The Dahlonega Nugget GA

The first hand-cranked, four-page issue of The Dahlonega Nugget rolled off the press March 14, 1890, under the editing and proprietorship of William G. McNelley and S.H. Williams. No one knows what happened to the first issue, but all following issues are on microfilm at the local Lumpkin County Library.

The Nugget gained national and international acclaim after William Benjamin Franklin Townsend became publisher in 1897. With $2.50 in borrowed money, he leased the printing equipment and started an enterprise that has stood the test of time. Townsend's columns were picked up and reprinted by metropolitan newspapers and magazines throughout the United States and Canada. A few days after his 76th birthday, Townsend set the type for his last column. “Ye editor is sick,” it read, and before the next issue, Townsend died.

The Nugget was passed down to Townsend's son, Jody, who recruited his uncle, J. Goley Townsend, to help him. After owning the newspaper 11 years, Jody sold it to William M. and Mary Lou B. Smith in 1944.