Brasstown Bald: The Story Behind Georgia's Highest Peak

Most people drive up for the view, and that's reason enough. But the mountain itself has more going on than a lookout tower suggests, from a famous naming slip to a cool, wet climate that sets the summit apart from the valleys around Helen. This page is the background; the main Brasstown Bald guide has hours, fees and the shuttle.

Source: Brasstown Bald reference entry and FIND Outdoors.

The Cherokee called the mountain Enotah. The English name traces to a mistake: settlers confused the Cherokee word Itse'yĭ, "New Green Place," with Ûňtsaiyĭ, "brass," and "Brasstown" stuck. There's no brass here, only the name.

The mountain is built largely of soapstone and dunite. At this height the climate is cooler and wetter than the lower Southeast, which is part of why the summit feels so different from Helen on the same day.

Brasstown Bald is also the only known place in the world where the isopod Ligidium enotahensis lives. It's a small crustacean you'd never spot on a casual visit, but it's a good reason to stay on the trail and leave the leaf litter alone.

North Georgia's woods look the way they do partly because of Arthur Woody, the "Barefoot Ranger." Woody worked as a Forest Service ranger from 1912 to 1945, helped bring back the region's deer, turkey and black bear, and restocked trout in the streams. He was born in Suches, near Woody Gap on GA-60, about 50 minutes from Helen.

At the top you'll find the lookout tower, an exhibit hall, a mountaintop theater and a gift shop with locally made products, plus picnic areas with charcoal grills, according to FIND Outdoors. Webcams on the tower let you check the view first; fog can hide everything. Admission is $10 per adult during regular hours with the shuttle included. The full breakdown is in the main guide, and the day-trip page shows how to build it into a full day.