Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Helen, GA

Helen is a small city in White County in the mountains of northeast Georgia, set on the upper Chattahoochee River.

The town was laid out in 1912–1913 by John E. Mitchell of St. Louis, was named for the daughter of a lumber official, and was incorporated on August 18, 1913.

Helen was built along the route of the Unicoi Turnpike, a Native American trail about a thousand years old that linked Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Helen began as a lumber town, anchored by a large sawmill operation, but by the 1960s the fading town was down to roughly nine operating businesses.

In 1969, acting on sketches by Atlanta artist John Kollock, who had served in Germany, local businessmen remade the entire town to look like a Bavarian alpine village, and the new facades went up that fall.

Helen's Alpine look is enforced by city building ordinances that require new construction and major renovations to follow the Bavarian theme.

Helen held its first Oktoberfest in 1970, a year after the makeover, and the festival now runs for weeks each fall, making it one of the longest-running Oktoberfests in the United States.

Despite its size, Helen is regarded as the third most visited destination in Georgia, behind only Atlanta and Savannah.

The 2020 census counted just 531 permanent residents in Helen, a tiny fraction of the crowds its festivals draw.

Helen's motto is "Georgia's Alpine Village," and nearby Unicoi State Park is one of the state park system's most popular fall-color destinations.