History of "The Valley"
In the words of Donnie Johnson, one of the founding members of what is known today as Paradise Valley Resort and Club.
Picture to the left: Donnie and Jackie Johnson (2009)
"The present day Paradise Valley Resort has an interesting history. It originated as an informal group of skinny dippers in the early 1970s. Our first exposure to this group of people was the result of a small story in the alternative newspaper Creative Loafing sometime in late 1974.
By the time that I had convinced my wife that it might be a fun experience to give the nudist lifestyle a try, it was late December and very cold.
We had made a phone call and made arrangements with the couple who were hosting the party to drop by and give it a try. My wife had already informed me that she would not be taking off he clothes in front of other people but she would go just to humor my desire to give it a try.
When we arrived at the home of the host couple, we were greeted by a totally nude man who welcomed us in and said to make ourselves at home. Upon entering the modest but very nice home we noticed that everyone there was nude sitting on towels around the living room. The second thing we noticed was that it was very, very, warm in the house even though it was snowing and cold outside. We were immediately impressed by how friendly and nice everyone was.
We were offered food and drinks and invited to get comfortable. In the warm house that meant to get nude. I had not much hesitation because that was why I had gone there. My wife, took a while to get the nerve to undress and wrap up in a towel after realizing that these people were genuinely nice and not some group of perverts. After about the second drink she was starting to relax and enjoy herself and our new friends.
At about 10:30pm there was a knock on the door, when it was answered a fully uniformed police officer walked into the room. This time there was absolutely no hesitation on my wife’s part to take action, she instantly jumped up and ran out the back door into the snow filled yard totally nude and attempted to hide behind a large bush.
After the laughter died down she realized that she had proven to be the main entertainment of the evening.
The police officer was a member who had just got off duty and dropped by to join the party. After that, I guess you could say that we fell right into the group. This group called itself the Dixie Sun Club.
In the winter we met at members homes to socialize or at local restaurants or bars just to hang out together.
In the warmer times we were a travel club, organizing numerous trips to established landed clubs in Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina.
The travel was fun but we had a real desire to have a landed club in Georgia.
After several false starts and numerous setbacks, the Dixie Sun Club was able to lease a piece of rural property in Banks County. This piece of land had a small lake, a useable dirt road and not much else.
Weekends were spent clearing brush, cutting grass and swimming in the marshy pond.
It didn’t take long for the word to get out that there was a bunch of strangers walking around nude and clearing a campground in the backwoods of Banks County. The uproar and outrage of the locals was immediate. We were the target of both direct and indirect threats of every kind. At the height of the threats by surrounding neighbors, the local sheriff made the statement that if the neighbors wanted to run us off the property by force, he could not our would not do anything to prevent them from doing it.
It had reached the point where it was truly dangerous to continue to use the property.
Our hand had been forced. We had been chartered as an ASA club and had been in contact with a prominent attorney. With much assistance from the ASA and excellent legal representation, the Dixie Sun Club sued the Banks County Sheriff and won the suit. Even with the win we realized that we would not be able to make a go of it after all of the negative local publicity.
Our club was down but certainly not out. We had developed way too many friends and all of us had worked too hard to let it stop now. Our club had been approached by an investor who was also a long time nudist. He had told us that if we could find another suitable piece of property, he would purchase it and lease it to our club for one dollar for the first year if we (the club) would help him develop the property. This was the real beginning of the landed club that we now enjoy.
The one-dollar lease was an ideal situation. The investor, a college professor from South Georgia bought all of the materials and the members provided all of the labor to get the campground up and running. On the first year we damned the creek to swim in, we installed an outhouse, a fire pit and a solar heated shower.
The grass in the main field was cut with push mowers and a volleyball court was put in. In the second year the property was purchased by a young couple to operate as a landed club, Hidden Valley.
The early years were exciting with many challenges. There was a concerted effort to prevent us from using the property from several local groups. On the other hand there was unexpected support from some close neighbors who had been in county for many years. With the legal precedent set in the Banks County fight, the Dawson county authorities did not choose to cause any problems and in time were quite supportive of our club. The early years were a combination of hard work and hardy parties. The parties were put on mostly by the members, it didn’t take much of an excuse, Oktoberfest, Halloween, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Christmas, New Year, on and on…
Volleyball was the game of choice from early morning to last light. Often times there were four teams playing and two or more teams waiting to play.
The main road on which most of the campers were located was aptly named “Rowdy Row”. There was a large fire ring in the field around which there usually was music, singing, storytelling jokes or just soft talk between good friends.
A real milestone was reached in the history of Hidden Valley when a man and his family joined the club and was eventually hired by the property owners to do a lot of construction work that had previously been done solely by volunteer members. James B. and his family proved to be very talented in building skills. Many of the older structures still in use at Paradise Valley were originally built by this fine gentleman. He and his family were highly respected and well loved by all that knew him.
Who could forget the sight of a man wearing work boots, a tool belt and the ever-present “take time to live” logo hat and nothing else?
From that time, progress in the building of the club greatly increased and so did the memberships. With the construction of the clubhouse and the ability to have parties, dances and a small snack bar to serve food, the membership and visitor members continued to grow.
Through the years there were a number of managers working for the owners of the property. Not surprisingly there were also a number of policy changes, no set of rules or policies can make everyone happy all of the time, and so it was at the valley.
Several groups of people at one time or another would get mad about a policy or rule and pull out.
This situation rather than being negative as it first appears was overall a good thing for the nude lifestyle because all of the other Georgia clubs, originated with people who had at one time or another been associated with the Hidden Valley club.
As the years have gone by, as individual couples or groups of people have left the valley, they have been replaced by yet more and more people who join and become members. The eventual purchase of Hidden Valley by the owner of Paradise Lakes and the upscale facilities which were a part of Hidden Valley changing to the Paradise Valley was the start of what is now the undisputed premier club in Georgia.
The recent change in ownership of Paradise Valley has produced a quantum leap in facility installation.
In over 31 years of being associated with the valley, I have never seen a more positive leadership effort than what is now taking place.
The Paradise Valley Resort is far beyond the wildest dreams of any of us who were involved in the original club, and it just keeps getting better.
To us, it is truly a piece of paradise."
Thank you Donnie and Jackie for writing this article.