Sautee Nacoochee (or Sautee-Nacoochee) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

White County, Georgia White County is a county in the Northeast region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,003. The county seat is Cleveland. The county was created on December 22, 1857, formerly a part of Habersham County ...

, United States, near Sautee Creek in the Appalachian foothills of northeast Georgia, approximately north of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. The nearest incorporated town is the tourist destination of Helen.

Geography

Sautee Nacoochee is located at longitude −83.68094, latitude 34.67994.

Origin of names

The meaning of Sautee Nacoochee's name, which combines two place names of Native American origin, is uncertain. James Mooney believed "Sautee" to be an anglicized version of a Cherokee placename Itsati that was used to describe several Cherokee places including Echota, Chota, and Chote. Itsati is a significant placename for the Cherokee as it was the name of their ancient capital, an important "peace town" and it is the name that was used for their new capital, established in the 19th century, New Echota. A 1734 land grant between Great Britain and the Cherokee lists Nacoochee or Nagutsi as a Cherokee town. The meaning of this placename is unknown, and James Mooney thought it might have some connection with the

Yuchi The Yuchi people are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma, though their original homeland was in the southeastern United States. In the 16th century, the Yuchi lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley. By the late 17th century, they had ...

. A state historic marker states that the location was visited by Hernando de Soto in 1540 AD. However, a study of the route taken by De Soto by a team of Southeastern university professors in the 1980s placed his route far to the north. Nearby

Yonah Mountain Yonah Mountain (commonly referred to as "Mount Yonah" or, by older Georgians, "Yonah Bald") is a mountain ridge located in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is between the cities of Cle ...

is the site of a folktale where a beautiful Cherokee maiden named Nacoochee fell in love with the

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

warrior Sautee. When their love was forbidden by the tribal elders, a war party followed the eloping lovers and threw Sautee off the mountain, with Nacoochee then jumping to her death, a ''

Lover's Leap Lover's Leap, or (in plural) Lovers' Leap, is a toponym given to a number of locations of varying height, usually isolated, with the risk of a fatal Falling (accident), fall and the possibility of a Suicide by jumping from height, deliberate jum ...

''. This "Lover's Leap" story is identical to the story in

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-century "La ...

's Rock City attraction. Although he did not invent the legend, George Williams, the son of one of the original white settlers, popularized it in his 1871 ''Sketches of Travel in the Old and New World''.

Sautee Valley Historic District

* The Sautee Valley Historic District (adjacent to the Nacoochee Valley Historic District) is a historic district centered on the community of Sautee Nacoochee. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1986 and has agricultural, architectural, and historic significance. The district includes the location of pre-historic villages and more recent buildings and structures from after American settlers came to the area. Spanish explorers sought gold in this valley, as did settlers who were seeking their fortune in the

Georgia Gold Rush The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States and the first in Georgia, and overshadowed the previous rush in North Carolina. It started in 1829 in present-day Lumpkin County near the county seat, Dahlonega, ...

. The center point of the Sautee Valley Historic District is the intersection of

Georgia State Route 255 State Route 255 (SR 255) is a S-shaped state highway located in the North Georgia mountains section of the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels through White and Habersham counties. Route description SR 255 begins at an intersect ...

and Lynch Mountain Road.

Sautee Nacoochee Center

Sautee Nacoochee is most noted for the Sautee Nacoochee Center, a cultural and community center housed in the restored Nacoochee schoolhouse. The center was founded by the Sautee-Nacoochee Community Association (SNCA), which was also responsible for getting both Sautee and Nacoochee Valleys placed on the

. In September 2006, the

Folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

Pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

Museum of Northeast Georgia opened on the grounds of the Sautee Nacoochee Center. The Pottery Museum's new facility, designed by

architect Robert M. Cain, features a main exhibit floor that houses more than 150 vessels on permanent display and has space for additional temporary exhibits. The numerous cultural programs at the Sautee Nacoochee Center led to Sautee Nacoochee being designated as one of "The 100 Best Small Arts Towns in America" in a book by the same name written by John Villani.

Demographics

Sautee Nacoochee first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2010 United States Census.

Nearby towns

Helen, Georgia Helen is a city in White County, Georgia, United States, located along the Chattahoochee River. The population was 531 at the 2020 census. The city has now been made over, as a tourist attraction, to look like an old-world Bavarian village. T ...

Cleveland, Georgia Cleveland is a city in White County, Georgia, located northeast of Atlanta and southeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Its population was 3,514 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of White County. Cleveland is home to the North Georgia Zo ...

References

Resources

*2005 In the Shadow of Yonah: A History of White County, Georgia. Garrison Baker, Brasstown Creek Publications, Cleveland, GA. *c1922 Mrs J. E. Wickle, Clarksville, Georgia "A History of the Early Settlers of Nacoochee Valley March 10, 1822" in "Habersham County, Geoegia History" at Georgia Genealogy Trails, presented by the Georgia Genealogy Trails Group.

External links

Images from the Nacoochee ValleySautee Nacoochee CenterFolk Pottery Museum of Northeast GeorgiaSautee Nacoochee Valleys Associations

{{authority control Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Geography of White County, Georgia Census-designated places in Georgia (U.S. state) National Register of Historic Places in White County, Georgia