Did you  know that Northeast Georgia has a pottery tradition? More than 100 years ago, families  such as the Meaders family of White County were making pottery as a trade;  midcentury, Arie Meaders began decorating the jugs that her husband, Cheever,  made. Occasionally she decorated them with faces. Their son, Lanier, kept that  tradition alive, eventually putting Georgia pottery on the arts map. The three-year-old Folk Pottery Museum of  Northeast Georgia in Sautee Nacoochee displays the Meaders’ amazing work through August 2010 in  “The L.Q. Meaders Family Pottery Tradition,” which includes many rarely viewed,  family-owned pieces.

Elsewhere  in the Folk Pottery Museum, look for functional and decorative pottery pieces  by Northeast Georgia artists, videos, painting, photography and a spectacular  view of the Appalachian foothills from tall glass windows. The  pottery museum is part of the Sautee Nacoochee Center, where, among other arts  displays and historical artifacts, a newly restored slave cabin is on show (viewings by  appointment only).

Only a  couple miles away from this mountain arts complex, the Chattahoochee River beckons  with its serene banks and bountiful waters. You’ll definitely want to “hook up”  with Unicoi Outfitters. Unicoi puts beginners on  the path to trophy trout with their “Gilligan special”: a 1 one-hour casting lesson  plus two hours of catch-and-release fishing. Or you can arrange a full or half-day  “wade” trip.   All that  casting leaves an angler weary, so spend the night at Lucille’s Mountain Top Inn, a bed-and-breakfast whose  rooftop Crow’s Nest gives way to a 360-degree view of the Sautee Valley.