Visiting Georgia's Gold Town of Dahlonega by Ruth Paget

Visiting Georgia’s Gold Town of Dahlonega by Ruth Paget

On a pre-hurricane Helene trip to Georgia, my husband Laurent and I drove to Georgia’s gold town of Dahlonega high up in the Appalachian Mountains to visit the Gold Museum downtown. 

Dahlonega feels surprisingly close to Atlanta. To get there from Smyrna on Atlanta’s north side, you take 285 East to 19 North. 

You pass over two rivers on the way to Dahlonega – the Etowah River and the Chestatee River. When you reach Chestatee Road, you make a left turn from 19 North and arrive directly downtown. 

The Gold Museum is small, but highly informative. 

One of the first things you learn in the museum is that gold began being mined in Dahlonega in 1829, a full 20 years before the California Gold Rush. 

The gold region, which extends from today’s northeastern border of Georgia to northeastern Alabama was mostly occupied by Cherokee Native Americans. To make way for mining operations, the Cherokee were removed from their lands and forcibly made to walk westward, the Trail of Tears, to be resettled in Oklahoma. 

Once the Cherokee lands were available for mining, a lottery was held which gave the lucky winner the right to own and set up mining operations. People who did not get land in the lottery received blank lottery tickets and were said “to draw a blank.” 

People who wanted to mine gold, but drew a blank are rumored to have left Georgia for the California Gold Rush in 1849, 

Georgia’s gold is still highly sought, because it is 96% pure. The state capitol’s dome is sheathed in shimmering Georgia gold. For smaller investors, there are coins with the Eagle gold coins still providing good returns according to the museum guide. 

The gold mines in Dahlonega are closed today. The town is now famous for orchards, wine tasting, and the University of North Georgia. 

For a pleasant outing about an hour outside Atlanta, Dahlonega (Georgia) has history, culture, and food that will appeal to visitors from Western United States as well as the Eastern Seaboard. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking is $1.99 on Kindle today by Ruth Paget

Dupree and Gaubert’s Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking is on sale today for $1.99 on Kindle.

It has 600 recipes and is 1,954 pages long.

I own this book and use it for reference.  

I think this is a great buy for Kindle owners.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Rustic Spanish Cookbook - 322 pages -on Kindle today by Ruth Paget

Rustic Spanish Cookbook by Richardson from the Willams-Sonoma collection is $1.99 on Kindle today.

It is 322 pages long, which I consider a great buy for the money.

If you do not have a Spanish restaurant in your neighborhood, making Spanish food at home is a way to learn about the country and make a family meal at the same time. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Rachel Ray’s Italian cookbook deal today by Ruth Paget

I am not sure how long the deal will last, but I saw that Rachel Ray’s 1,000+ page Everyone is Italian on Sunday cookbook costs $1.99 on Kindle today.

I always liked her show for using canned beans and tomatoes instead of doing everything from scratch, especially when these items were basic ingredients in a larger recipe.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Eggplant Stir-Fry Mash at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Eggplant Stir-Fry Mash at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Eggplant stir-fry mash is called baingan bharta on the menu at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California. 

This vegan (food made with no animal products) dish a little tricky to make at home. You have to char and fully cook the eggplant before being able to mix it with a tomato and onion based curry. I always get this dish at a restaurant for this reason. 

I consulted hebbars.com for a recipe for baingan (eggplant) bharta that is similar to what Avatar Indian Grill does for its version of the dish. Once the eggplant is fully cooked and cooled, the skin is peeled off and the interior of the eggplant is mashed. 

After this is done, you heat oil in a sauce pan and add cumin, dried red chili, ginger, and garlic and sauté these spices along with chopped onion. Once the onion begins to shrink, you add chili powder and coriander powder. 

When the spices become fragrant, you add the eggplant mash and chopped tomatoes and cook the mixture till the tomatoes are soft and mushy. You let the vegetables cook down and add garam masala (curry powder) before serving. 

Avatar Indian Grill differs from this recipe a bit by mashing everything down and then adding peas to the curry. 

Baingan bharta is usually paired with rice. The peas, a pulse, combine with rice, a grain, to form a vegetarian protein combination according to vegetarians. 

The result regardless of scientific claims is delicious, especially if you eat some naan flatbread studded with licorice tasting fennel seeds with it. 

