Center of Culture
A look at the history of and happenings at Sautee Nacoochee Cultural Center.
Art Attraction: The Sautee Nacoochee Cultural Center: photo contributed.
The Sautee Nacoochee Cultural Center started as a school that was built in 1928. The institution closed and fell into disrepair, but it gained a vibrant new life in the 1980s as local artisans pitched in to fix it up, trying to preserve its character as much as possible. Turned out, the school’s theater, gym and cafeteria were perfect for a community center.
“It was – and is – truly a community effort,” says Executive Director Mel Whitehead. “The people of the community wanted to preserve and celebrate the aesthetics and history of the valley while promoting the arts.”
Their efforts earned the mountain beauty spot a designation from the National Register as a historic district, as well as a ranking among The 100 Best Small Arts Towns in America in a book by the same name by John Villani.
Today, the center’s 8.5-acre campus offers a bustling, eclectic variety of programming, attractions and events, including contra dancing, Shakespearean plays and rug-making workshops.
“It started as a local labor of love, and today it’s recognized regionally, with an extensive reach across North Georgia,” Whitehead says.
The center’s offerings include the Northeast Georgia Folk Pottery Museum, with revolving exhibits and a permanent collection of hundreds of pieces from local potters, and an African American heritage site that includes a restored cabin that once housed enslaved people, and an “Emancipation Wall.” Art galleries, a local history museum and a Native Peace Garden that showcases plants native to the area round out the points of interest.
“We’re a one-stop shop with something for everybody,” Whitehead says.
