The Story of HELEN and Thereabouts

Originally chartered in 1913, Helen was the site of a huge sawmill which operated until 1931. Timber was brought from the mountains on temporary rail lines which reached from Blood Mountain 20 miles to the west and nearly to the North Carolina state line 40 miles to the northeast. Lumber from the sawmill was shipped out on the Gainesville and Northwestern Railroad. When the sawmill closed, the railroad left, and the Depression hit all at once, times were hard in the little town.

Helenites hung on, though. The economy improved in the 1950s when the Wilco Hosiery Mill arrived, Unicoi State Park opened nearby, and the city approved the sale of beer and wine which provided much needed taxes and a few jobs at restaurants and package stores. Even so, by the 1960s most downtown buildings were looking run down and many were vacant as local shoppers drove southward to larger retail centers and most tourists passed through without stopping on their way to mountain attractions to the north.

On a January day in 1969, several local businessmen having lunch at the Mountain Air restaurant surveyed the fading downtown scene. The remark was made that something should be done to spruce up the town. One of the men, Pete Hodkinson, later asked artist John Kollock if he had any ideas (both are in the picture to the left). When Kollock suggested remodeling with a Bavarian theme, he was engaged to put his visions on paper. The goateed artist in less than a week came to Helen with sketches showing the possibilities if red roofs, white stucco, and Bavarian trim were applied to the weathered bricks and blocks of old Helen.

Although Kollock did not look for much of a response, he didn't reckon with the decisiveness of Jimmy Wilkins, owner of Orbit Manufacturing and several downtown buildings. Wilkins immediately endorsed the plan, followed in short order by the city council and the rest of the downtown business owners. Work was underway on Helen's Alpine conversion less than a month after the notion of sprucing up the town was first mentioned in the Mountain Air Restaurant.

Most of the downtown buildings were converted before the year was out. Georgia's Alpine Village was an instant success. Media attention brought flocks of tourists, keeping the city busy as it adapted to life as a bustling tourist town. Many people participated in the Alpine enterprise, but for the next seven years, the essential Alpine man was Pete Hodkinson.

Pete was a charismatic leader with a penchant for risk and a flair for promotion. He declared Helen to be a "refuge of free spirits", and in his vicinity, spirits of the traditional sort often flowed freely. Even though he found financing hard to come by, Pete was a constant source of ideas, some wild and eccentric. Pete was head of the "Alpine Development Corporation" which would buy up property to maintain local control. By 1976, work was underway on a theater, golf course, and "The Helen Transit Authority" which would lay rails down the Helen valley to ferry tourists into town.

One of Pete's more colorful promotions was hot air ballooning. In 1974, he organized the "Helen to the Atlantic" balloon race with the usual fanfare. While trying to inspire others to fly on a stormy day before the 1976 race, Pete was killed when his balloon struck power lines near the town of Toccoa.

With Pete's death, the early period of Alpine development was over. However, although Helen lacked a central figure and things would take a different course, Alpine Helen was by then well established. Development continued in a more traditional and diffuse fashion as individual entrepreneurs and civic leaders made the investments and decisions which have shaped the town in the years since. A grassy hill in the center of town has been dedicated as "Pete's Park" in memory of a free spirit which once roamed the Helen valley.

AREA MAP AND GUIDE TO LOCAL ATTRACTIONS.... For the ~~ compleat! ~~ story of Helen, viewers may be interested in The Story of HELEN and Thereabouts, a book which tells not only the story of Helen, but is also a guide to numerous area attractions. And it's cheap, too, at least from our perspective. Buy it and sit in Pete's Park for a good read. For more information, click on the Story button to the right.

HELEN MAIN STREET HISTORY TOUR.... and now for one of those side tours we promised...: starting with the oldest known picture of the town, the Helen Main Street History Tour progresses through four more photos to reach the Alpine period. If text is not your thing, just skip the verbage by clicking on the images and go from one picture to the next. The tour will depart for the year 1913 when you click the Main Street image to the right. Clicking on the last image brings you back here.

Click Here to Order The Story of Helen Today from Amazon.com!