Dahlonega and the Cherokee gold

America’s first real gold rush was in Georgia in 1829, twenty years before California, and it happened on Cherokee land. The rush is inseparable from what followed: Georgia seized Cherokee territory by lottery, the state and federal government forced removal, and the Trail of Tears began from this country in 1838. There was so much gold that a federal mint operated in Dahlonega from 1838 to 1861. The gold museum sits in the old courthouse, there is still colour in the creeks, and several places will let you pan. Told with the history attached, because the history is the point.