Blue Ridge, GA

We are happy to report Clubhouse hours have been restored. Lunch on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the ever-popular themed Tuesday night buffets are back. We’ve got your holiday dining covered with an All-American Buffet at Playfield Park on Saturday, July 2, and takeout picnic dinners available in advance of the fireworks show on Sunday, July 3.

A long and busy Independence Day weekend starts on Friday, July 1, in Dalton and Eton. In Dalton, the Off the Rails Summer Entertainment Series hosts Pops in Burr Park at the Burr Performing Arts Park in downtown Dalton. The Creative Arts Guild Chamber Orchestra performs patriotic music and traditional favorites in honor of the Fourth of July.

Georgia authors Lucy Sullivan and George Franklin invite aspiring authors to “So You ‘want to Write a Book” on Sunday, June 26 from 3-4:30 p.m. at Pendley Creek Brewery, Main St. in Jasper. There is no admission charge. Sullivan, who was featured in the March 2022 Smoke...

Horseshoe Bend Park - We try not to play favorites, but if we had to pick the best spot for a picnic, Horseshoe Bend is tops. Spread your blanket along the banks of the Toccoa or grab a spot at one of the myriad of tables in the park. The...

Almost everyone has driven by Jasper’s restored Tate Depot and wondered what’s inside the building since it was moved from across Highway 53 several years ago. The answer is nothing. But things are changing. As Smoke Signals reported in a March 23, 2021 Smoke Signals Weekly article, Big...

JASPER — Following suit with last year’s award, Jasper Elementary art teacher Samantha Walls is the recipient of grant funding from the Ohio Arts Council. As Walls told The News Watchman via email, this year’s grant comes after she led students in their second annual legacy artwork- this time working with a mosaic artist named Vicki Murphy. Walls said she had been revered to Murphy after holding conversations with Jarred...

Want the kids to keep on learning while having fun this summer? Combine vacation with field trips in the North Georgia Mountains, about 90 minutes north of Atlanta off Interstate 575 and an hour and a half from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Exploring Blue Ridge, Georgia, and surrounding Fannin County is like an extended summer field trip, combining geography, biology and nature “classes” into outdoor adventure and discovery. There’s so much fun to be had that … (the kids will never know it’s all about education).

The Toccoa is a great tubing river, whether you bring your own or rent a tube from one of the tubing companies dotting the area. If you’re staying in a river cabin, chances are you’ll be launching along the Upper Toccoa thru the Chattahoochee National Forest and above Lake Blue Ridge. This is a longer float, usually about 3 hours, based on the location of your cabin and the water level.

Linda Faye Ledford, 81, of Murphy, passed away Thursday, June 23, 2022, at her residence. She was a native and lifetime resident of Cherokee County. She most recently worked as a teacher’s aide with special needs children at Southwestern Child Development. She was a devoted member of Pleasant Hill...

- Typical home value: $103,577 - 1-year price change: +21.2% - 5-year price change: +76.3%

The city of Chatsworth’s Fourth of July fireworks display begins after dark on Saturday, July 2, at the Murray County Recreation Department.

A Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office captain said Tuesday investigators have found no link between a Chatsworth man who was shot and killed earlier this month in southern Whitfield County and the people who live in the house that he was shot outside of. Harlan Steve Kendrick, 49, was shot on Saturday, June 11, around 6:54 p.m. outside of a house at 1983 Riverbend Road.

Mr. Charles Neal Turner Jr. passed away Sunday, June 12, 2022, at the age of 82. After several months of declining health, he died peacefully with beloved wife Joan and loved ones by his side at home in Ellijay. He was born in Atlanta Oct. 9, 1939, to Charles Neal...

July Fourth will be celebratory in downtown Ellijay with a parade at 6 p.m. and fireworks beginning at dark. As in past years, the fireworks will be launched from the campus of Ellijay Elementary…

This is Reliance, Tennessee. Home to the Hiwassee River! One of the BEST flyfishing rivers in Tennessee! A perfect way to spend the day with dad!

Mr. Roy Henry Abercrombie, 90, of Ellijay, died Friday, June 17, 2022. He was born Sept. 27, 1931, in Ellijay, to the late Richard Martin and Lorena May Smith Abercrombie. He was a member of Pleasant Gap Baptist Church, an automotive dealer and a real estate developer, but his greatest pride was his role as a beloved father and Pop.

Mary (Kazarian) Clark, 85, passed away at Murphy Rehabilitation and Nursing, Murphy, in the early morning hours of Monday, June 20, 2022, after a period of declining health. She was born May 10, 1937, and raised in the Dearborn, Mich., area by her father, Avedis Kazarian and mother Rose (Teddy Rosie Chambers) Kazarian.