DIRECTIONSGA.COM ACTIVITIES | 23
One stop
recently pressure-washed the bridge,
and plans to install more than two
dozen park benches around town.
Other improvements include new
streetlights, landscaping, and copper
mining artifacts and signage to share
the area’s history with visitors. A
4-acre park with exercise equipment,
walking paths and pavilions is also
planned for the area.
Small businesses, like Mountain
Attitude Designs, Escape the Line
Escape Room, Copperhill Brewery
and Buck Bald Brewing are doing
their part to draw tourists and locals
back to the area. Meanwhile, the old
mall was completely renovated and
turned into the new Riverwalk Shops.
It’s scheduled to be occupied this
spring by three new restaurants and
a full assortment of shops, including
second locations of Down town Blue
Ridge favorites, Blue Ridge Adventure
Wear and The Owl’s Nest.
continued on page 24
Area Fast Facts
→ McCaysville population = 996;
Copperhill population = 511.
→ McCaysville, Copperhill & Ducktown
are known collectively as the
Copper Basin.
→ Copperhill & Ducktown were settled
around 1843 when copper was discovered
in the area. It was mined
until the late 1980s.
→ Open smelting, timber harvesting
and the release of harmful gases
severely denuded the hills around
Copperhill. In 1939, the TVA and
the Tennessee Copper Company
began a long-term reforesting
project to help restore the area.
→ The Toccoa River flows north from
Blue Ridge to McCaysville. When it
crosses into Tennesse, it becomes
the Ocoee River, known for challenging
whitewater rafting rapids.
→ The Ocoee Whitewater Center off
Hwy. 64 was the site of the 1996
Olympic Summer Games Canoe &
Kayak Slalom competition.
The old steel bridge
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