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A newly released Travel Economic Impact study, prepared by Tourism Economics, shows visitor spending increased significantly in Walker County last year. The report found that visitors spent $51.9 million on lodging, food and beverage, recreation, retail, and transportation in 2024, resulting in a 19.1% growth rate compared to 2023. All four sectors posted year-over-year gains, with the largest growth occurring in retail. Travel demand in 2024 supported 450 jobs in Walker County, an increase of 64 positions, and generated $3.6 million in state and local tax revenue. The Georgia Department of Economic Development estimates tourism revenue replaced $137 in taxes for every household in Walker County last year. Walker County’s boost in tourism contributed to Georgia’s record year for tourism, helping the state rank fifth in the nation for overnight visitation for the fifth year in a row. “Georgia’s tourism success proves the power of partnerships,” said Georgia Department of Economic Development Deputy Commissioner of Tourism Jay Markwalter. “Thanks to the leadership of Governor Kemp, our General Assembly, Commissioner Wilson, the Tourism Foundation Board of Directors, and the efforts of our statewide tourism industry, more visitors than ever before are choosing to spend their time and money experiencing everything that makes our state great. The local communities that bring these authentic experiences to life are a key reason why Georgia’s visitor economy continues to grow and thrive.” Georgia’s tourism industry is the second-largest economic contributor to the state, generating $82 billion in economic impact and supporting 470,570 jobs. Walker County and other parts of north Georgia are expected to receive another tourism boost next year, when  Atlanta plays host to the FIFA World Cup  from June 11, 2026, through July 19, 2026. International travelers are expected to stay outside Atlanta and/or make trips to locations beyond the big city during their visit. For more information about the economic impact of tourism in Georgia, read the full article here . About Walker Rocks Walker Rocks is dedicated to promoting the natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities in Walker County, Georgia. Our mission is to showcase the unique attractions that make our county a destination for adventure seekers and nature lovers alike. For more information, visit Walker Rocks .

