Stashing cash in a mattress or burying it in the backyard were two ways Rabun County’s people could “save” money during the 1800s. It was not until the early twentieth century that a third option became available. In January 1904, a group of citizens invited W. S. Witham, president of Georgia’s Witham Banking, to discuss
It was a decade of surging economic growth, booming consumerism and the flouting of Prohibition by Jazz Age flappers in speakeasies. Both economically and socially, America was undergoing rapid and fundamental change during the Roaring Twenties. A measure of prosperity made its way to Rabun County’s towns during the 1920s. But with the exception of
One of the oldest existing structures in Rabun County, a home and later an inn dating from1850, was not originally built in this county. How it was constructed and how it ended up in Dillard is the story of the Whitehall Inn, later known as Rabun Manor. The story begins in 1817 when John White
Clayton has been around a long time, probably longer than many people think. The town’s history begins with the Cherokees and ends, at least for now, with tourism and a Main Street lined with boutiques. A good deal has transpired in between. As the homeland of the Cherokees for hundreds of years, northeast Georgia was
The September 2023 newsletter contains photos and a bit of history of many of the gas stations that once lined Main Street in Clayton. Use the link below to download the newsletter in PDF format. 2023 Sept Vintage Rabun
The March 2023 Vintage Rabun Quarterly contains photographs and a history of the Bynum House previously located on US 76 West. The newsletter also includes a brief history of the Georgia/North Carolina state boundary marker that was placed in 1819 and will be on display at the Rabun County Historical Society museum beginning in April.
A fire in a mechanic’s garage sparked a conflagration that burned the resort town of Tallulah Falls to the ground on a December night in 1921. The village had no fire department. Neither did any other town in Rabun County. If your house caught fire, it helped to have friendly neighbors, because that was the
The December 2022 newsletter contains photographs and a history of the hotel on South Main Street variously known as the Clayton Hotel, the Dillard Motor Lodge, and the Old Clayton Inn. The newsletter also includes a current listing of our Society membership. Use the link below to download the newsletter in PDF format. 2022 Dec
The June 2022 newsletter contains historical photographs of Clayton scenes from Main Street and Savannah Street going back to the early twentieth century. Use the link below to download the newsletter in PDF format. 2022 June Vintage Rabun
Although some politicians equate paying taxes with patriotic duty, few people celebrate their payments into the government till. That proved to be the case in 1907 when Rabun County’s Ordinary, the county’s chief executive responsible for everything from taxation to roads and bridges, ordered the imposition of a special tax to finance the construction of
Standing a lanky six-feet-five, Logan E. Bleckley was not known to frequent barbershops. His hair hung loosely around his shoulders, and his generous beard flowed down his chest. When asked about his appearance, he replied that Moses also wore his hair long, which also had the benefit of protecting his neck. Bleckley was a student
The March 2022 newsletter includes photographs taken during the filming of “The Great Locomotive Chase” in Rabun County in 1955. Use the link below to download the newsletter in PDF format: 2022 March Vintage Rabun
An editorial in the Clayton Tribune once declared, “Robberies, fights, shootings, knifings, street scuffles. They are all part of the contemporary history of Rabun County and Clayton.” It sounded like this was a pretty rough and lawless place. While some serious crimes were committed, there is a lighter side to some of the criminal activity
Rabun County built four courthouses between 1824 and 1908 even though the county was sparsely populated, poor and isolated from the world. One more went up in the mid-1960s. This total does not include the oak tree that served as the county’s first hall of justice. When Rabun was established in 1819, the population of
A Rabun County mountain man from Tiger, Thomas E. Roane was not an electrical engineer. In fact, he had no college education at all. But that did not stop him from engineering and building the first power generating system to bring electricity to Clayton back in 1914. That was the same year Georgia Railway and
Only seven teachers had a tenth grade education. Schools lacked desks, books charts and maps. Many children were unable to comprehend what they read. School buildings were in varying states of disrepair. This snapshot of Rabun County’s 29 community schools emerged in 1914 when Georgia undertook a survey to assess the quality of education in
Buggy Repairs, Flavo Flour and Hotel Rooms with Sewerage: Clayton Business Advertisements in 1920 By Richard Cinquina Described as a ramshackle town in the early 1900s, Clayton had attained a degree of prosperity by 1920. Overall conditions had improved significantly from the village’s poverty and neglect at the advent of the twentieth century. Tourists, courtesy
It was illegal to allow cattle to run loose through Clayton. Dumping chicken coops on streets also was strictly prohibited. These two laws from the 1930s, among many others, provide a glimpse into the life of a country village nine decades ago. During the Depression 30’s, Clayton was a tiny farming town. Poverty was the
At the turn of the twentieth century, Clayton was barely a speck on the map with a recorded population of only 199. And one historical account paints a rather dismal picture of that tiny village. “Before the coming of the railroad, Clayton was a ramshackle town,” according to Rabun County historian Andrew Jackson Ritchie. “There
Towns in Rabun County Clayton, Georgia Long before Clayton, there was The Dividings, the intersection of five major trails that linked the Cherokee of Rabun County to points throughout the Southeast. Rabun County was established in 1819 on Cherokee land ceded to the state of Georgia. Claytonsville, named after prominent jurist and congressman Augustin S.
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81 North Church Street
Clayton, Georgia 30525
(706) 782-5292