McCaysville is a city in Fannin County, Georgia, located on the state line with Tennessee in the far northern part of the state. With a 2020 census population of 1,149, it is a small town whose identity is inseparable from its geography: it forms one continuous community with Copperhill, Tennessee, directly across the line, and together the twin towns anchor the historic Copper Basin. The Copper Basin earned its name from copper mining that followed the discovery of the ore in the region in 1843. The mining and smelting industry that developed there shaped the landscape and the communities for more than a century, leaving a legacy still interpreted today at nearby sites such as the historic Burra Burra Mine in Ducktown, Tennessee. Copperhill, the older of the two communities, grew with the industry, and McCaysville developed alongside it. The Toccoa River is the town's defining natural feature. Flowing north out of the Blue Ridge mountains, the river passes through McCaysville and, at the state line, becomes the Ocoee River, a name change that mirrors the twin towns' shared geography. The riverfront anchors the community, but it has also been a source of hardship: in February 1990 the Toccoa overflowed its banks and flooded much of downtown. Today McCaysville is a small residential and commercial center serving the surrounding mountain countryside and the tourism economy of the Blue Ridge region. Its downtown sits close to the river and the state line, and the town functions as a gateway to outdoor recreation — rafting, fishing, and mountain scenery — along the Toccoa/Ocoee corridor. The mix of mining history, riverfront setting, and mountain location gives McCaysville a distinct character among north Georgia's small towns, and its walkable core makes it a convenient base for exploring the wider Copper Basin.