Lately I haven't felt like exploring much. My sense of adventure has really been replaced by a sense of nostalgia, so I've been taking my time out in public to zip from one antique store to another.
That's how my mother and I ended up in Braselton. She had heard about what was essentially an antique fair and wanted to go. Spending mere moments in the town before, I agreed to tag along.
Thinking "Braselton" usually followed with "Chateau Elan" or "hospital" if I was working on a news story. But there's a lot more to the place than that, it turns out. At the very least, there are some great little antique shops and a few things on my AccessUnexpected "to visit" list.
To learn more about what Braselton has to offer, I talked to Downtown Director Amy Pinnell. We started with a history lesson.
"A young man named William Harrison Braselton settled in this area and he was a farmer. He purchased quite a bit of farmland in this area. He and his wife had five children - three boys and two girls - and one of their sons, when he was about 10 years old, he wasn't able to farm... so he decided to start a store."
Pinnell said with the help of his mother, John Oliver Braselton stocked a little shack with goods. "The area was very well traveled at that time, Mr. Braselton had quite a few farmhands in the area... so John Oliver Braselton did very, very well with his little store. It just grew and grew until eventually his older brothers joined him," Pinnell said. Paired with the kids inheriting the farmland when Mr. Braselton passed, the area grew in to a community and later, a town was incorporated in 1916.
Fast forward to more modern times and you probably think "Kim Basinger" when you think of Braselton. The actress and model was one of a handful of investors who came in to buy the land from the Braselton family in the late 1980's, after the family grew fairly large and interest in maintaining the store waned.
"She had quite a bit of interest in trying to do kind of a film industry are, kind of a tourist attraction. She had the idea of creating a film festival," said Pinnell. However, those dreams were short lived as Basinger filed for bankruptcy about three years later.
The town functions as a regular ol' municipality now, however Pinnell said some historic buildings have since been given to the town.
That includes the old Braselton Brothers Department Store built in 1904. If you're a history buff or just like to hang in historic districts, check out that Experience Braselton app and you can follow a self-guided walking tour around the historic district.
If you're interested in the things that are more in and around the town, which sits in four counties, Pinnell said there are some unique nearby attractions.
"Other than shopping and dining in the area, we've got Mayfield Dairy right down the road, we also have Road Atlanta, we're pretty proud of those guys over there and we also have the Mulberry River Walk, it's a wonderful nature trail people can experience, so there's a lot to do here in Braselton," said Pinnell.
The town is also home to the aforementioned Chateau Elan, the Lanier Raceplex (or Lanier Motor Speedway, if you're kicking it old school) and in the business world, it's also home to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton and Amazon recently chose it for a new distribution center.
Plus, Pinnell said festivals and events are pretty common, often posted to the town's Facebook page.
From Gainesville, head east on 53 and you'll pretty much run right in to it. You can also get there heading north on 85 and taking exit 129.
Join me next time as I explore something else in North Georgia - suggestions welcome, as always.
Until then, stay curious.
Wednesday
May 8th, 2024
2:31PM
