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Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Vol. 15 No. 16 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages
Business news
Woolridge named
new general
manager of
Chateau Elan
Robert Woolridge has
been named Chateau Elan’s
new general manager, ac
cording to a press release
from the Braselton resort.
Woolridge has 37 years
of experience in the lodging
industry. In his new role,
Woolridge will oversee all
aspects of operations at
Chateau Elan, from day-
to-day staff management to
guest and client relations.
“With an award-winning
winery, spa, world-class
dining, golf and luxury
hotel. Chateau Elan has a
legacy of hospitality like
no other.” said Woolridge.
“I am excited to serve as
general manager and look
forward to continuing to
distinguish the property
with unparalleled guest ex
periences.”
Woolridge brings 35
years of experience from
Marriott International, with
over 20 years spent in At
lanta.
In his last position with
the company, he served as
general manager at the W
Atlanta - Buckhead. lead
ing the staff through full
system integration follow
ing Marriott’s acquisition
of the property and repo-
WOOLRIDGE
sitioning the luxury hotel
through a $20 million cap
ital investment.
During his time there,
Woolridge grew revenue
per available room by 25%
following the repositioning.
He also spent time as gener
al manager at Atlanta Ever
green Marriott Conference
Resort at Stone Mountain,
Atlanta Airport Marriott
Gateway and Atlanta Mar
riott Perimeter Center.
Most recently, Woolridge
worked as a principal con
sultant at his own company,
RLW Consulting, provid
ing strategic analysis and
planning to businesses with
a hospitality-focused lens.
COVID update
COVID hospitalizations
at NGHS lowest
since start of pandemic
Northeast Georgia Health
System (NGHS) is seeing
its lowest COVID hospi
talization figures since the
beginning of the pandemic
two years ago.
As of March 25. NGHS
was treating just eight
COVID patients across its
campuses, while NGHS’s
Braselton campus reported
no COVID patients on that
date. The system was treat
ing 340 COVID patients
just over a month ago.
COVID hospitalizations
have fallen so drastical
ly that NGHS announced
that it would scale back
its COVID data updates to
weekly rather than daily.
Meanwhile, new COVID
cases in the area remain
very low.
See COVID, page 3A
MAILING LABEL
Corn liolc k time In Hoschton
i JOIN A
LEAGUE
NEARYOU
Photo by Ben Munro
Patty Moore tosses a cornhole bag while being cheered on by teammate Theresa Dearman Wednes
day (March 23) during opening night of Hoschton’s new cornhole league. The league, held in the
parking lot in front of The Red Thread Kitchen, is sponsored by the Hoschton Downtown Develop
ment Authority (DDA). See more photos on Page 7A.
Braselton
Braselton Civic Center opening April 1
Photo by Ben Munro
The $6.28 million Braselton Civic Center will host its first event Friday
(April 1).
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
The long-awaited Bra
selton Civic Center will at
last open its doors.
The $6.28 million,
40,000 square-foot build
ing located downtown will
host its inaugural event on
Friday (April 1) after sup
ply shortages postponed the
facility’s opening for ap
proximately nine months.
“Finally ... much antic
ipated,” Braselton Town
Manager Jennifer Scott
said of the facility being
ready.
A local insurance agent,
Cindy Phillips, will chris
ten the venue by hosting
her agency’s 30th anniver
sary there, Phillips will host
a private dinner for 300,
then open the event up to
the public at 8 p.m.
“She expects a whole
lot more to show up then,”
Scott said.
The state fire marshal
inspected the facility on
March 25. while the health
department held its inspec
tion on March 28. Furniture
was slated for move-in on
March 29.
The civic center is al
ready booked heavily for at
least the next two months.
Upcoming events include
a high school prom, wed
dings and corporate events.
The Braselton Downtown
Development Authority
will host its annual Toast of
Braselton fundraiser there
on May 12.
According to civic center
director Sloane Meyer, the
town also looks to host an
indoor concert at the civ
ic center possibly in late
July, a Shakespeare festival
during a Medieval Faire in
October and themed-movie
nights, including The Great
Gatsby and The Wizard of
Oz.
Scott said she is unsure
of a projected revenue fig
ure for the center for 2022.
noting that she’ll have a
better idea when the town
begins collecting rental
fees. Demand, however,
has exceed what was orig
inally anticipated.
“It is amazing,” Scott
said. “It is every single day
we get calls. It’s marvel
ous.”
Located on Davis St., the
civic center is situated in
the hub of activity down
town — across the street
from dining and drinking
establishments and adja
cent to the town’s parking
deck.
“I hope it’s ideal,” Scott
said of the location. “That’s
what we planned.”
The civic center is also
on the town’s trolley-ser
vice line.
While the facility will
open its doors this weekend,
the town has not scheduled
a celebratory grand open
ing yet. But Scott looks for
ward to when the town can
show off the building.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said.
“It really is. It’s just a real
ly, really beautiful facility.
I'm really excited for peo
ple to see it.”
Hoschton
Historic cemetery has over 50 gravesites,
mostly unmarked, according to official
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
A historic cemetery site
brought up last week at a
Hoschton City Council meet
ing has over 50 gravesites,
most of which are unmarked,
according to an official.
Jennifer Landers, com
munity director of Kolter’s
Cresswind community in
Hoschton, said most of the
gravesites were discovered
around four years ago during
a study of land designated for
Phase 4 of Cresswind using
ground-penetrating radar.
The cemetery was men
tioned during the recent
council meeting when resi
dent Ross Billingsley, who
lives in Cresswind, spoke
to the council about histori
cal sites on the property and
Kolter’s plans to protect the
cemetery site.
Billingsley added that the
cemetery area is potentially
a slave gravesite, saying the
cemetery is situated on land
See Cemetery , page 3A
