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Gilmer County

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• Coosawattee River Resort

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• Pillar to Post Home Inspection
• Bradford Builders of North Georgia, L.L.C.

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• North Georgia Medical Center

Newcomer Information

History of Gilmer County

Gilmer County was established in 1832. This beautiful valley, stretching between and among the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia, was named for George Rockingham Gilmer. "Indian fight", as he was known, was a member of the state and U.S. House, and governor during Georgia's gold rush. He served as a lieutenant in the Georgia Militia and personally supervised the construction of perhaps the most famous of the frontier forts in Georgia, Standing Peachtree.

Gilmer County ranks among the earliest settled spots in Georgia and probably the Southeast. In 1929 state geologist W. S. McCallie indicated that he found a large number of some form of early woodlands petroglyphs (now destroyed) in the county that year near Bear Den Mountain.

The Spaniard Moyano visited the area a number of times in 1566 in an attempt to establish Catholic missions, none of which were successful. A number of colonial roads running through the area are referenced. In a letter dated 1731, an "Old Virginia Road" and another dated 1736 speaks of a road from Augusta to "Cherokee country" which probably passed through the county.

Ellijay, Gilmer County's seat, lies where the Cartecay and Ellijay Rivers form the Coosawattee. The origin of "Ellijay" has been lost. There are many possibilities. The most favored possibility, for purely poetic reasons, is from the Cherokee Elatsi-yi – place of green earth. Ellijay appears in South Carolina records under a slightly different spelling as early as 1755. William Bartram, the explorer and naturalist whom many believe to be one of the first white men in North Georgia (between 1773 and 1778), spelled it Allagae.

Records exist as early as 1765 of whites in the area of Talking Rock, now Pickens County, but originally Gilmer. The land was controlled by the Cherokee from about 1650. They allowed the Federal Highway to be built, running through the south end of the county. It was completed in 1805.

Following a Cherokee trail from what is now Ringgold to Vann's Ferry on the Chattahoochee River, development began along the road. One of the infamous Cherokee forts, Fort Talking Rock, was built north of and adjacent to the Trippe House around this same time. Other homes in the area include Carter's Quarters and what is now where the Tate House stands, the Harnage House and Tavern.

The Cherokee Chief Whitepath, a warrior, lived 5 miles north of Ellijay. It was Whitepath and Chief John Ross who swam across the Tallapoosa River and stole the Creek canoes prior to the Battle of Horseshoe bend, ensuring a victory for Andrew Jackson, a man Whitepath considered a friend. When Whitepath and Ross returned to Washington twenty years later to try to prevent the takeover of Cherokee land by the State of Georgia, Jackson told his friend, "You shall remain in your ancient land as long as grass grows and water runs." The land had already been dispersed by the State of Georgia in the 1832 land lottery. Whitepath and the Cherokee began the "Trail of Tears" four years later. Whitepath died on the journey.

In 1836 Ross was joined by Walking Stick, also of Gilmer County, in a failed attempt to abrogate the Treaty of New Echota. Fort Hetzel was being expanded to house an estimated 1,100 Cherokee from the area by this time. After nearly 6 months of being held at the fort with little food and no sanitation, many Native Americans died. More died on the march. It roughly followed Route 52 West of Ellijay. Indications in some letters are that the road was improved specifically for this. Almost 8 years to the day after Jackson made his "promise" to Whitepath, Fort Hetzel was abandoned on March 24, 1842.

Among the early industrial developments were the Atherton Mills near Talking Rock, a complex that had a grist mill, wool carder, saw mill, and cotton gin, that was partially destroyed during the Atlanta Campaign. A significant copper mining industry developed.

Gilmer returned to an agricultural society after the war. There was much anticipation in Ellijay when the railroad crossed the south end of Gilmer County. Although the Marietta and North Georgia entered the county in 1883, the road to the county seat was not complete to the county seat until December 2, 1884. Since it would be 1890 before service was established further north, a roundhouse was built.

The addition of apples to the local economy by John W. Clayton in 1903 was a bright spot. Competing nationally (and often winning,) Mr. Clayton raised over 70 different types of apples. Most were Winesap, Rome Beauty, and Ben Davis.

Gilmer became less dependent on cotton with the addition of apples to the local economy. Gilmer was less affected than other nearby counties in the early 1920's when much of North Georgia's economy crumbled. It was in the midst of the Great Depression that the county's economy wouldn't reach bottom 10 years later. To the east, Habersham County also developed a significant apple crop. Ellijay still celebrates the crop with the Georgia Apple Festival on the second and third weekends in October.

Around 1908 Gilmer and much of North Georgia were brought into a new age when the first gasoline automobile arrived. Seventy years later Highway 515 allowed Gilmer to fully reap the benefits of these gas-powered automobiles. Zell Miller, future governor, advocated this highway that has made tourism a major part of the Gilmer economy. The telephone, developed in 1916, was also significant.

In October 1929, during the dark days of the Great Crash, the Bank of Ellijay closed. The Bank of Ellijay opened again in 1933. The Rural Electrification Act in May of 1935 was passed by Congress. A plan to install electricity in every home by Pickens, Cherokee, Dawson, Lumpkin, and Gilmer Counties began on December 12, 1939. Interrupted by World War II, power was available to every person by 1950.

Additional information is available by mail through the Gilmer Chamber of Commerce.

Gilmer County Courthouse

The first courthouse was constructed in 1833. Another courthouse was built in 1854, but, by the 1930s, Gilmer County had outgrown its old courthouse. So in 1934, a hotel, at one time known as the Hyatt Hotel, was converted into the courthouse, and it is still in use today.

The Georgia State Flower

Legend of the Cherokee Rose

No better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the Trail Where They Cried, the Trail of Tears, than the Cherokee Rose. The mothers of the Cherokee grieved so much that the chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the mother's spirits and give them strength to care for their children. From that day forward, a beautiful new flower, a rose, grew wherever a mother's tear fell to the ground. The rose is white for the mother's tears. It has a gold center, for the gold taken from the Cherokee lands, and the leaves on each stem represent the Cherokee clans that made the journey. To this day, the Cherokee Rose prospers along the route of the Trail of Tears.

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