Sugar Hill, GA · Gwinnett County
Sugar Hill, where the name camefrom a spilled wagon of sugar
Sugar Hill is practically our back door, so families here get a chef with almost no road time. Hosts call us when the house is full of relatives and the last thing anyone wants is to split up into three cars.
What a hibachi night looks like in Sugar Hill
The local story goes that a freight wagon tipped over on the hill in the 1800s and spilled its load of sugar, and the name stuck. The town has kept a sense of humor about it and a strong small-city identity even as subdivisions filled in around it. The city-owned Sugar Hill Golf Club gives many neighborhoods a fairway view, and the Sugar Hill Greenway has added miles of paved trail that families use for evening walks, bikes and strollers.
The northern edge of town is close to the Chattahoochee just below Buford Dam, where the water comes out of Lake Lanier cold enough for trout fishing even in July. That makes Sugar Hill a convenient base for anglers and paddlers, and plenty of reunions here are built around a morning on the river followed by a long dinner on the patio. In fall, high school football and travel ball fill the weekends, so hosts often pick a Sunday evening to bring everyone together. For a lake-week version of that, see our Lake Lanier page.
From the grill
Setting up in Sugar Hill
Golf-course homes in Sugar Hill usually have a rear patio facing the fairway; that is fine for the grill, but keep it a sensible distance from the course and any overhanging trees. Homes along the greenway often back onto woods, and mosquitoes show up around dusk in summer, so a couple of box fans near the tables help. Most driveways here are wide and level enough to be the backup plan.
Sugar Hill questions
We want to fish the river in the morning and do hibachi that evening. Does the timing work?
Yes. Pick an evening start time that gives everyone a chance to clean up; the chef arrives ahead of the start to set up.
Can the grill go on a patio that faces the golf course?
Usually. It needs level, paved ground, open air above it and a few feet of clearance, and you should check any community rules.