In Chickamauga, a town steeped in history, a new walking ghost tour gives voice to the stories too often left untold. Southern Shadows - A Walker Rocks Community Spotlight Website : www.southernshadows.com Email: info@southernshadows.com In Chickamauga, Georgia, the streets carry echoes. Not just of cannon fire or battlefield marches, but of whispered names, unmarked memories, and stories that never made it into textbooks. And if you follow the flicker of a lantern down Gordon Street on a quiet night, you’ll find someone who knows how to hear them. Her name is Courtney McInvale , and she and her husband, Marty Reardon , give ghost tours. But not the kind with fog machines or guys in rubber masks. Their tours don’t rely on cheap thrills or jump scares. What Southern Shadows  offers is something else entirely: a walk through haunted ground, yes... but also through history . Because sometimes, the ghost story is the one that tells the truth. Where the Ghosts Are Human Courtney's not just a storyteller. She’s a historian. She studied war, memory, and Southern culture long before she ever held a lantern. Her classroom is the sidewalks. The stories she tells aren’t sanitized. They don’t skip over the uncomfortable parts. They shine a light on the cracks. On the women whose names weren’t recorded, on the people who laid the foundations of the town, on the soldiers who died far from home and never made it into monument marble. Some of those stories come with a chill. A shadow in a window. A face in the mist. The sound of footsteps on empty stairs. But what stays with you isn’t fear. It’s recognition . Courtney’s not trying to convince you to believe in ghosts. She just asks you to consider what we might learn from listening to the ones we’ve forgotten. A (Ghost Tour) Walk Through Chickamauga The Southern Shadows ghost tour isn’t long. Just a half-mile or so, looping through Chickamauga’s historic downtown. But in that distance, time stands still. Buildings speak. And the space between past and present feels paper-thin. You’ll hear about murder, war, fire, and folklore. But you’ll also hear about resilience. About what people left behind. About how the stories we don’t tell still linger, waiting for someone to notice. There’s no stage lighting. No scripts. Just a woman with a voice made for storytelling, standing beneath a streetlamp, helping you see a place you thought you knew with new eyes. From Connecticut to Georgia Courtney and Marty's path here wasn’t linear. As a child, Courtney's family lived in a unique house in Connecticut. It was investigated by none other than Lorraine and Ed Warren, the couple made famous by the Conjuring  movies. But even then, Courtney wasn’t chasing ghosts. She was paying attention. That attention turned into education, which turned into books, which turned into Seaside Shadows , the first ghost tour business she launched up North. And now, it’s Southern Shadows . A new chapter in Chickamauga. Courtney’s father is originally from Georgia, and it was during a trip tracing Civil War battlefields that she and Marty found themselves in Chickamauga. They fell in love with the town, its history, its stories, its people. It just felt right. She and Marty moved here not just for the history, but for the community . And like all good stories, theirs is still being written. The Tour That Chickamauga Didn’t Know It Needed Chickamauga is a town rich in history. It’s in the brickwork. In the battlefields. In the silences between passing cars. But for all its reverence, the town is moving and growing, shifting, asking itself who it wants to be. Southern Shadows fits in like a whispered story between neighbors. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t push. It simply invites. It invites locals to remember the stories their grandparents told on porches. It invites visitors to connect with more than just the battlefield. It invites skeptics and believers alike to slow down, listen closely, and walk the path anyway. Because the value isn’t in whether you see a ghost. The value is in what you feel  when the lights dim and the stories start. Truth, Told Softly In the end, Southern Shadows isn’t really about the supernatural. It’s about empathy. It’s about learning to see people, past and present, as layered, flawed, and worthy of being remembered. And maybe that’s the most haunting thing of all: the way a quiet little tour in a quiet little town can open up your heart without asking permission. So if you find yourself in Chickamauga on a dusky evening, take the walk. Not because you believe in ghosts. But because you believe in stories. And in the hands of someone like Courtney McInvale, stories have a way of sticking with you. Even after the tour ends and the lantern goes out. Behind the Lantern: A Rapid Fire Q&A with Southern Shadows We sat down with the folks behind Southern Shadows to ask a few quick questions. What we found was a business rooted in history, heart, and more humanity than you might expect from a ghost tour. What inspired you to start Southern Shadows here in Chickamauga? We visited here and instantly fell in love with the city and its history. Chickamauga has layers, some beautiful, some painful, and we wanted to share in something that honors that complexity. What makes your ghost tours different from the usual kind? We focus on telling stories, on research, and on tales that haven’t always made it into the history books. If it’s not grounded in the past and in real places, we’re not talking about it. Are the stories based on historical research? Yes! The stories we tell are drawn from public records, oral history, and local archives. Sometimes we dig up something new. Something that even longtime locals haven’t heard before. Is the tour family-friendly? Definitely. It’s spooky, sure, but never inappropriate. We’ve had parents, kids, and grandparents. All walking together, all leaving with something to talk about. What kind of stories do you include? We highlight everything from Civil War tales to the lives of enslaved people, early settlers, and overlooked characters of the community. We believe every era, and every voice, is worth preserving! What kind of reactions have you gotten from the community? Honestly, it’s been amazing. Locals have thanked us for sharing stories, a part of their history, that they had never heard about or learned about before. That’s the best feedback we can get. What’s your background before this? We started Seaside Shadows in New England over a decade ago. I (Courtney) am a historian and author, and I’ve always been drawn to the way ghost stories carry emotional truth. This is our way of teaching history in a way people remember. How can folks join a tour? Tours run regularly in downtown Chickamauga. You can sign up and learn more at southernshadows.com . Private and group tours are welcome, too. Join Southern Shadows for a guided walk through time, exploring the legends, battles, and spirits that still whisper through this historic town. Perfect for history lovers, thrill seekers, and curious travelers alike. Reserve your tour today at southernshadows.com and experience the haunted heart of Georgia for yourself.

