Top Stop: Goats on The Roof

You might say a roadside stop in Rabun County is the GOAT of small businesses in Georgia that people go out of their way to visit – because of a rather unusual feature. I’ll give you a hint: The name of the place is Goats on the Roof.

Business financing company Advance Funds Network conducted a poll of 3,014 people asking which small businesses have such captivating products or services that the respondents would drive more than an hour to reach them. Goats on the Roof in the North Georgia town of Tiger came out on top.

In addition to 14 Tiger Mountain goats who like to climb on the roof – and three designated spots where people can feed them – Goats on the Roof also sells 12 kinds of homemade fudge and nitrogen ice cream and features a food truck, souvenirs, a playground and even gem mining.

The attraction is free to visit, and customers can buy goat feed to hand-feed the animals in a fenced in area or send up to the roof using a hand crank.

Other leading Georgia attractions in the survey include Atlanta’s Ponce City Market – a converted Sears building that has shops, food stalls and rooftop games – and The Grey in Savannah, a fine dining establishment in a restored 1938 Greyhound bus terminal. Guests make reservations months in advance for Chef Mashama Bailey’s specialties, like oxtail and grits.