Old memories and new finds on North Georgia's Highway 5

Way back before the turn of the century (the 21st, that is), in the mid-to-late 1990s, my parents bought a cabin in Cherry Log. The unincorporated community, in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia , is adjacent to Cherry Lake, with access to the Benton MacKaye Trail.

My parents would visit from Florida, sometimes for entire summers. When they were there, we’d haul our kids and dogs up Highway 5 in the Isuzu Rodeo for weekends at “the cabin,” which, admittedly, was more of a house with cabin appeal. Back then, internet access was mostly dial-up, and in the mountains it was spotty at best. Cell service was considered an unnecessary luxury.

The three-story house, built in the 1980s, sat on one of the highest lots in the community. Stress melted away in the face of that