The Green Eyes Festival Downtown Chickamauga, GA  · Saturday, October 18, 2025 · 10am - 6pm EST Learn More: www.greeneyesfestival.com In Chickamauga, Georgia, history runs deep. Not just in monuments or museums, but in the morning fog, church homecomings, Friday night football, and in hand-me-down stories told with a wink. And among those stories, there’s one that never left. They call him Old Green Eyes. No one’s exactly sure what he is. A ghost? A creature? A shape-shifting something that’s haunted the Chickamauga Battlefield for generations? Depending on who you ask, he’s a floating head, a big cat, a soldier, or something that only comes out when the fog rolls in. But hang around long enough, and you’ll hear something stranger still: Chickamauga threw a party for him. And it turns out, this party wasn’t just about a ghost. It’s about something bigger. It's what Old Green Eyes has come to represent. Green Eyes Festival: A Party for A Ghost It’s called the Green Eyes Festival, and yes—it’s every bit as strange and wonderful as it sounds. There’s live music, ghost stories, and tours through the battlefield. A Green Eyes Gallop  5K. Food trucks. Vendors selling homemade hot sauce, cryptid candles, and hand-sewn monster plushies. And people come by the thousands! Last year, over 4,500 visitors packed downtown Chickamauga. Many came for the lore. Some came for the fun. But underneath it all, the festival was born from something much deeper. After Nate Tucker’s younger brother, Levi, passed away from brain cancer, the town wrapped around the family like Southern towns do—quietly, steadily, fully. Neighbors brought food. People showed up. So Nate, along with his childhood friend Dillan Whisenant, started thinking: what could they give back? They landed on a local legend. A little weird, a little wild, and somehow… just right. A Town and a Ghost, Both Becoming Something New This festival isn’t really about Old Green Eyes, though. It’s about what he represents. Something old that refuses to disappear. Something strange that still feels familiar. Something shared, even if it’s hard to define. Just like Chickamauga. Because this is a town at a crossroads. A place with one hand on its past and the other reaching towards what comes next. How do you keep what made you—your stories, your stillness, your soul—while leaving room for change? How do you grow without forgetting? How do you look forward without letting go? Somehow, Green Eyes became a way to talk about all of it. Not because it made perfect sense. But because it gave people something to hold onto. And that’s the beauty of stories. They don’t always fix things. But they remind us we’re not alone in trying. Past, Present, and a Ghost in the Middle The Chickamauga Battlefield is one of the most haunted places in the South. Or so the stories go. It’s also one of the most peaceful. Early morning walks through the trails feel sacred. The trees hold things. The air feels thick with memory. But Chickamauga isn’t stuck in time. No, this is a town with momentum. Slow sometimes? Sure, like molasses on a cold day—but moving all the same. Old businesses have shuttered. New ones have opened. There’s pride here. And a little skepticism, too. But more than anything, there’s a willingness to try. And maybe that’s what makes the Green Eyes Festival work. It shouldn’t. Not on paper, anyway. But here, it fits. It’s playful. It’s rooted. It’s a little spooky and a lot sincere. Because at its heart, it’s a reminder that shared stories still matter. Even if folks don’t agree on what Green Eyes is, they agree that he’s ours . And sometimes, one shared spark is all it takes to fire up an old engine again. October 18: Come See For Yourself This year’s Green Eyes Festival lands on October 18, right along historic Gordon Street in downtown Chickamauga. This year, there’ll be more vendors. More food. More stories. More everything. And plenty of folk happy to share what they  saw one night driving past Snodgrass Hill, or what their uncle swore  happened in the trees behind Wilder Tower. It’s weird. It’s wonderful. And it’s completely real. Because in Chickamauga, stories don’t just get told—they get lived. They become part of the town's history. And in a town moving forward, while keeping one hand on its history, that kind of thing still matters. So no, it doesn’t have to make sense. It just has to matter. And sometimes, the best way to build a future is by throwing a party for a ghost from the past. To see the full lineup of events, vendors, and ghostly happenings, visit the Green Eyes Festival's official website at greeneyesfestival.com . And if you’re the kind who likes to outrun monsters before breakfast, don’t miss the Green Eyes Gallop —a 5K, 10K, and Monster Mile race held the morning of the festival. Costumes are encouraged, prizes are up for grabs, and registration is open now at UltraSignup .

American Battlefield Trust Heritage Sites Sites preserved by the trust to honor historic battles and events. This driving trail links more than 600 sites in 32 states to inspire and to teach the story of the Civil War and its enduring impact on America. The Gordon-Lee Mansion at Chickamauga is included on the trail. Battlefields Preserved History Learn More Site Highlights Walk the grounds of the American Battlefield Trust Heritage Sites and feel the weight of history. These sacred grounds, where battles were fought and heroes were made, offer a poignant reminder of our past. Explore, learn, and pay homage to the events that shaped the nation. Explore the sites that have been meticulously preserved to honor the valor of those who fought. < Back to History

Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park A sacred ground that witnessed a pivotal Civil War battle. You may not think of a memorial battlefield as a place for fun, but the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park has plenty to do for the entire family. You can see more than 680 commemorative monuments, markers, cannons, and memorials throughout the park, see the Fuller Gun Collection, one of the largest collections of military weapons in the U.S., at the Visitor Center, as well as the 26-minute orientation film, The Campaign for Chattanooga: Death Knell of the Confederacy, not to mention special ranger programs and tours, picnic spots, and miles of trails for hiking and biking. Echoes of the Past History 3370 Lafayette Rd, Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30707, USA Learn More Battle Insights Walk the grounds of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park and feel the echoes of history. A site of significant battles, the park now stands as a tribute to bravery and sacrifice. Explore, learn, and pay homage to the heroes of yesteryears in this sacred ground. The park stands as a testament to the bravery and sacrifices made during the Civil War, offering insights into a crucial chapter of American history. Explore the battlegrounds, monuments, and exhibits that tell the tale of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga battle. < Back to History

Great Big Howdy Member Details Discover the diverse and dynamic businesses that form the heart of Walker County on our Chamber Members page. Each member, from local artisans to established enterprises, contributes uniquely to the rich tapestry of our community. < Back to Member List Great Big Howdy All Members 226 Lee Avenue, Chickamauga, GA, USA (423) 991-6258 Visit Their Website Send An Email About Us Since 1986, I have worked with each and every client to help them tell their story ...their unique marketing position. < Back to Member List