Dillard

Towns in Rabun County

Dillard, Georgia

Captain John Dillard was one of the first white settlers in northern Rabun County. Like all veterans and widows of the Revolutionary War, he was permitted to draw early in the county’s 1819 land lottery. He drew a lot on the Tallulah River that he traded for 1,000 acres in the area that became Dillard. William F. Dillard, John’s grandson, built a stagecoach way station along the valley’s main north-south route, once a toll road called the Rabun Turnpike. Later on Zack Dillard built an inn for travelers along the toll road, which was the predecessor of the present-day Dillard House. The town of Dillard developed around this settlement and was officially founded in 1846. In 1906, the Tallulah Falls Railroad was extended to Dillard, and during the heyday of lumbering in Rabun County, hundreds of rail cars carrying logs and lumber were shipped from the Dillard station every year.

Visit our Museum

Want to learn more about Dillard and the people and events that shaped the history of Rabun County? The Society’s museum is free and open to the public.