KENSINGTON, Ga. – This was the greatest moment of her career, Walker County Commissioner Bebe Heiskell told the crowd.
The head of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources was here. So was the director of the state’s land conservation program. So was a military regiment, guns in hands, just waiting to pop in celebration.
It was October 2008, and Heiskell had announced the county’s purchase of Mountain Cove Farms. She stood before 300 acres of open fields, stables, cabins, a barn and a home that a rich lawyer built after the government drove out the Cherokees in the early 19th century.
Heiskell has said for years that she didn’t plan the $2 million purchase, that it was an opportunity too good to miss. But she’d long wanted a place like this for her county.
Since she took office in 2000, Heiskell had tried to bring tourism to Walker County. Like a company, she said, her county needed a “brand.” When she saw its mountains, streams and trails, she saw money.