Clayton history: The Dividings, the railroad and Foxfire

The Dividings

• Before there was a town, the site of Clayton was The Dividings, where five major Cherokee trails met. The trails linked the Cherokee of the area to Charleston, Augusta and Savannah to the south and to western North Carolina and Virginia to the north. The Society says Highway 441/23, Highway 76 and Warwoman Road still follow those old trails. Rabun County Historical Society: Rabun County, The First 200 Years (Richard Cinquina; first published in The Clayton Tribune, Dec. 26, 2019)
• In a June 2026 post before Ramshackle, the City of Clayton wrote in the town's own voice that it "started out as simply a crossroads, a dividing of trails" first known as "The Dividings", and that it was once described as a "ramshackle" little town. That is where the festival's name comes from. City of Clayton: Live Feed (Ramshackle post, June 2026)

Claytonsville, 1821

• Clayton began as Claytonsville, founded in 1821 as the county seat of Rabun County. The town was incorporated in 1823 and renamed Clayton. Rabun County government's main office is at 25 Courthouse Square, Suite 201, Clayton. Rabun County Historical Society: Towns in Rabun County, Clayton; Rabun County Government home page (archived copy, Oct. 10, 2026) for the office address
• Claytonsville was named for Augustin S. Clayton, a prominent jurist and congressman. Rabun County Historical Society: Towns in Rabun County, Clayton
• Rabun County was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 21, 1819, and named for William Rabun, the eleventh governor of Georgia. Rabun County Historical Society: Rabun County, The First 200 Years

The railroad, 1904

• The Tallulah Falls Railroad, known as the Rabun Gap Route, was formed in 1881. It ran from Cornelia to Tallulah Falls by 1882, reached Clayton in 1904, and reached its terminus at Franklin, N.C., in 1907. The 58-mile line crossed 42 wooden-truss trestles. Rabun County Historical Society: Tallulah Falls Railroad exhibit
• Two years after the railroad arrived, The Clayton Tribune of May 10, 1906, reported that the town had "a fine railroad depot, a wholesale warehouse, a bank, a modern drugstore, five hotels, ten mercantile establishments, two liveries, and many new dwellings." Rabun County Historical Society: Towns in Rabun County, Clayton (quoting The Clayton Tribune, May 10, 1906)
• Passenger service on the Tallulah Falls Railroad ended in 1946, and the last freight train ran in 1961. Walt Disney used the line for The Great Locomotive Chase (1956). Rabun County Historical Society: Rabun County, The First 200 Years; Tallulah Falls Railroad exhibit

Paving Main Street

• Contracts to pave the north-south road through Rabun County (now US 23/441) were let in 1927. The Clayton Tribune reported on Oct. 20, 1927, that the contractors had skipped the main part of town so the city could arrange to pave the full width of Main Street. Paving was completed in 1928. Rabun County Historical Society: Highway 441, A History Spanning Centuries (Richard Cinquina; first published in the Laurel of Northeast Georgia, Aug. 2024)
• Main Street, and Savannah Street down the hill to the railroad depot, were macadamized in 1928. The depot site is now Keller Furniture. Downtown sidewalks were paved in 1929, and one evening that September a crowd gathered on Main Street to see the first streetlights come on. Rabun County Historical Society: Clayton's Building Boom in the Roaring Twenties (Richard Cinquina; first published in the Laurel of Northeast Georgia, Jan. 2024)
• The Works Progress Administration built The Rock House, a meeting place and small park in the center of downtown Clayton. WPA funding also built a gymnasium that is now the Rabun County Civic Center. Rabun County Historical Society: Rabun County, The First 200 Years

The bypass that saved downtown

• The four-lane US 441, completed by the early 1960s, bypassed downtown Clayton. In 1964 Rabun County Ordinary Robert H. Vickers had the Bleckley House hotel moved and East Savannah Street extended to the new highway. The Historical Society credits that link with saving downtown Clayton. Rabun County Historical Society: Highway 441, A History Spanning Centuries
• Reeves was founded in Clayton in 1928 by Lewis F. Reeves Sr. and Rubye Dickerson Reeves. It first traded in the Derrick Building on Main Street before moving to the southwest corner of Main and Savannah Streets. The company calls itself the oldest retail store in Rabun County still owned by its founding family. Reeves: Our History

Lakes, film and the forest

• The 128-foot Burton Dam was completed in December 1919, and the reservoir was full by August 1920. It submerged the town of Burton, which Georgia Railway and Power had begun buying in 1917. The Historical Society gives the lake as 2,775 acres. Rabun County Historical Society: Electricity for Atlanta
• The Rabun County Historical Society says the movie industry "discovered" the county with the filming of Deliverance. Later films that shot scenes here include The Great Locomotive Chase, Grizzly, The Long Riders, Trouble With the Curve and Wanderlust, and Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy filmed scenes in Clayton in 2019. Rabun County Historical Society: Rabun County, The First 200 Years (first published Dec. 26, 2019)
• The federal government owns about 148,000 acres, nearly 60 percent of Rabun County's land, according to the Rabun County Historical Society (2019). The Forest Service manages the Ellicott Rock Wilderness and the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River. Rabun County Historical Society: Rabun County, The First 200 Years

Foxfire

• Foxfire began in 1966, when a new teacher at the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School and his students started a magazine about mountain heritage. They named it for the glow-in-the-dark fungus found in the local hills. The Foxfire Book followed in 1972 and became a national bestseller. Foxfire: History
• In 1974 Foxfire students used book royalties to buy land on Black Rock Mountain. Historic buildings were moved there to create the Foxfire Village Museum, which has more than 20 historic log buildings showing Appalachian life from 1820 to 1940, plus a working blacksmith shop. Foxfire: Village Museum & Mercantile; Foxfire: History

See it for yourself

• The Rabun County Historical Society runs a free museum and archive of 2,300 square feet at 81 North Church Street in downtown Clayton. It is open Wednesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Phone (706) 782-5292. Rabun County Historical Society: home page (Visit Our Museum)
• The National Register of Historic Places lists the James Henry and Rachel Kilby House (NRIS 05000078) at 28 Tumbling Waters Ln., Clayton. The record notes agriculture and architecture as areas of significance, 1898 as a significant year, and a publication date of Feb. 24, 2005. National Park Service NPGallery: Kilby, James Henry and Rachel, House

Questions

Dates, rules and hours can change. The organizers have the final word: City of Clayton