Petit Crest Villas at Big Canoe

This is a resort in Marble Hill, Georgia, a place that I likely should have heard of before but I admit I had not.

Video by Georgia Homes and Land

Day One Travel and Arrival

I drove down from Virginia for this summer weekend getaway. As I pull up to the resort, I am already glad I did. Now as the website says this is not an easy resort to find. That is because there is no street address. In this remote location, addresses are not a thing yet. Since everyone that comes here drives just plan on a tiny adventure getting here.

I say tiny adventure because there are not a lot of wrong roads to go down, so even the person who makes the most wrong turns will find the resort.

If you have a nav system or GPS, you can use the navigations points to help. Use these coordinates for the Big Canoe Main Entrance gate for your navigation system–N 34 degrees 26’ 11”; W 84 degrees 16’ 43”. For me, I did not get that fancy. I just kind of navigated by feeling.

My sister and I used to go to our aunts’ homes in a nearby city the same way. We would have been there the year before for Thanksgiving but having not been there since the prior Thanksgiving or Christmas we would have a kind of feel our way there for the last few turns. (This was in the 80-90s before cell phones with navigation). This drive felt much the same. You just stay calm and feel your way to the resort.

I took 136 until I saw Steve Tate HWY then you stay on that until you see the gate on the right-hand side of the road several miles ahead. Again, this site is remote so like me you may want to stop for groceries and supplies on your way in.

Now I say it is remote, and it is, but yet at the same time it is only about 60 miles North of Atlanta so you are not too far from that major city. It just feels a world apart once you are here.

You can see one of the few websites dedicated to another location other than the resort here. Big Canoe POA site has some great photos and information on the area.

If you use that nearby location to help you find the resort you will be close. Their address is 799 Steve Tate Hwy, Marble Hill, GA 30148. I just saved you 20 minutes or more of that fun drive and look experience.

That is really the turn off at the main gate. But it gets you close folks.

When you check in you find out that all villas are 2-bedrooms with a loft. This means they have plenty of space for the family or your crew if you are here to golf with friends. Each villa is 1,200sq feet so you will have that space you want when relaxing.

You will find your villa well equipped, but the resort itself depends on all the options around you for the fun and amenities. There are so many here that you really do not need any at the villas.

Villa Amenities

After checking in and getting everything put away, it was time for some grub. Not sure if people even call food in Georgia grub but it just feels right at this time. The Clubhouse at Lake Sconti was where I headed for dinner. I called ahead just because in a closed community sometimes when it is the only game in town people do not get excited about seating a single person. That is, unless you make a reservation and handle it well. Tonight, I was solo, but tomorrow and the next day I had a friend driving up from the other side of Atlanta to hang out.

The dinner was good, and the location was great. I had the fish and chips entrée that was very good. The Black Bear Pub was the name of the spot I grabbed the reservation for so I could sit outside overlooking the lake. It was a good location and the folks there know how to make sweet tea like they make it in North Carolina. So sweet you think you could stand a spoon up in it without ice. But boy, on a hot day that is really good.

Day Two at the Lake

Lake time is really on the menu for me today. I rented a canoe and headed out. I would have rented a kayak, but they had smaller ones and I am a little large these days. This meant the canoe was likely the safer bet. Although when paddling around the lake I am sure that I looked like I had rented a special low rider canoe model.

Here there is a lot to do. If you like golf they have a well thought of course here that really draws people in. They have a racquet club here too. The Racquet Club has eight outdoor courts with six Har-Tru clay courts, 4 designated lighted pickleball courts and two hard courts. The center also provides two additional indoor hard courts for out-of-season play. The indoor courts are located at the Wellness Center. Four lighted outdoor Pickleball courts are open year-round. So that is certainly a fun option.

The private club here also has a nice swim club with a pool, and a beach area. They also have an impressive 200 ft rock slide, and swimming section of the lake as well.

A good deal with this resort location is about the features of the surrounding private club. So, access to the club is a great benefit but things are ala cart for the most part as a rental guest.

There are miles of trails in the area as well for those that like to hike.

After my morning with the canoe I was tired and headed back to the villa for a shower and some rest. It was fun but after a few hours of that and I was feeling it. Just out of shape, I guess.

Also, tonight my friends were driving up from the other side of Atlanta. I had given them the address of the gate turn, which is a lifesaver, but I still told them to make sure they made up before dark. After a short nap, I started working on dinner for the group of us.

I had stopped to get everything I needed to make spaghetti my way. I started on the sauce (or gravy) about 3 hours before my friends said they would arrive. I like to slow cook my sauce and finish cooking the meat in the sauce after it is lightly browned.

I had enough time the night before to freeze my onion so I would not be all teared up when my friend arrived. When you cut a frozen onion, you do not have to worry about the tear effect. I also had some spices from home just to set everything up.

2 hours in to the effort the entire place smelled like Italy in the best way possible.

My friends manage to find the villa, with the help of that address to the main gate. I had left their name and car info with the gate security and as a part of my check-in process, so they got in OK. Tonight, we would eat and have a few good drinks and talk about the old days. Then a few friends we have lost over the years, and like most family events we would likely share a story or two about someone’s dead pet. Not sure why those stories always seem to come up, but they do. We even joke about that in my family around the holidays.

You just get lost in conversation and say “hey remember that dog you had that did so and so?” I do not know why, but there are tons of funny stories and good memories associated with our pets. Maybe we are all just dog or cat people?

Day Three Checking Out the Resort with Friends

Big Canoe is big, but it is not gigantic. What I mean by that is there is plenty to do, but I think most people once inside would find it hard to get lost.

One of my pals has never been to private clubs of any kind before. He has stayed at resorts, but has just never been exposed to the country club kind of thing. This meant that he was impressed by everything, since it was new to him. His girlfriend with him had grown up around and in country clubs, and even a yacht club, so she was comfortable but not impressed.

The club here has an exclusive feel but not over the top. They do have a dress code but for the most part it is like dress casual. You should likely have a shirt with a collar and leave the tank tops at home for everyone. I imagine they may have some events or dinners here that may require a tie and jacket as well, but that may be just me guessing.

This location is somewhere you could come and do nothing and just enjoy the escape, or one that you can plug into the club options and really enjoy yourself.

The full day with my friends here was fun. We went back to the Black Bear Pub for a late lunch and a few drinks, which was nice. This is the kind of place that if I lived in the area, I would likely join because it is nice and clean, yet people did not seem too full of themselves. Other members here were nice, but I would guess if you had a gang of guys here getting loud or something, it would turn heads.

If you want your own Georgia escape, you should check this resort out and book with TZort.