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Other Information: The
Dec. 1832 act creating Gilmer County provided that "the
place where Ned Tucker recently lived" would serve as the
county's initial courthouse and place for holding elections.
The law also authorized an election of county officials in March
1833 and provided that the first justices of inferior court select
the county seat of Gilmer County and provide for erection of
a courthouse and other county buildings. That year, the inferior
court chose Ellijay as county seat and had a wooden courthouse
built here. In 1854, a new courthouse was built, which would
serve the county for the next 80 years. In 1898, the Hyatt Hotel
was constructed facing the downtown square in Ellijay. The two-story
brick building was converted for use as the Gilmer County courthouse
in 1934. Later, a private brick home across the street from the
courthouse was purchased and converted into a courthouse annex
and home for the Gilmer County Commission (see
photo).
In March 2003, the county fire marshall condemned the Gilmer
County courthouse because of extensive code violatiions. The
building was closed on March 27, forcing the county to find alternative
facilities for courts and county officials who had been housed
in the courthouse.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History: Gilmer County was created from Cherokee
County on Dec. 3, 1832 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga.
Laws 1832, p. 56). [Click here
for complete text of legislation.] According to that act:
. . . the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh,
twelfth and such parts of the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth
districts as lie east of a line commencing at the centre of
the south line of the twenty-fourth, and running due north
to the north line of the twenty-fifth, and so much of the twenty-sixth
and twenty-seventh districts of said second section, as lies
east of a range of mountains running north and south through
said district, shall form and become one county, to be called
Gilmer.
In way of background, by 1830, the Cherokee Nation consisted
of most of northwest Georgia (see
map), plus adjoining areas in Alabama, Tennessee, and North
Carolina. Even while Cherokee Indians remained on their homeland
in Georgia, the General Assembly on Dec. 21, 1830 enacted legislation
claiming "all the Territory within the limits of Georgia,
and now in the occupancy of the Cherokee tribe of Indians; and
all other unlocated lands within the limits of this State, claimed
as Creek land" (Ga. Laws 1830, p. 127). The act also provided
for surveying the Cherokee lands in Georgia; dividing them into
sections, districts, and land lots; and authorizing a lottery
to distribute the land. On Dec. 26, 1831, the legislature designated
all land in Georgia that lay west of the Chattahoochee River
and north of Carroll county as "Cherokee County" (see
map) and provided for its organization (Ga. Laws 1831, p.
74). However, the new county was not able to function as a county
because of its size and the fact that Cherokee Indians still
occupied portions of the land. On Dec. 3, 1832, the legislature
added areas of Habersham and Hall counties to Cherokee County,
and then divided the entire area into nine new counties -- Cass
(later renamed Bartow), Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin,
Murray, Paulding, and Union -- plus a reconstituted and much
smaller Cherokee County. Cherokee lands were distributed to whites
in a land lottery, but the legislature temporarily prohibited
whites from taking possession of lots on which Cherokees still
lived. By 1833, however, whites began occupying areas of Gilmer
County.
Georgia's 85th county was named for George
R. Gilmer, who served two terms as Georgia governor (1829-1831,
1837-1839), as state legislator, and as U.S. congressman. Gilmer
-- a strong proponent of state sovereignty over Cherokee lands
in Georgia -- was governor at the time of the Cherokee's forced
removal to the west.
As originally constituted, Gilmer County extended to the Tennessee
border (see
map). Later created in part or whole from its original boundaries
were Pickens, Fannin, and Dawson counties.
County Seat: The Dec. 1832 act creating Gilmer County
authorized election of county officials in March 1833 and provided
that the first justices of inferior court select a location to
serve as county seat. Subsequently, the inferior court chose
Ellijay as county seat. On Dec. 20, 1834, the state legislature
designated Ellijay as permanent county seat of Gilmer County.
That legislation also named town commissioners for Ellijay and
gave them the "power and authority to make all such by-laws
for the government and good order of the said town of Ellijay
as may be necessary . . . ." In effect, the Dec. 20, 1834
act incorporated Ellijay as an official town, although not using
the terms "incorporate" or "incorporation." On Dec.
19, 1840, the legislature passed new legislation for Ellijay,
this time specifically incorporating the town.
Ellijay originally was a Cherokee town named Ellija, a name
believed to have been a Cherokee reference to a green place --
perhaps because the town was settled on a river. The town was
located on the Ellijay Road, which branched off the Cherokee
Federal Road just west of Talking Rock and traveled northeastward
into North Carolina. By 1833, whites had settled the site of
Ellija, calling it Ellijay.
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 431.9 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 52nd out of 159
Population:
Gilmer County
City of Ellijay
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