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Rabun County is a wondrous place.

Rabun, up in the northeast corner of Georgia, is one of my favorite destinations. Over the years, I’ve probably spent a dozen weekends there. Daytrips? 35 or 40, maybe more.

No wonder. Consider what Rabun has to offer…

The county is bounded on the east by the Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River, on the west by the Appalachian Trail.

Rabun is the home of three state parks. The entire county is within the Chattahoochee National Forest. Tallulah Falls and Tallulah Gorge are there. So are Rabun Gap and the Bartram Trail.

There’s Rabun Bald, the second-highest peak in Georgia. According to Native American legend, fire-breathing demon people live on Rabun Bald.

Around the shores of Lake Rabun are the summer homes of hundreds of the privileged and obscenely wealthy. Around Lake Burton are the homes of thousands more of the ordinary rich.

Rabun County is the home of Dillard, a horrifying tourist trap, but also of Clayton, a refreshing mountain town that pays visitors little mind.

The amazing Foxfire education and cultural program began there in 1966 and still operates today.

With so much public space, Rabun County is a paradise for hikers, campers, bikers, boaters, and other outdoor types. In the backcountry, I have encountered deer, bears, turkeys, skunks, rabbits, wild pigs, and menacing locals. I never regretted a single trip.

A wondrous place, indeed.

But I can’t list the numerous treasures of Rabun County without including the culinary crown jewel of the place: Henry’s Restaurant.

My wife and I discovered Henry’s, located just south of Clayton, when we began spending weekends in the Northeast Georgia mountains in the 1980s.

Henry turned over the business to his daughter a few years back, but in those early days, the man himself ran the restaurant.

Henry was in command — fussing over details, issuing orders, chatting up the customers. His wife was the chief cook. Their adult children did the serving and bussing. The food was superb.

Henry’s always served fried chicken — exceptional fried chicken — and a cornucopia of perfectly-prepared Southern veggies. Their standard fare: field peas, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, squash casserole, candied yams, fried green tomatoes, and steamed cabbage. Cabbage is a major crop in Rabun County, you see.

There was a salad bar, complete with tubs of home-made pickles and pickle relishes; a bread table, with a choice of cornbread, muffins, or biscuits, all home-made; and a dessert table, which always featured slices of home-baked cakes and pies and a pan of hot peach or apple cobbler.

Everything they served was heavenly. As a result, Henry’s was a busy place.

Emphatically, it was a restaurant for the locals. Henry did not like tourists. When the summer tourist season arrived, he closed the restaurant down.

Only after the summer throngs from Atlanta were gone, and the autumn leaf season was over, did he open for business again.

That fact, as much as the food, has ensured my loyalty for all these years.

About 10 years ago, Health problems forced Henry to retire. His daughter Lynn took over the restaurant. Mama continued for a long time as the chief cook, and the food remained as superb as ever.

Henry, unfortunately, has since passed away. I’m not sure who is chief cook these days, and they no longer close down for the tourist season. But the restaurant is still there, serving food that, like Rabun County itself, is simply magnificent.

I recommend the fried chicken, the biscuits, and the fried green tomatoes. And of course the squash casserole. The cabbage is surprisingly good. Of the cobblers, I prefer the apple. They have ice cream to go with that, and —

Sorry.