Our Story: A Family-Owned North Georgia Mountain Resort

Forrest Hills Resort is a family-owned North Georgia mountain resort in Dahlonega, Georgia, created as a place where guests can unwind, reconnect, celebrate, and escape from the outside world.

Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Forrest Hills welcomes couples, families, weddings, corporate groups, church retreats, family reunions, and mountain getaway guests with a variety of accommodations and experiences.

Throughout the resort, guests will find private cabins, rooms and suites, group lodging, dining, meeting and event spaces, wedding venues, and relaxing mountain experiences surrounded by the natural beauty of North Georgia.

For couples seeking a romantic escape, our private cabins offer features such as hot tubs and fireplaces, while our rooms and suites provide additional options for a relaxing stay in Dahlonega. Guests can enjoy candlelit dining, massage services, horseback riding, horse-drawn carriage rides, seasonal activities, and plenty of opportunities to simply slow down and enjoy the mountains.

Forrest Hills has also become a beloved North Georgia wedding destination, with outdoor ceremony spaces, our Chapel in the Woods, reception venues, accommodations, and wedding packages designed for everything from intimate elopements to larger celebrations.

But Forrest Hills didn't begin as a resort.

It began with 140 acres of forestland, no electricity or running water, two determined teenagers—and one very big dream.

Krafting a Dream

Back in 1977, what is now Forrest Hills Resort was a wilderness without a name in the mountains of Northeast Georgia.

The land had been purchased by Frank Kraft, who dreamed of creating a place where people could unwind, forget about the outside world, and recharge their batteries.

That summer, he "dropped into the wilds" his 17-year-old son, David, and 19-year-old daughter, Denise. Arriving from the Florida flatlands of West Palm Beach, the Kraft siblings shared their father's vision of what the property could become—and had more than enough enthusiasm to compensate for the experience they lacked.

"I always loved Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett movies," recalls David, who had literally walked across the stage at his high school, picked up his diploma, and then headed for Dahlonega. "I loved the mountain climate and the quiet. I was thrilled to be here."

Denise had grown up dreaming that she would someday live in a cabin surrounded by pine-covered mountains. After earning her associate's degree in speech and drama, she spent the next day learning to drive a stick shift and followed David north in the moving van.

"I did not think about how I was going to do it," says Denise. "I just knew that somewhere in time I was already there on a farm in the mountains."

Seven hundred miles later, the Forrest Hills story began.

The House That "Jack" Built

Neither David nor Denise knew "jack" about building a full-scale mountain resort—much less a log cabin.

Yet build a cabin they did.

Then they followed it with five more, all without the benefit of electricity.

"I came here with the most building experience and that was very little," David says, laughing. "My dad had taken an architect's class and had more practical knowledge, and he would fly up every couple of weeks and show us something."

The two worked with hand tools and used a clear hose filled with water for a level. They hauled water from the creek. Construction plans were sometimes sketched on placemats at local restaurants during their father's visits.

They bathed in the mountain creek, hand-cranked drinking water from a 110-year-old hand-dug well, and ate mostly raw food.

When summer turned to fall and fall gave way to winter, they endured one of the coldest winters in Georgia history, with temperatures remaining below freezing for weeks.

"We were living the life of Davy Crockett," Denise remembers. "I wouldn't do it again, but it was such a wonderful old west way of living."

At the time, David and Denise were vegetarians, and meals often consisted of a mixture of beans and sprouts they called "gorp." Gorp mixed with peanut butter became "yuk," and eating the same combinations three times a day eventually became "gross."

"We are no longer vegetarians," David admits.

Every couple of weeks, their father would fly to Georgia and take them out for a restaurant dinner. Their brother Stephen helped with construction during the first six months before eventually moving west.

Neighbors Lois and JB Anderson occasionally invited David and Denise to dinner, and Denise vowed that if the Kraft family ever opened their own restaurant, they would serve the same kind of home-grown country food that made their mouths water at the Andersons' table.

"Dahlonega really was the place of my dreams," she says.

Falling in Love With Dahlonega and the North Georgia Mountains

David and Denise quickly fell in love with Dahlonega and the North Georgia mountains.

Surrounded by the layered peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains and near the beginning of the Appalachian Trail, Dahlonega offered the history, scenery, and sense of adventure they had imagined.

The area is rich with stories—from the historic Dahlonega Gold Rush to generations of farmers and mountain families who made their homes among these hills.

There were even at least 19 old still sites discovered on the Forrest Hills property after the family purchased it in 1977—no longer in operation, of course.

But more than anything, David and Denise felt the possibilities of the land.

"We came with a sense of passion to create a healing place," says Denise. "We had nothing to compare it to; we just were ruled from the heart."

"We wanted to invite people to our home, and so we made it our home—a big home. We knew what we loved, and that's what we presented."

That philosophy would become the foundation of Forrest Hills Resort.

Hard Knocks Meet Can-Do

Denise and David, along with their younger sister Michele, learned nearly everything about operating a resort through a combination of heart, determination, and the school of hard knocks.

