Introduction

Welcome to Dalton, Georgia, “The Carpet Capital” of the world! We may be known for our high-quality flooring, but Dalton is so much more than that. Dalton has a good balance between big city accommodations, and small town living. Dalton has everything most other cities have; Fine Dining, fun things to do, and plenty of places to shop. But Dalton also has that small-town atmosphere, where people go the extra mile for one another, everyone knows your name, and where southern hospitality still reigns supreme today. This blog will focus on that balance, and hopefully paint a spectacular picture in your mind of just how amazing Dalton, Georgia really is.

I first moved here in 2013. I came from Jacksonville, Florida originally, but moved to North Georgia in 2010 for work. Jacksonville is a big place. I mean BIG. Tons of stuff to do, tons of people, and never a dull moment. When we (my family and I) moved to Georgia, we lived on Lookout Mountain for a while. Three years to be exact. Lookout Mountain was wonderful…at first. We loved the serenity of the forest, the wild life, and most importantly, the quiet. We lived way out in the country, like Boondocks way out. There was nothing around us but horse farms, hills, and lots of trees. We loved it. It was a huge difference from where we had come from, and at first, that change was much appreciated. Living in the country was fun, but it also delved out many challenges that we were not equipped to handle. We were not used to living so far away from everything, like, a Starbucks, or a grocery store. We did have a very small gas station not far from the house, but the pumps still operated like something out of the seventies. Not only that, but because we were so far out, gas was usually much more expensive there than it was down the mountain. Winter on the mountain was much colder than it was in the valley. Fifteen to twenty degrees colder most of the time. Because it was so cold, we had to have a propane heater instead of a standard electric heater. Most of the time, the heater didn’t work. I cannot tell you how many times we woke up in the middle of the night blowing steam out of our mouths. Numerous times I had to wake up, get dressed, crawl underneath the house to where the pilot light was, and relight it. It would blow out at least three times a night. Mostly, after the third time, we just bundled up, and prayed for morning.

We lived on ten acres of land, in a three-story house who’s third floor balcony rocked back in forth when we stood out to gaze upon the ocean of trees that filled our backyard. The nearest grocery store was twenty miles from our drive way, so running to the store for a quick snack was out of the question. We both worked in Chattanooga, and usually stopped on the way home, or grocery shopped once a month. Mountain living meant old school living. Most of our neighbors, which were few and far between, went into town once a month for supplies. Most were retired couples, who decided mountain living was how they wanted to spend their golden years. But we had three children. Three children who had been born and partially raised in a big city, with everything a big city had. Fast internet, fast food restaurants, convenience stores, play grounds, and a school that was right up the road, and not twenty-five miles from our house. Mountain Living began to wear on us. We were city folks trying to be something we were not. I longed for the convenience of a store close to my house. Gas stations that didn’t charge an arm and a leg to fill up, fun things to do and most of all, people. We found all of that when we moved to Dalton, Georgia.

Leaving the mountain was bitter sweet. We had moved there to escape what we felt were the downfalls of the big city. But our time there was complete, and we wanted to find a place that had a good balance between what we had in Jacksonville, Florida, and on top of Lookout Mountain. Dalton seemed to have that balance. Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Dalton is located about seventy miles north of Atlanta, and thirty miles south of Chattanooga. I live off a busy street, but right around the corner from my house is Dug Gap Mountain. I could leave my house right now, and be up the mountain, away from everything, in five minutes. In fact, I’m five to ten minutes from everything in Dalton. Shopping, dining, outdoors, etc. – and gas is very reasonable. Interstate 75 is right behind my house, and I can be headed north or south in two minutes. There are six grocery stores right up the road from me, as well as numerous little convenience stores. Oh yeah, and there are two Starbucks close by. Yep, Dalton has everything our little family desires, and living in a small town, with big city accommodations, is truly a blessing. Our kids have tons of friends, and my wife and I have made friendships that will last a life time. We really love our lives here.

We have lived in Dalton for three years now, and from the moment we moved here, we fell in love with it. So much so, that I now work for the wonderful city of Dalton, as the Marketing Manager for the Dalton Convention and Visitors Bureau. Now, one could say that my job may make me partial to our little town, but as you can see from this post, that is not entirely true. We fell in love with this place from the get go, and after three years of living and working here, our love has only grown. This blog is dedicated to all our wonderful experiences here. From fine dining to the great outdoors, I’d like to relay, in words, just how wonderful Dalton, Georgia is. This is the first of hopefully many posts. I will be highlighting many of the wonderful places in Dalton. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to email me and tell me of your wonderful experiences in this great town as well.

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