Baingan bharta is from the Punjab region in northwestern India that crosses over into Pakistan as well. 

I eat vegan foods in case of any disruption to meat supply that could happen due to disruption to constant temperature for safe meat handling and preservation such as electrical blackouts that can affect butchering facilities and stores. 

I am happily going through the vegan menu items at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California to learn about foods that have withstood the blistering heat on the Indian subcontinent for millennia. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Kennesaw Mountain Civil War Battlefield outside Atlanta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Visiting Kennesaw Mountain Civil War Battlefield outside Atlanta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

The Kennesaw Mountain Civil War Battlefield is located about half an hour north of Atlanta, Georgia off I-75. 

Kennesaw Mountain has become a “swords into ploughshares” recreation area in the modern day. If you do not arrive early on the weekend (around 7:30 am), you most probably will have to park ½ mile to a mile away from the base of the mountain to access the hiking and biking trail. The track team from nearby Kennesaw State University runs easily up and down the mountain, making you feel really old. 

Before Kennesaw Mountain became a favorite wooded refuge for Atlanta dwellers, it was the site of highly contested battle between the Confederacy’s General Joseph E. Johnson and the Union’s William Tecumseh Sherman on June 27, 1864. The Union suffered losses of 3,000 troops and the Confederacy suffered losses of 1,000 troops on that day. 

The decisive moment in the battle came when General George Stoneman’s cavalry division put Union troops close to the Chattahoochee River that protected the city of Atlanta. Breaching that river would make it easy to enter Atlanta. 

Kennesaw Mountain has become such a nice park that it is difficult to imagine war there, but it is worth noting that it is still one of Atlanta’s natural defenses to this day as one of several hills surrounding Atlanta along with the Chattahoochee River. 

Locals would also say that the kudzu plant, which can take over buildings in the South’s sweltering heat, is also a natural defense. Kudzu had not been introduced from Japan yet during the time of the Civil War. Today, this plant with its glossy leaves would be slick to deal with in the rain for hill and mountain fighting and might even change battle outcomes. 

This is speculation, of course, but it does explain why battle re-enactments are an educational exercise worth doing due to new environmental conditions and technological advances particularly in communication. 

The battle re-enactments need analysis and knowledge management to make sure war outcomes remain the same. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting Resaca Civil War Battlefield outside Lake Dalton, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Visiting Resaca Civil War Battlefield outside Lake Dalton, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

The Resaca Civil War Battlefield is about one hour north of Atlanta, Georgia along I-75. My husband Laurent and I set out to visit this small yet informative battle site that featured an inconclusive end for both armies despite the larger number of troops on the Union side. 

As I read through the America’s Battlefield Trust website entry on Resaca, I saw that the reason for battle at Resaca was control of the railroad just south of Dalton for supply deliveries. 

I had learned on a prior visit to the Chattanooga Battlefield in Tennessee that Union troops from the North were starving due to lack of provisions including food for the horses in the cavalry, which usually determined battle outcomes. (Cannons are also important for battle outcomes, but they are difficult to manoeuver and having them is not always a guarantee of battle victory.) 

The Resaca Battlefield was on flat ground, but the cavalry forces were weak due to malnutrition, which contributed to the initial Confederate win at Resaca. Despite winning, the Confederate army was unable to maintain its victory. The battle’s outcome is inconclusive. 

When Laurent and I arrived at Resaca Battlefield, I photographed the battle timeline and read that it was a two-day battle between May 13 – 15,1864 in Gordon and Whitfield counties. The Union lost 2,747 troops and the Confederacy lost 2,800 troops. It was the second bloodiest battle of the Atlanta Campaign with an inconclusive outcome. 

The first Confederate cemetery in Georgia was established at Resaca. The lesson of Resaca is the importance of ensuring transportation for food and medical supplies in war time as well as times of peace. 

Starvation may have contributed to what is called General William Tecumseh Sherman’s “Death March” through Georgia. 

The Resaca Battlefield is well maintained with informative signs located throughout the battlefield that now resembles a golf course with its well-manicured fields. 

The Resaca Battlefield outside Lake Dalton Georgia is a historical site worth visiting for history buffs when visiting Atlanta, Georgia. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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