"Nobody wanted to give us a loan," David recalls of those early years. "The phone company didn't want to connect us. The power company didn't want to hook us up."

But the family kept going.

They modified building plans as they went, solved problems with whatever resources they had, and discovered that David had a particular talent for creating something from virtually nothing.

Over the years, guests became an important part of the resort's evolution.

Guest suggestions helped inspire additions such as a restaurant, horseback riding, walking trails, meeting rooms, all-inclusive packages, and Victorian-style cabins.

"If it wasn't immoral, illegal or life-threatening, their wish was our command," Denise says. "After three times of hearing the same suggestion, we made it happen."

That spirit of listening to guests remains part of what makes Forrest Hills a unique family-owned resort in North Georgia.

If We Could Conceive It, We Could Achieve It

The Kraft family's can-do spirit began long before Forrest Hills.

"Mom was very big on showing us how to do things and the importance of doing things," David says. "She liked us being creative. Dad was always a big doer, tinkering with one thing or another."

As children, David and Denise were already finding ways to turn ideas into reality. At just 10 and eight years old, they collected bottles and aluminum cans until they had earned enough money to purchase a lawn mower and edger. Soon, they had their own neighborhood lawn-care business.

"We haven't ever been told, 'You can't do that,'" adds Michele. "And if we got told we couldn't do something, we had to show people we could."

That same determination shaped Forrest Hills.

Over the decades, the family continued learning, improving, and evolving the resort while holding onto the philosophy that had guided them from the beginning: treat guests like people you have welcomed into your own home.

"There's no rule book," Denise says. "Just our hearts."

A "Baby" Makes Three

In 1988, younger sister Michele joined the family business, taking on public relations and marketing for Forrest Hills.

"I was the baby of the family, and Denise and David thought I was a spoiled brat—and I probably was," she admits.

Michele's entrepreneurial instincts appeared early. At five years old, she was already charging parents a nickel to watch skits she and her friends created.

"My biggest thing was that I liked to have fun and plan parties."

Her first stint at Forrest Hills came while she was still in high school, answering phones and cleaning cabins. After graduating, attending cosmetology school, getting married, and moving to New Jersey, she eventually returned to the North Georgia mountains.

Her love of business, party planning, and photography made her the perfect person to round out Team Kraft.

"The neat thing about our family business is that we each have our parts: David builds it; Denise decorates it; and I tell people about it."

Building a Resort in Harmony With Nature

David took charge of construction and the grounds, with a philosophy centered on preserving the natural character of the property.

"I like putting flowers and surprise bushes in here and there and having beautiful, natural trails," he says. "We really want to keep the place looking natural and in harmony—cabins and woods and flowers."

That philosophy can still be felt throughout Forrest Hills today.

Rather than trying to separate guests from the mountains, the resort was designed to make the landscape part of the experience—a place where North Georgia cabins, wooded trails, mountain scenery, and peaceful surroundings come together.

From Romantic Getaways to North Georgia Weddings

It was Michele who first introduced the idea of hosting weddings at Forrest Hills.

Believing in a philosophy of starting small and evolving, she created a package called "An Intimate Wedding & Honeymoon for Two."

The original package included a minister, gazebo ceremony, wedding cake, toasting flutes and beverage for two, honeymoon cabin accommodations, dinner by candlelight, and breakfast.

"It went over very well," Michele remembers.

What started as intimate ceremonies grew into a much larger part of the Forrest Hills story.

Today, the resort welcomes couples searching for Dahlonega weddings, North Georgia mountain weddings, intimate weddings, elopements, and wedding celebrations, with ceremony and reception spaces, lodging, dining, and experiences available in one mountain destination.

Michele also helped create honeymoon experiences, special events, and the resort gift shop.

"All of my hobbies seem to turn into businesses," she says.

The Team That Dreams Together

What began in 1977 with two young people, 140 wooded acres, hand tools, and a dream has grown into a North Georgia mountain resort that has welcomed generations of guests.

And through all of the growth and changes, the original dream has remained remarkably simple.

Create a place where people can stop.

Relax.

Eat great food.

Spend time with the people they love.

Enjoy the mountains.

And return home feeling rejuvenated and ready to face the world again.

Forrest Hills was built to feel less like a traditional resort and more like a home guests could return to again and again.

"It's not just a place; it's a feeling," Michele says. "It's a world that's been developed by our hopes and dreams and the hopes and dreams of our guests."

The buildings have changed. New experiences have been added. Generations of guests have walked these trails, celebrated weddings, gathered around tables, escaped to private cabins, and made their own memories here.

But the heart behind Forrest Hills remains the same.

"We built something, people would come and they would make comments and, if we heard it enough, we'd add it," says Michele.

"This whole place is an evolution of that process, that dream."

Come Be Part of the Forrest Hills Story

Whether you're planning a romantic North Georgia getaway, Dahlonega wedding, family reunion, group retreat, mountain vacation, or peaceful weekend escape, Forrest Hills Resort invites you to experience the place the Kraft family has spent generations building.

Come stay awhile, slow down, and make your own memories in the North Georgia mountains.