet announced (2026 was September 27)	Ellijay Bacon Fest	Gilmer County River Park	Chamber calendar
Second and third weekends of October 2027, exact dates not yet announced	Georgia Apple Festival	Ellijay Lions Club Fairgrounds	Festival FAQ

Getting to Ellijay and when to go

These are approximate drive times from downtown Ellijay without traffic. Apple Festival weekends add time on Highway 52, Highway 515 and around the square.

From downtown Ellijay to	About	Miles
Blue Ridge	20 minutes	16
Ridgeway Recreation Area, Carters Lake	25 minutes	12
Jasper	30 minutes	21
Dawsonville	45 minutes	32
Canton	50 minutes	39
Blairsville	50 minutes	39
Dahlonega	1 hour	39
Cumming	1 hour 10 minutes	49
Gainesville	1 hour 20 minutes	54
Cleveland	1 hour 25 minutes	58
Chattanooga, Tennessee	1 hour 30 minutes	68
Downtown Atlanta	1 hour 35 minutes	77
Helen	1 hour 40 minutes	70
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport	1 hour 50 minutes	88

Seasons and crowds

Fall is the busy season, with apple picking from late August and the festival in mid-October. Summer brings river floats from Memorial Day to Labor Day and the Harris Branch beach on Carters Lake. Winter is quiet, and several Cohutta trailheads close until early March.

What the weather is like

NOAA's Ellijay station has 1991 to 2020 normals for precipitation, about 59 inches a year, and snow, roughly 3 inches, but none for temperature. The closest station with temperature normals is Jasper 1 NNW, about 15 miles south at about 1,465 feet, so treat its temperatures as a rough guide for Ellijay.

Month	Average high (Jasper)	Average low (Jasper)	Precipitation (Ellijay)	Snowfall (Ellijay)
January	48°F	31°F	5.7 in	0.8 in
February	52°F	34°F	5.0 in	0.4 in
March	60°F	40°F	5.5 in	1.0 in
April	68°F	47°F	5.7 in	0
May	75°F	56°F	4.7 in	0
June	82°F	63°F	5.0 in	0
July	84°F	67°F	4.6 in	0
August	84°F	66°F	4.4 in	0
September	79°F	61°F	4.6 in	0
October	69°F	50°F	3.5 in	0
November	59°F	40°F	4.7 in	0
December	51°F	35°F	6.2 in	0.7 in

Living in Ellijay and Gilmer County

Buyers here usually want a weekend cabin, a full-time home on some acreage, river property or a home in an established mountain community. Whether a property is inside Ellijay or East Ellijay or out in the county decides which rules apply.

Area or property type	What to know
In town (Ellijay and East Ellijay)	City zoning; Ellijay bars short-term rentals in its R-1 residential district.
Mountain cabins (Cherry Log and the ridges around Ellijay)	Road access in wet weather, the septic permit, and the county host license if you plan to rent.
Established communities	Covenants, owners association fees and community rental rules.
River property	Flood exposure and the 50-foot stream buffer.
Near Carters Lake	Lake access, with no private docks on the Corps shoreline.

Homes for sale in several Ellijay communities can be browsed on our site: Walnut Mountain, High River, Coosawattee River Resort and Tranquility at Carters Lake. The Coosawattee River Resort describes itself as 5,500 acres with three pools.

Schools and health care

Gilmer County Schools runs the public schools, including Gilmer High School. Piedmont Mountainside Hospital is in nearby Jasper, and Piedmont runs a freestanding emergency room in Ellijay.

Buying in Ellijay: taxes, rentals, septic and land rules

Current listings across the county are on our Ellijay, GA homes for sale page, which carries a live search filtered to Gilmer County.

Property taxes and the homestead exemption

Georgia taxes property on an assessed value of 40% of fair market value. The Department of Revenue's 2025 millage table lists maintenance and operations rates of 5.829 mills for Gilmer County plus a 0.500-mill bond levy, 9.121 for schools, and 1.718 for the City of Ellijay inside city limits. A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value. For 2026 the county advertised a tentative rate of 6.079 mills, a 7.80 percent tax increase; ask for the final rate on any home you consider.

For a primary residence, the Department of Revenue takes $2,000 off the assessed value for county and school taxes when you own and live in the home on January 1, and lists Gilmer among the counties that freeze a homestead's valuation at its base year. Its Gilmer facts page says to apply by April 1 of the first year, and late applications are now accepted through the 45-day window to appeal your assessment.

Short-term rental rules

• Unincorporated Gilmer County. Every short-term rental, meaning a stay of no more than 30 consecutive days, needs a county host license. The county's licensing portal lists $225 a year for a new license and $300 for renewals, one dwelling unit per license, with hotel-motel tax due by the 20th of each month. Occupancy is two people per bedroom plus two. The county has proposed amendments to the ordinance, with a public hearing on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. at the Community Center, 824 Industrial Boulevard. Get the current text before you buy with rental income in mind.
• City of Ellijay. The city's Chapter 60 does not permit short-term rentals in the R-1 residential district, treats them like hotels for zoning, and requires a $150 annual license, with fines of $500, $750 and $1,000 for repeat violations. In August 2026 the council rescinded two earlier approvals of short-term rental use where the code prohibits it.
• East Ellijay and the state. We did not find a short-term rental ordinance for East Ellijay, which has a hotel-motel excise tax. Georgia adds a $5 per night state fee, which an online marketplace collects when the booking runs through it.

Septic, wells and building

Gilmer County Environmental Health, 1 Broad Street, Suite 003 (706-635-6050), handles septic systems, and a system cannot be installed without a construction permit. Private wells in Georgia are not regulated, and the Georgia Department of Public Health recommends a coliform test every year. The county's planning office requires a building permit before construction and a land-disturbance permit under Section 70-39 before any land-disturbing work. Land at 2,200 feet or more with a slope of at least 25% falls in a mountain protection district, where permits need a site plan, and work inside the 50-foot stream buffer needs a state encroachment application.

Docks

Carters Lake has no private docks, so a home near it is a lake-access home. If a private dock matters, look at Lake Blue Ridge in Fannin County, where TVA permits docks, on our Blue Ridge homes for sale page.

How Gold Peach Realty helps Ellijay buyers

Gold Peach Realty is a licensed Georgia brokerage based in Dahlonega, about an hour from Ellijay, and we work with buyers and sellers across Gilmer 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 Gilmer County search and send new listings that fit.
3. For each home you like, we check city or county jurisdiction, community covenants and the current rental rules.
4. We line up the inspection, septic review and well water test.
5. We negotiate the contract and coordinate the closing.

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

Frequently asked questions