A Dawsonville woman is altering her plans for a moonshine distillery so she can get the idea off the ground more quickly.

Entrepreneur Cheryl Wood had originally intended to construct a new building on Ga. Highway 53 East for her business, but she recently leased a space in the city hall building.

Wood said the distillery will also now feature a moonshine museum, which she hopes will draw visitors in connection with the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame also housed in the city hall.

"We wanted to be open this year," Wood said.

"With the museum already in there, just leading with the moonshine museum and transitioning into the racing museum, it just kind of flows."

For Wood, the distillery is a dream years in the making. The moonshine recipes she'll use have been in her family for more than 150 years and were passed down by her grandfather, the famous Georgia moonshiner Simmie Free.

The 6,500-square-foot space will need minor renovations, which Wood will be accountable for, to meet government standards, according to Dawsonville Mayor Pro Tem James Grogan. The space is currently occupied by Adam's Little Italy and the American Legion bingo hall, both of which will relocate outside of the building, Grogan said.

Renovations will begin June 1, Wood said.

She hopes to open the business, under the banner Dawsonville Moonshine Distillery, in connection with the Moonshine Festival in October.

Wood has already been in contact with several local residents who are willing to display their family moonshine artifacts at the museum. There also will be a gift shop at the facility as well as tours on the moonshine making process. Local moonshine expert Dwight Bearden has been hired to be the business' master distiller.

"People can walk through and can see how the product is made and how it starts with the raw goods and then how you cook it, ferment it, distill it and then the bottling section," she said.

The one thing people won't be able to do is taste Wood's family recipe. Under current Georgia laws, a business that makes liquor cannot sell or provide samples to the public. Wood has already contacted several local liquor stores who are willing to sell the product, and she's not worried about the law deterring visitors.

"I'm super, super, super excited," Wood said. "Everyone that I've spoken with is totally, totally behind it. Everyone is reaching out giving their support."

Grogan said word of the distillery has been spreading and visitors to the racing museum are already asking when the attraction will open.

"I think (the distillery) will be a perfect addition to that facility," he said.

"Moonshine and NASCAR kind of go hand in hand. It started from the moonshiners running up and down Ga. Highway 9.

So we have a history of that there, and we think the two will go hand in hand."