Ellijay’s Rivers: Where the Cartecay and Ellijay Make the Coosawattee

The city puts it simply: Ellijay sits between the Ellijay and Cartecay Rivers, where they join to form the Coosawattee (City of Ellijay). The town’s name may come from Indian words meaning “many waters,” though the city says the origin is not certain (City of Ellijay).

The three rivers

• The Cartecay River is about 19.1 miles long. It rises in the Chattahoochee National Forest, runs mostly east to west beside GA 52, and drains a basin of about 86,734 acres. Wikipedia
• The Ellijay River is about 15.1 miles long and ends at its confluence with the Cartecay in Ellijay. Wikipedia
• The Coosawattee River is about 49.3 miles long. It flows west from Ellijay, feeds Carters Lake, and joins the Conasauga River near New Echota to form the Oostanaula. Wikipedia

The rivers and the town’s history

The railroad bridge over the Cartecay was finished in 1884, bringing rail service and, after it, hotels and industries such as the Shippen Brothers Lumber Mill (City of Ellijay). The novelist James Dickey based the fictional “Cahulawassee River” in Deliverance (1970) on the Coosawattee (Wikipedia).

Tubing and kayaking

Cartecay River Experience rents tubes and kayaks at 2400 Hwy 52 East, outside the city, from Memorial Day to Labor Day: Saturdays 9 AM–4 PM, Sunday to Friday 10 AM–3 PM (the outfitter). It is closed outside that season. We have not verified any other outfitter, so we don’t list one.

Downstream: Carters Lake

The Coosawattee feeds Carters Lake, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir west of town. See our Carters Lake page.

River questions

Dates, hours and fees change. For anything official, the city has the final word: City of Ellijay official site