About Us

Dahlonega: a Cherokee word meaning "golden"

The Dahlonega Square Hotel & Villas are the golden dreams of Johnny Ariemma and his family. When the entrepreneur and his wife, Catherine, moved their then young family to Dahlonega, Georgia in 1996, they dreamed their daughters, Sarah Beth and Caroline, would grow up in a loving southern town founded upon solid principles and faith. Dahlonega became that place.

Ariemma restored his first villa, The Historic Dahlonega Square Villa (ca 1880) on South Park Street in 2007. Due to the overwhelmingly positive success of the original villa, he built two villas on Choice Avenue in 2010. In 2012, he added two more villas on Choice Avenue, for a total of five villas. In 2013, Johnny and Catherine purchased the old McGuire House on North Chestatee Street, which had been vacant for seven years. Johnny's vision was a small boutique hotel with a Victorian lobby to compliment the 1880 house. The Dahlonega Square Hotel officially opened in February 2014.

Oldest daughter, Sarah Beth, a 2012 graduate of Georgia College, was instrumental in helping to get the villas finished and The Dahlonega Square Hotel up and running. Youngest daughter, Caroline, graduated from Kennesaw State University with a Communication degree with a concentration in Public Relations in 2013 and came to work in the family business in 2014, as Sarah Beth headed to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her writing passion. Sarah Beth returned to Dahlonega in 2016 with a husband, Durant. Sarah Beth returned to the team and heads up hospitality. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, she and husband, Durant, welcomed a son to their family. Sarah Beth now works part time at DSH. Caroline married Andrew in 2015 and they have two boys ages five and nearly three. Caroline works part-time at DSH with operations her speciality. In 2024, Catherine Ariemma who after retiring from teaching at Lumpkin County High School, had been overseeing the team at DSH, finally decided it was time to really retire. Although she can be seen popping in and out as needed!

Maria Sonora joined the team in 2015 as head of housekeeping and is invaluable! She oversees all aspects of housekeeping and is assisted by Maria Bazan, who joined our team in 2018. They are the reason our rooms are so clean!

In January of 2020 our team expanded and we added Elizabeth "Liz" McClain to the team. Liz is a graduate of the University of North Georgia with a Bachelors degree in history and hails from Waycross, Georgia. Liz married Brandon Burton in 2022. She and Brandon moved briefly to North Carolina and added two dogs and two cats to their family. In autumn 2024, Liz and Brandon returned to Dahlonega or as Liz says to "their adopted home town" and Liz once again joined our team in October.

Spring of 2021, Durant Wright joined the team. Durant received his bachelors degree from The University of Tennessee at Martin. Durant is our CFO and in addition to working at the hotel, he assists Johnny in other ventures. Lilly Marrero joined the team in 2022 and is a student a UNG and is a military "brat", hailing from many places, mostly southern and southwestern U.S. Lilly is also a volunteer at the local animal shelter in Lumpkin County.

In 2018 we added Kaya Wines to our DSH Wine Tasting Room.

In 2015, Katelyn Copeland, a graduate of Truett McConnell College with a degree in Marketing, joined the team as the business' marketing coordinator and was tasked with developing DSH Transportation. Kate purchased DSH Transportation in December 2019. Her business, Dahlonega Wine Tours, is thriving and we are proud to continue to offer transportation services via our website to hers.