The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: October nineteenth, enjoying the bagpipes of the south.

North Georgia has many residents of Scottish descent, and this is the weekend they celebrate their heritage. The slate of activities will include Scottish country dancing, a piping concert, whiskey tasting, and a Piobaireachd, the traditional competition for bagpipe musicians.

This evening, the wail of bag pipes will fill the air around the Marriott Hotel in northcentral Atlanta. Led by a fife and drum corps, a precision band will execute a military tattoo modeled on the pageant staged each August in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The competition marks the start of the 29th annual Stone Mountain Highland Games and Scottish Festival. Stone Mountain is a huge granite monolith just east of Atlanta, notable for the tableaux of Civil War generals carved on its one sheer face. Jutting abruptly from the rolling hills, it's the centerpiece of a 3200 acre state park with all the outdoor activities anyone could ask for.

Saturday's athletic events pit a handful of top Scottish athletes in a traditional Highland competition. To demonstrate strength and control, they'll heave cabers, essentially 20-foot-long telephone poles. The sheaf toss measures how high over a bar a 20 pound sack of hay can be thrown with a three tine pitchfork. Heavy hammers and the 28-pound stone of strength will be flung for distance. Two weights of 28 and 56 pounds will be thrown, both for distance and height. On Sunday, local stalwarts will try their skills at the same events.

Last year, 50,000 spectators attended.

FMI For information on the Stone Mountain Scottish Games: www.smhg.org

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