Welcome to the Queen City of the Highlands— The Gateway to Your Outdoor Adventures and Experience—and home of the Annual Honeybee Festival!
The City of LaFayette is a community in Northwest Georgia, where residents and visitors alike enjoy sitting back and relaxing while surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. If you’re looking to settle into a family-friendly atmosphere, we may be the place for you!
The Outdoors Awaits
The City of LaFayette is the Gateway to Your Outdoor Adventures and Experience! We are located in some of the most productive agricultural areas in the region as well as home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country. We are surrounded by some of the most ideal mountain camping spots and hiking areas in Georgia, like Crockford-Pigeon Mountain and Johns Mountain, where people travel across the United States to experience a multitude of outdoor adventures. Whether you want to rock climb at Rock Town on Pigeon Mountain, explore Petty John’s or Ellison’s caves on Pigeon Mountain, paddle board on Queen City Lake, take a scenic stroll on our Nature Trail or play golf at our award winning LaFayette Golf Course; we have something for you!
Honeybee Festival
One thing LaFayette is known for is the annual Honeybee Festival. Honeybees are essential to humankind and are a necessary living ingredient for the existence of life to— well—exist.
The City of LaFayette brings attention to the importance of preserving the honeybee population and also sees it as a parallel in preserving the life of its community. So, in 2017, the Honeybee Festival was born and proved to be a huge success for the area.
The Honeybee Festival is held on the First Saturday in June where residents and visitors are treated to a full day of live music, special events, countless vendors, honeybee education as well as food and fun for the whole family. The event is free and includes local talent as well as top headlining performers from the music industry.
A Great Place to Raise a Family
Often referred to as a bedroom community to neighboring Chattanooga, TN, LaFayette is an ideal place where families can choose to work in a big city, but return home—away from the hustle and bustle of heavy traffic in over populated areas— to raise their children in a warm and safe environment.
Known in the past as a manufacturing town, the future of LaFayette is set to break away from that label and looks towards preserving and capitalizing on its natural wonders as well as move the city towards a more progressive, 21st Century city that still maintains its family-friendly charm.
Education
There are plenty of excellent schools to choose from in LaFayette and Walker County including various Title 1 Reward schools with STEM Academy-integrated, project-based learning programs. High School students are treated to agriculture education thanks to successful partnerships with Georgia Tech, Georgia College of Agriculture, and a variety of other colleges and universities. Dual enrollment options are also available with Georgia Northwestern Technical College, Dalton State University, and Georgia Tech. Gilbert Elementary School in LaFayette recently received the National Green Ribbon as being in the top 42 schools in the United States for excellence in higher education involving studies like environmental education, health and wellness. Our school system also has programs like Walker Launch where students in their last 2 years of high school can attend early college at GNTC thanks to a $275,000 grant. Additional programs like eCore are offered to top students who are afforded a chance to begin early online college courses through the University of West Georgia. This allows students to complete 2 years of college courses before they graduate high school.
Services
The city is governed by a mayor and a five member council. We offer a full line of services and utilities to our residents including electric, gas, water, and sewer utilities, and police and fire protection. We also have an airport, an award winning golf course, recreation department, and a city cemetery.
Our History
LaFayette is the county seat of Walker County and boasts a rich Native American, Civil War and African American history.
The city was renamed in 1836 after the Marquis de LaFayette, the French aristocrat who assisted American colonists during the Revolutionary War.
The city was incorporated on Sept. 30, 1835.
The city owns the historic Chattooga Academy; one of the county’s most cherished landmarks. The structure, completed in 1836, was later renamed John B. Gordon Hall after Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon, who attended the school as a child and also served as governor of Georgia. Gordon Hall is believed to be one of Georgia’s oldest remaining brick school buildings. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg made the building his headquarters in September 1863. Bragg sat under an oak tree in front of the school as he planned his attack on Union forces at Chickamauga.