Hiawassee is a lakeside town, and the lake is the thing. Lake Chatuge, a long, winding reservoir built by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the early 1940s, fills the valley, stretching across the state line into North Carolina, and its shoreline is a tangle of coves, wooded points and small marinas. The town of Hiawassee, with about nine hundred inhabitants, sits at the western end of it, a handful of streets of shops, cafes and motels along the main road, and the water is only a few minutes away.
The name comes from a Cherokee word usually given as Ayuhwasi, meaning a meadow, and this was Cherokee country long before the dam. The river that was drowned by the reservoir was one of the old arteries of the nation, and the valley was densely settled. The mountains that surround the lake, among them Brasstown Bald, the highest in Georgia, give the district a cool climate and good rainfall, and the forest on their slopes is thick with hemlock, oak and rhododendron. Each August the town hosts the Georgia Mountain Fair, which has been going for decades and has a festival feel, with music, crafts, and a lot of fried food.
Riding here is easy and enjoyable. US 76 runs along the lake, a wide, well-surfaced road with gentle bends and glimpses of the water, and from it you can turn into the hills on a variety of smaller roads. They have steeper gradients and tighter corners, with farms and the occasional church at the junctions. The lake road is much busier in summer, with boat trailers and holiday traffic, so take your time, and aim for the shoulder seasons if you can. Fog sits on the water in the morning, and in autumn the colour of the hills reflected in the lake is among the best in the Georgia mountains.
Hiawassee has fuel, groceries and a handful of restaurants, serving the usual Southern staples of fried chicken, barbecue and biscuits, so it is a good place to prepare for the hills. Young Harris, a few kilometres east, is home to a small college and has a pleasant old centre, and Hayesville, across the line in North Carolina, is a similar size. Cold nights are common even in late spring, so carry a warm layer.