About Young Harris

Young Harris is a small community and college town in Towns County, Georgia. The college located in Young Harris is Young Harris College, and the town was named after the college that was originally founded in 1886 as McTyeire Institute. In honor of a wealthy benefactor named Judge Young L. G. Harris who helped the struggling college succeed through hard times, the college was renamed. A few years later around 1894, the town that grew up around the college began to be called Young Harris. Today Young Harris College is a privately owned, Methodist-affiliated liberal arts school with an enrollment of about 650 students that offers bachelor's degrees and associate degrees in liberal arts, fine arts and science.

According to the U.S. Census in 2000, Young Harris had a population of 604 and a total land area of 1 square mile. The median income for a household in the city was $38,250 and the median income for a family was $46,071. The nearest towns to Young Harris are Hiawassee, Macedonia, Hayesville and Blairsville, and the nearest city with a population of over 50,000 is Roswell. The closest hospital facilities are Chatuge Regional Hospital in Hiawassee and Union General Hospital in Blairsville, both of which are about 10 miles from Young Harris.

Young Harris is located in the Enchanted Valley

Young Harris is located in what is often referred to as the Enchanted Valley, a verdant and forested region surrounded by tall mountains. At the center of the valley is the turquoise blue Lake Chatuge where a wide variety of recreational opportunities are available in addition to the free pleasure of cooling off with a swim on warm summer days. Facilities at the lake rent pontoon boats, waterskiing boats, jet skis, canoes, kayaks and paddleboats. The numerous streams and rivers around Lake Chatuge are famous for fly fishing and the many hiking trails are renowned for their natural beauty.

The area around Lake Chatuge features multi-million dollar custom built lakeside homes, forested home hideaways, mountainside cabins, and upscale residential condominium complexes that offer resort amenities to residents such as swimming pools, tennis courts and horseback riding trails. The excellent public school system in Towns County has a low average student to teacher ratio at 18:1, the crime rate is low in Young Harris, the cost of living index is low at 79.0 and property values are continuing to steadily increase. All these qualities have combined to enhance the reputation of Young Harris and the Enchanted Valley.