Sky Valley, Georgia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sky Valley, Georgia
City
Street in Sky Valley
Seal
Location in Rabun County and the state of Georgia
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Rabun
Area
• Total	3.07 sq mi (7.94 km2)
• Land	3.04 sq mi (7.87 km2)
• Water	0.03 sq mi (0.08 km2)
Elevation	3,500 ft (1,100 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	482
• Density	158.71/sq mi (61.28/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	30537
Area code(s)	706
FIPS code	13-71282
GNIS feature ID	2405468

Sky Valley is a city in Rabun County, Georgia, United States. It is located in a mountain valley on the northwest slopes of Rabun Bald. This is Georgia's second-highest mountain peak.

Sky Valley became a city in March 1978. In 2000, its population was 250 people. By 2020, the population had grown to 482. Sky Valley shares its ZIP code (30537) with the nearby town of Dillard.

Since 1969, Sky Valley has been home to a resort. It is now called Sky Valley Country Club. The club offers golf, croquet, tennis, and swimming. It used to have downhill skiing too.

Skiing in Sky Valley

Sky Valley Resort once had the only winter ski area in Georgia. However, the resort changed owners in 2004. After 35 years, the ski slopes were closed for good.

The old ski lodge building is now a church. It has two unique roofs with eight gables each. The building where the chairlift was and the equipment-rental shop were taken down in 2007.

New buildings called condos were built on the north-facing slope. This slope used to have five ski runs. Their names were Panorama, Scooter, Kamikaze, Gravity's Revenge, and Pokey. Pokey was a special easy slope for children, known as a bunny slope. It even had its own rope tow. These ski runs offered about 15 to 16 acres (6 to 6.5 hectares) of space for skiing. The vertical drop from top to bottom was about 210 feet (64 meters).

Only three other aerial lifts remain in Georgia. These are the Sky Buckets open-air gondola at Six Flags Over Georgia. There is also the Summit Skyride tram at Stone Mountain. Both are near metro Atlanta. The third is a chairlift across Lake Winnepesaukah. This is at an amusement park in Rossville, close to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

After Sky Valley's ski operations closed, the closest ski area is now Sapphire Valley. Cloudmont in northeast Alabama is the southernmost ski area in the eastern U.S. It has been open since 1970.

Getting Around Sky Valley

The main road in Sky Valley is the Dillard/Highlands Road. This road is also known as Georgia 246 and N.C. 106. It connects Dillard, Georgia and Highlands, North Carolina.

The northern edge of Sky Valley is the North Carolina state line. The highway crosses this state line five different times. This is because of old surveying errors from over 200 years ago. The border is actually further south than it was planned to be.

Because of this, the main road into Sky Valley from the highway is in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina. Scaly Mountain also had a ski area that closed in 2004. However, it now offers snow tubing in the winter.

A road called Old Mud Creek Road starts at the state line. It travels south and becomes Bald Mountain Road at the state line. This road then curves east and becomes the city's main street. It ends at Hale Ridge Road, just south of the state line.

Originally, a new main entrance to Sky Valley was planned from Georgia 246. However, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) said no. They were worried about safety. Around 1980, a covered bridge was built along the highway for this entrance. But it was never used. The bridge still stands today.

Geography and Climate

Sky Valley is the northernmost city in the state of Georgia.

The city covers a total area of about 3.0 square miles (7.9 square kilometers). All of this area is land. The lowest part of the valley is about 3,100 feet (945 meters) above sea level. But some areas within the city limits, on the slopes of Rabun Bald, are over 4,200 feet (1,280 meters) high. Sky Valley is the highest city in Georgia. It is also one of the highest cities in the eastern United States.

Sky Valley has a special kind of climate called a temperate subtropical highland climate. This is rare in the southeastern U.S. and happens because of its high elevation. The city is also one of the coldest places in Georgia. The average temperature in January is 34.0°F (1.1°C). The average temperature in July is 69.0°F (20.6°C).

People of Sky Valley

In 2000, there were 221 people living in Sky Valley. They lived in 112 households, and 81 of these were families. The city had about 73 people per square mile (28 people per square kilometer). There were 675 housing units, which means there were many homes for people to live in.

Most of the people in Sky Valley were White (95.48%). About 4.07% were African American, and 0.45% were from two or more races.

Out of the 112 households, about 11.6% had children under 18 living with them. Most households (67.9%) were married couples living together. About 25% of all households had only one person living there. About 16.1% of these single-person households were people aged 65 or older.

The average age of people in Sky Valley was 64 years old. About 9.5% of the population was under 18. A large part of the population (45.7%) was 65 years or older.

In 2010, the largest groups of people based on their family background were:

• English ancestry - 33.0%
• German ancestry - 20.6%
• "American" ancestry - 10.3%
• Irish ancestry - 8.5%
• Scottish ancestry - 4.6%
• Scots-Irish ancestry - 4.4%
• French ancestry - 3.6%
• Dutch ancestry - 2.3%

The average income for a household in the city was $44,750. For families, the average income was $57,500. About 4.8% of the people in Sky Valley lived below the poverty line. This included 5.3% of those under 18 and 1.8% of those 65 or older.

See also

In Spanish: Sky Valley (Georgia) para niños