Helen

Well, one other sure sign that it is fall, y'all, is the arrival of Oktoberfest.

[laughs] And there are a, a couple of places in the South where Oktoberfest might mean a little bit more than the average town, and that's a really special place in the mountains of North Georgia called Alpine Helen, Helen, Georgia.

And there's a couple places in the Texas Hill Country that we want to talk about.

But let's first again tell you about, first tell you about Oktoberfest in Dixie and what that really means.

Uh, or sweet tea.

Either one works for a lot of us, but, uh, how about that? Oktoberfest in Dixie.

Now, let me take y'all to the first place I was telling you about is Helen, Georgia.

Now, Helen, Georgia, is in the mountains of Northwest Georgia.

Savannah's Boutique Inns, many housed in centuries-old buildings throughout the historic district, puts you within walking distance of nearly every major attraction.

And North Georgia's mountain cabins around towns like Helen and Blue Ridge offer a cozy forested escape with easy access to hiking and waterfalls.

Amtrak's Crescent Line stops in both Atlanta and Gainesville, connecting Georgia to the broader East Coast rail network.

Atlanta's MARTA rail and bus system covers the city reasonably well for visitors basing themselves downtown.

Take a ghost tour through Savannah's historic squares after dark, exploring some of the most haunted history in the entire South.

Spot wild horses roaming the undeveloped beaches of Cumberland Island, a genuinely rare sight found almost nowhere else on the Atlantic coast.

ride a boat deep into the Akafanoki swamp, spotting alligators and rare birds among the cypress trees, and spend an afternoon in Helen, a small North Georgia town built entirely in a Bavarian alpine style, a genuinely surprising contrast to the rest of the state.

Summer brings peak beach season to the Golden Isles, with warm water and quiet, uncrowded stretches of sand compared to busier East Coast destinations.

here in the U S not to pick on anywhere else.

So that's why I'm staying here in the U S another adopted Bavarian Alpine identity is in Helen, Georgia.

Helen, Georgia was just a declining logging town when local leaders adopted the Bavarian identity in 1969.

Hmm.

Businesses received steep roofs, balconies, decorative facades, and German-inspired signs.

All the buildings that are here, you're now Bavarian.

Any buildings that come after you have to be Bavarian style in the facade.

So unlike Hashtag, Helen wasn't copied from one specific town, though.

I'm doing good.

Have you ever been to Helen, Georgia? Mm-hmm.

Guy and I are going.

Instead of going back home for Christmas this year, we're going to go and spend a few days in Helen.

And it is...

If you walk into it, from what I'm told, when you go there, you feel like you're walking into a little German town, an old German town, like old European styling, very quaint.

And she found a cabin for us, so that'll be fun.

You say Helen or Holland?

I was performing.

So back in January, I'm performing outdoors in Helen, Georgia.

There's a fucking castle in Helen, Georgia.

Oh, I'm familiar.

Okay.

I mean, I would even consider any body of water could be occupied by a pirate.

I would be happy with that.

Does Helen have a lake? Yeah, brother, you can shoot the hooch.

But then went with Blue Ridge, Georgia, which is a mountain town on a river, again, about two and a half, three hours away.

Easily manageable on foot, calmer than the Blue Ridge, Georgia's cousin towns like Helen, which we visited before.

Which we

have, yeah.