Decades ago there was a saying about the tiny town of Lakemont - if you're not barefoot, you're overdressed.
At least, that's what Linda Barden with the Rabun County Historical Society has heard. Barden isn't a native of the area, but when she moved to Rabun County, she loved the area so much, she began to delve into the history of the people and became a member of the historical society board in 2007. She said Lakemont is one of the county's most exquisite hidden jewels.
"Now, you have to be going there to find it," Barden said, noting the town is well off the beaten path on Old US 441 South.
Barden said Lakemont actually was the brainchild of a European entrepreneur who had traveled to the area for his first American vacation.
Augustus Andreae was born in 1880 in Italy to German parents. His father was the owner of a large silk manufacturing business in Milan who saw that his son was educated in art and technical schools. As a young man, Andreae followed one of his brothers to America to become a superintendent at a silk mill in Pennsylvania. He ended up in Georgia when a friend suggested he visit the resort town of Tallulah Falls. According to a history book Lake Rabun:Georgia's Lake Como, Andreae already knew a little bit about the region because a frequent American visitor to his father's villa at Lake Como in northern Italy talked about how beautiful it was.
Andreae even met his wife at Talluah Falls. Minna Korff was also of German descent, and she was working as a governess for the Anheuser-Busch family of St. Louis when the two met.
Linda Barden said Andreae was a smart man. He became so enamored with the area, he stayed. He first thought about establishing a silk mill in Rabun County, but when it appeared he wasn't going to be able to make that work, he began to purchase property along the Tallulah River upstream from the dam at Tallulah Falls.
"Georgia Power announced they were going to be building more dams to build another lake, so he bought up property along the river," Barden said. "When Georgia Power started buying up property that would be flooded by the dam, he traded [his property] for property that was a little higher [elevation] that he knew would be lakefront property."
Barden said wealthy Atlanta families bought the land from Andreae and began to build summer homes on the shores of what became Lake Rabun in 1915.
While the early homeowners in Lakemont - first known as Mathis - were wealthy, Barden said the homes were much more humble than many of the more modern homes that are built on Lake Rabun and other Georgia Power-managed lakes today. She also said the people who traveled to Lake Rabun came for the entire summer and created their own tight-knit community for a few months out of the year.
"They came here for the summer with their children and they had a community that was all their own," Barden said. "They played in their boats - played on the water - they picnicked together. A sense of community is the best way I can describe it."
Barden said the children would attend summer camps in the area and families would travel to Mountain City for square dances.
For those who didn't own a home on the lake, Augustus Andreae had the Lake Rabun Hotel built for visitors. It opened in 1922.
"He loaned money to a friend who built it...the friend kind of got stymied by the Depression, so [Andreae] bought him out," Barden said. "He ran it for awhile and his daughters worked in it."
Barden said the hotel is still operational today and is one of the attractions that brings tourists to Lakemont.
"It's always been a nice hotel with a nice restaurant and it's right across the road from the lake," Barden said.
At one time, there was a public school in Lakemont, but it has been closed for decades. The school burned in 1959 and ironically, it is now the site of a training center for Rabun County Fire Services.
Justin Upchurch is the Assistant Chief and he said the Lakemont/Wiley Fire station and the training facility was built in 2004.
"There actually was also a fire here [at the old school] in the 90s, so there's been two fires here, and I find it kind of ironic," Uphurch said. "It's kind of like the phoenix rising from the ashes - there have been fires here and we've chosen it for the location where we educate people how to fight fires."
Upchurch is also a transplant to Rabun County. He moved to the area from Gwinnett County when he was a teenager and graduated from Rabun County High School. He's adopted the county as home, and he said he especially appreciates the rich history of Rabun County - Lakemont in particular.
"I'm a huge history buff, and the Tallulah Falls Railroad - the old railroad bed is right behind us [at the fire station] on the creek - and I love everything to do with that," Upchurch said.
The TF, as it was known, was a 58-mile shortline that ran from Cornelia in neighboring Habersham County to Franklin, North Carolina. The TF was instrumental in the development of Lakemont, bringing in materials for Mathis Dam and supplies to build the homes on Lake Rabun. The railroad would later bring families and visitors to the area. The TF made its final run in 1961, and that - along with the construction of US Highway 23/441 - meant Lakemont was out of sight and mostly out of mind.
Barden and Upchurch both pointed out that there's been a revitalization in recent years, though. The old Alley's Store that sat right across from the Lakemont Depot and other shops that sit on Old US 441 on the approach to the Lake Rabun Road are attracting more tourists these days.
Upchurch said he thinks people who take the time to look for Lakemont will come to love it just as much as he does.
"I just love how quaint it is," Upchurch said. "Literally, you could stand on the corner and look at downtown Lakemont...and you could take a picture, and as long as there are no modern cars in it, you've transported yourself back to the early 1900s. I love how they've kept the little downtown...and I can just imagine what life was like back in an easier, simpler time."
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