Just over two hours from Nashville, down I-24, McLemore Resort perches atop Lookout Mountain, in Rising Fawn, Ga. It’s home to a Cloudland luxury mountain lodge, multiple dining options, two golf courses, homes and a welcoming community eager to share the history of the valley below.
The Lodge
When we pulled up to Cloudland on a frigid January day, what looked like a high school baseball team of happy, rosy-cheeked young men rushed out to greet us. And that was just the beginning of the hospitality of the lodge and its staff, many of whom live in Chattanooga and “down the road on the mountain.”
McLemore Resort takes its name from John McLemore, whose family has roots dating back to the early 18th century. The story starts when his father, Charles McLemore, moved from Scotland to a cove below Lookout Mountain. Charles married a Cherokee woman named Quatsy Wolf, and they had two boys, launching a tradition of embracing different cultures and living in harmony. And that culture is celebrated throughout the lodge, where beams and floors of local spruce, chimneys of stone from a local quarry (now named McLemore Stone), and art by Chattanooga photographer Kim Hubbard honor the region’s homegrown resources.
But nothing represents the mountain and valley below more than the staff, a conglomeration of young and old who found the mountain and embrace its warmth and ways. In an impersonal world of phones, screen and digital everything, Cloudland embraces the real: telephones in the rooms, fireplaces, books and games. Scrabble boards dot tables in a library lined with books on subjects from Annie Leibovitz to the Mayflower. The vistas are epic, as are the infinity pool and hot tub with sweeping views of the mountains.
Food
When the kingdoms of Scotland and France established the Auld Alliance against England in 1295, little did they know their pact would leave its mark on a charming mountain lodge and community, while inspiring some of the best food in Georgia (and maybe the South).
Cloudland’s luxurious Auld Alliance restaurant aptly combines French and Scottish foodways and techniques—not a combination we run into often. The pièce de résistance of Chef Chris Cofino’s menu is the 90-day, dry-aged ribeye, which is doused in Scotch for 10 days, dried again, then sautéed. At $6 per ounce, the 25-ounce steak, served sliced, with a perfect salt crust and butter-tender interior, can be easily shared and generously paired with Rumbledethumps—a creamy blend of potatoes and cabbage (think Ireland’s colcannon) with crunchy breadcrumbs—and spinach salad with tart apples and fennel. A chocolate dessert, layered with chocolate malt ice cream from Clumpies in Chattanooga, finished our meal, along with chocolate raspberry truffles and some potato candy the pastry chef was “fooling around with.” To cap off the sweet courses, our server Carrie delivered two tangy shrubs she was “fooling around with”—strawberry balsamic and citrus.
The Creag, a comfy outpost along the links, is more than a burgers-and-fries golf course grill. A highlight of the menu of elevated comfort food arrived in a cast-iron skillet: blue cornbread so dark and thick it looked like a chocolate brownie and was impossible to resist when slathered with honey butter. It is a worthwhile challenge to save room for pork chop Milanese, pounded and fried to perfection and plated with grits, braised collards and bourbon-stewed apple gravy.
What to Do
With two championship golf courses that literally drip off the side of the mountain, getting in nine or 18 holes is a no brainer. But hiking on the grounds and in nearby Cloudland Canyon is great, as well. The infinity pool and hot tub also take advantage of the views and in January were super inviting.
The Cloudland at McLemore Resort ticks all our boxes. But don’t stop there. On your way home, take the scenic route on the Lookout Mountain Parkway and stop and explore the town, home to Ruby Falls, Rock City, the incline railway and more great hiking and charming homes.
Cloudland at McLemore
243 Cloudland Dr.
Rising Fawn, Ga., 30738
