Once a subject of Cherokee legend, (itse-yi - place of fresh green) Brasstown Bald is the highpoint of the Wolfpen Ridge. Up on Georgia's highest mountain peak, Cherokee myth tells of a great canoe that settled on Enotah mountain during a great flood, killing the remainder of their people who remained in the valley. The mountaintop was cleared by the Great Spirit and new crops sustained the survivors until the floodwaters subsided.
   It was Arthur Woody's childhood dream that came to life with a Civilian Conservation Corps project on Brasstown Bald in the 1930s. Woody was raised in the area and witnessed the destructive lumber companies strip the land. He envisioned "his" forest restored to its primitive state, leading to the return of area wildlife. These dreams were answered during the Great Depression when CCC workers moved in and improved the lumber road to the top of Brasstown Bald. The corps erected the first observation tower in 1935.
   Today's tower, completed in 1965, is located near the original and houses a museum which features the mountain region's geology, ecology, climate and weather. Here in the visitor center, the Man and the Mountain exhibit helps explain the natural and human history of the area. Able to see four states on a clear day, the tower and observation deck offer incredible 360 degree panoramas of Georgia's Blue Ridge and the most southern reach of the Appalachian Mountains.

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