Sautee Nacoochee by Tommy Hart Jones Book Signing

A History of Sautee Nacoochee Published by Sautee Nacoochee Center and the University of Georgia

Sautee Nacoochee, GA– For nearly a decade, the History Committee at the Sautee Nacoochee Center
was the driving force behind A History of Sautee Nacoochee by Tommy Hart Jones. Dedicating countless
hours of research, writing, and collaboration to bring this book to life, the committee also provided
significant funding to support the book’s writing and publication in partnership with University of
Georgia Press. Edited by Laura Paquette, this newly released hardback has truly been a labor of love,
ensuring that the rich history of Sautee Nacoochee is preserved and shared for generations to come.
The University of Georgia Press describes the book this way, “In the broadest terms, this book
synthesizes an enormous amount of information from many disparate sources into a narrative that
identifies historical contexts, that documents and incorporates site-specific information, and that strives
to illuminate the lives of the people who over many centuries of human occupation and in many
different ways contributed to making Sautee Nacoochee what it is today. It is not a typical “pioneer”
history. Indeed, Tommy Hart Jones illuminates the lives of all the people who have occupied the valleys
over many thousands of years and connects the deep past to the present.”
Joyce Etheridge, Chair of the History Committee and member of the SNC Board of Directors
says, “This book is a thoroughly documented, but easily read narrative of the natural and cultural history
of this special place. Tommy has taken a complex story and woven it into a rich living history of a place
and its people.” Begun as a reference manual for SNC’s local history museum, enough material was amassed
that publishing it became apparent. Jones, an eight-generation Georgian, not only shaped the material
but conducted additional research. He is retired from the National Park Service. He also worked for the
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and has authored dozens of studies on a wide variety of historic
structures.
To celebrate, the History Committee is hosting a Book Release Reception on Saturday, June 7,
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., which will be attended by the author, editor and representatives from the Press.
The public is invited for an engaging discussion about the making of the book, a question and answer
session, and a special book signing.
Since its founding in 1938, the primary mission of the University of Georgia Press has been to
support and enhance the University’s place as a major research institution by publishing outstanding
works of scholarship and literature by scholars and writers throughout the world. Located on the
University of Georgia campus in Athens, the kinds of books published by the Press fall into the following
categories: works of scholarship, creative and literary works and regional books. For more information,
visit ugapress.org.
Copies of A History of Sautee Nacoochee are available for purchase at the SNC Gallery Gift Shop
and will be available at the reception.
For more information, please contact Emily DeFoor at 706-878-3300 or visit
www.SauteeNacoocheeCenter.org.
Located at 283 Hwy 255 N in Sautee, the Sautee Nacoochee Community Association is a
member-based non-profit organization serving White and Habersham Counties and all of northeast
Georgia. Its mission is to value and nurture individual creativity, along with the historical, cultural and
environmental resources of the Sautee and Nacoochee Valleys and surrounding area. For more
information, visit www.SauteeNacoocheeCenter.org or call 706-878-3300.