Tate City is a small town in north east Georgia with a population of about 30. The unincorporated city is in the far eastern corner of Towns County. The only way to get to Tate City is to travel through Rabun County. (You can get to it while staying in Towns County, but it requires a large truck with four wheel drive.) Unfortunately, Tate City falls within my jurisdiction. It’s a beautiful place, but it’s not easy or quick to get to. It’s about a 30 mile trip, 6 of which are on a single lane dirt road. It takes up to an hour to get there, so if the call is a real emergency, the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office responds as well to assist us. (Fun Fact: The children of Tate City attend Rabun County schools. The Towns County Board of Education pays their tuition.)

In the picture below, you’ll notice that half of the trip to Tate City involves driving through another county.

We don’t have to respond to Tate City often. Since I’ve been with this department, I’ve only been there twice. Both times were regarding guns. We recently responded to Tate City when a man purposefully shot his brother in the arm.

The worse part about responding to Tate City, is that there is no cell phone or radio service there. On a good day, dispatch might be able to hear static when you try to speak on the radio. If you need help, too bad. Also, depending on how many are working at the time, when an officer responds to Tate City, it might leave the rest of the county to be covered by one officer.

I’m not complaining about Tate City. I’m just constantly amazed at how remote some places still are, and I wanted to share it. I grew up in Hiawassee and I never even knew where Tate City was. If you had told me about Tate City when I was working for Cobb County Police, I probably would have laughed and been in awe. Now, when I’m told I have to go to Tate City, I just cry a little inside.