DAHLONEGA - The mayor of Dahlonega says the town's economy will take a huge hit with the closing of one of the town's number one tourist attraction two days a week which was announced last week as a money-saving measure by the state Department of Natural Resources.
The Dahlonega Gold Museum, the state's second most-visited state historic site only behind the Little White House in Warm Springs, will go from seven to five days a week of operations beginning July 1. It will also operate with fewer employees and less funding for interpretive programs, according to the DNR announcement.
The Gold Museum is one of 12 of the state's 15 historic sites to suffer the results of projected revenue shortfalls and budget cuts. Most sites will have their days of operation cut to three. One site will only be open one day.
But for Dahlonega, home of the first U.S. gold rush and a town that's economy is largely based on heritage tourism, "two days will make a huge difference to local shop and restaurant owners, as well as the lodging industry, convenience stores where visitors buy gas and other local attractions," Mayor Gary McCullough said.
"Our sales tax collections are already 15-18 percent down," the mayor said. "In 2008, over 40,000 people came to the Dahlonega Visitors Center on Mondays and Tuesdays, and 95 percent of them asked about the Gold Museum and our gold history. Visitors often stay over on Mondays when they come for the weekend, especially on holidays. That's a lot of people, and a lot of money spent in our town on those two days."
The Gold Museum is the centerpiece of the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce, says tourism director Stephen Smith, and that advertising has been working. Last year 48,000 people visited the museum. In six months this year, 54,000 made the trip to Dahlonega.
"The Gold Museum and Dahlonega's gold history are one of the reasons people come here," Smith says, "and while they're here they eat in our restaurants, shop on the Public Square, go out to visit one of our wineries. A lot of our merchants are having a tough time because of the economy. This can't be a good thing for any of us."
"I'm speechless," says Kathy Aerts, owner of Cranberry Corners, a gift and collectibles shop of the quaint Public Square where historical buildings abound. "Why don't they just kick us when we're down? To do that to our town would be devastating."
But Dahlonega won't be sitting back and taking it without a fight.
Mayor McCullough and a group of local residents will be traveling to Atlanta June 15 to meet with Gov. Sonny Perdue and DNR Director Chris Clark in an attempt to restore funding to keep the Gold Museum open seven days and fully staffed. One of the points the group will try to make is that by reducing museum operations, not only the town and county would lose sales tax revenue, but the state as well.
"The Gold Museum is the economic driver of our town, and if we don't collect the sales tax it generates, the state loses out too. And the state is pushing heritage tourism, and they have this big Stay and See Georgia campaign. It just seems counter productive to close down one of the state's main historic destinations," McCullough ssaid.
Monday
April 21st, 2025
7:19PM
