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How Tiger Got It's Name
Welcome to
beautiful Tiger, Georgia! In the 1700's, the British fought the
French for possession of the territory of India. While in this
distant land, the British soldiers became used to, and familiar
with, the cry and scream of the Bengal tiger, a powerful animal
of the Indian jungles. When these same soldiers returned to
England after the victorious war, many migrated to the New
World, and with their families, settled in this northeast corner
of Georgia.
Imagine their surprise and shock to hear echoing from the cliffs
of a nearby mountain, a piercing cry, as the dying scream of a
woman - the same sounds as heard in India made by the
black-striped tiger.
Because of these well-known sounds and recurring memories of
far-away India, these early settlers called the mountain TIGER.
The weird frightening cry was, of course, not made by a tiger,
but these screams were made by a native mountain cat, a panther,
commonly called a "painter." Today the "painter" no longer roams
these mountains, for as civilization crept in, the "painter"
slowly disappeared to more isolated areas and further up into
the higher elevations. Nevertheless, the mountain is still
called TIGER MOUNTAIN and the neighboring settlement is now the
incorporated town of Tiger.
After the area was discovered by tourists at the beginning of
Appalachia due to Highway US441 passing through Tiger from New
York to Miami, several tourist courts were added as Tiger became
a stopping place for the snowbirds. However, in the 1960's, with
the development of interstate highways, the new plan was to
bypass some of the sleepy villages of Rabun County, including
Tiger, approximately 1 mile away. It is the rebirth of these
once forgotten villages that has created more recent development
as Tiger has become an attraction to those looking for a 'piece
of the past'.
City of Tiger Park and Recreation
Tiger,
located three miles south of Clayton, was incorporated in 1904,
and today is residence to approximately 408 people. Tiger is
home to the
Rabun County High School,
Middle School,
Elementary School, and
Primary School. Other tourist attractions: Goats on the Roof
and an old fashioned Tiger
Drive In Movie Theatre, are located at the cross roads to
Lake Burton, Lake Rabun and Lake Seed (Georgia's most famous
lakes and the Chatuga River which borders Rabun County with
South Carolina. Senior living in now a crucial part of Tiger's
economy where you can find the
Rabun County
Senior Citizen's Center, and assisted living retirement
centers:
Traces of Tiger
and CannonWood
Village.
Make Tiger,
Georgia your destination in the beautiful northeast Georgia
mountains! Check out our
recreation
page for various things to do locally and also within reasonable
driving distance.
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