The Dillard House – Nostalgia Meets Evolution
By Danny and Alice Scott
While meeting with over fifty Southeast Travel Society destination members at a conference in Gwinnett County, Georgia, every time we mentioned our next stop, Dillard House, they melted, aahed and sighed, “You’ll love it.” Yes, we did, for many reasons.
First, there is the setting. Rabun County in northeast Georgia is simply beautiful, a wooded mountain wonderland with green valleys and an abundance of waterfalls and trails including the Appalachian Trail. Dillard House makes the most of this setting with over 100 acres perched on a hill for prime viewing.
The history of the Dillard House spans more than a century, starting from a simple farmhouse on six acres expanding and evolving over decades, through generations to John Earl Dillard who continues running the show. He started working there when he was twelve years old shucking corn and breaking beans, cleaning the pools and sweeping the lot.
John shared that his great grandfather, Arthur Dillard had a supply transport business. When taking foods to Highlands, North Carolina, a few miles up the road, he met Carrie Edwards who worked at her family’s Old Edwards Inn which remains in Highlands. Their relationship developed and when he proposed, she consented but required that they have a #8 wood burning stove to marry and move. She started cooking for travelers on that stove and then boarded a preacher in the house for $10/ month. Everything was homemade from soap to wine and grown on the farm from vegetables to milk and meat.
Carrie’s and Arthur’s kids took it to the next level and John P Dillard to the next, on to his son, John Earl. John’s grandma was talked into building a motel with 40 units in the 1950s. The original Rock House was renovated in1952 and the main dining room was constructed in 1957. The goal was to make money to get through the winter; then winter business came from destination business and more motel type units were built in the sixties and seventies and a few in the nineties. There are cottages and even a conference center appealing to business and church groups, circling back to Carrie’s first minister’s stay.
The main dining room of Dillard House is the most well-known aspect, serving a set menu with several main items, a multitude of delicious sides and desserts, family style, all you can eat. A large, slotted billboard hangs with little placards switched out for the list of dishes at each meal – breakfast, lunch and dinner with no decisions to be made. It’s a southern banquet with French flair, merci a Carrie and her heirs. John Dillard graciously shares her recipes with heavy creams, if asked, but people prefer preparations at Dillard House and sojourn there for the unique dining experience to celebrate special occasions or visit on a routine basis. It is a savory feast to behold.
We stayed in the Dillard House Highlands section in a king suite with a four poster bed kindling memories of jumping on Grandma’s bed with cousins as a kid. A cozy atmosphere is created by a kitchenette and living room with a fireplace and wood conveniently stacked outside. A long viewing deck with rocking chairs is shared by the entire row of units, overlooking the pond, meadow and mountain beyond.
Singing birds serve as morning wake-up calls at whatever hour you rise. Horses graze by the pond until the honking of Canada geese startles them, and they trot up the hill through the trees. The Dillard House Stables is run by Pam Thompson next to the farm petting zoo with private or group rides available for all ages.
Breakfast is served as described in hearty fashion for a day of horse riding, lawn games, hiking or relaxing at the pool and hot tub. On Saturdays, a horse drawn carriage ride tours the property for $5 a person. It evokes memories of Mackinaw Island, where there are still no cars, and the same horsepower once carried us to the Wawa Golf Course. At Dillard House, Arnold and Winnie Palmer once shared the same surrey seat – which brings us to the topic of golf.
Sky Valley Country Club on the Georgia Golf Trail partners with Dillard House for tee times. It is a stunning mountain course with lush landscapes, cascades and a copper steepled chapel whose bells peel and play songs throughout the day – but that is another story on this site.
The Palmers aren’t the only famous people on the Dillard House visitors’ roster. Thomas Edison and Walt Disney enjoyed their stays and Carrie Dillard helped fix the overheating car of Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone when they stopped for lunch.
There is so much to do in Dillard, Rabun County and north to Carrie’s Highlands. You can go shopping in boutiques or antique stores or you can go waterfalls hopping. And golf is not the only trail in Georgia. The Georgia Wine Trail is lovely with hills of vineyards and importation of California grapes. We were surprised to find rich whites and reds on the trail because fine muscadines from Georgia vines are not our sweet cup of tea. But Cindy, an oenophile visiting 12 Spies winery with her friends and their dogs on the patio said a sip of muscadine brings tears of young memories with her “mamaw.” They recommended Terra Incognita winery but warned that it is in the middle of nowhere and you must find it on purpose. Not so, as a funny thing happened on our way to Minnehaha falls. We missed the last little sign and instead ended up at Terra Incognita winery, far atop the hill with views of Currahee Mountain.
Other fantastic falls we visited include Toccoa Falls on the campus of the Toccoa Falls College and Dry Falls in Highlands with a walk underneath, like the scene in The Last Mohican. Tallulah Falls is part of an extensive state park where parts of the movie Deliverance were filmed starring Burt Reynolds who also stayed at Dillard House. It so happens, Billy Redding, the special banjo player was a dishwasher at Dillard House but didn’t really play the banjo, it was a film trick. John Dillard’s Aunt Louise appeared in the breakfast scene at the end of that movie.
Don’t try, as we did unsuccessfully, to find Dick’s Creek Falls in the Chatooga Wild and Scenic River area. To begin with, we passed a house selling banjos and guitars before carefully following directions, finding War Woman Road and Sandy Ford Road which turned to gravel. As instructed, we crossed the river twice, once over a bridge and once over a “splash-thru” which means driving through river water and then saw the key sentence – Just before the splash-thru is a parking lot on the left. Not! There was a fence on the dirt road with privacy signs. We felt lucky to cross back over the water and not get stuck in the mud without cell signal. The banjo music played in our heads when a truck pulled out in front of us and then stopped. This could not be good. But it was fine, he pulled over and we went on. Deliverance was just a movie after all, and that’s when we decided to go to 12 Spies instead of further searching for Dick’s.
Glen Falls is a great hike, descending with wooden steps and several viewing platforms for marveling the tiers of falls. At one point a rustle in the woods caused us to stand still and we whispered, let it not be a bear. Upon returning we met a uniformed group carrying a variety of implements. Was this a rescue mission or what? “We maintain the trails,” a few said in unison. They were volunteer members of the American Hiking Society, with a mascot dog in tow for a nice photo op and a thank you.
Dillard House patrons will be thankful for the investment by Legacy Ventures to renovate and refresh the resort. That doesn’t mean a new sheriff is in town because John Dillard is happily staying on and says that Legacy owner Mr. Marvin is committed to preserving the cherished traditions and suitably, the legacy of Dillard House. Legacy manager David Allen was in the dining room assuring guests of the same dining style and food, with cosmetic updates like refinishing the fifty-year-old dining room chairs. While the main dining room is being renovated to include a new bar, meals are temporarily served for another six months, in the conference center. It was brilliantly constructed around a pavilion which movie star Aunt Louise had built for guest activities. She organized everything from clogging to church service. Carrie, Arthur and first son Jimmy are pictured in the horse and carriage above a table in the foyer, forever preserved.
More exciting revamping plans include a three-story hotel with 150 rooms. The horses get a new barn and pasture while humans get a new pool, spa, brew pub and beer garden, wine tasting room and a new kitchen to serve the same family style food as well as an ala carte restaurant in the same historic house. The vision is to “preserve its unique charm while adding modern improvements for greater comfort and functionality.” Current hotels will receive matching facades and families will return to relive memories and create new ones, in a setting that never gets old. John will be pleased to see you at www.dillardhouse.com
