Lumpkin County is a county located in the north central portion of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,488. Its county seat is

Dahlonega The city of Dahlonega () is the county seat of Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,242, and in 2018 the population was estimated to be 6,884. Dahlonega is located at the north end of ...

History

This area was settled by the Cherokee, who also occupied areas of what became delimited as southeastern

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to t ...

and western

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and S ...

. Lumpkin County was created on December 3, 1832. The county was named for

Wilson Lumpkin Wilson Lumpkin (January 14, 1783 – December 28, 1870) was an American planter, attorney, and politician. He served two terms as the governor of Georgia, from 1831 to 1835, in the period of Indian Removal of the Creek and Cherokee peoples to In ...

, who at the time was

Governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legis ...

. Lumpkin's daughter, Martha Wilson Lumpkin Compton, was the namesake of the town named Marthasville, the early-1840s name for

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in Fulton County; this was designated as the capital of the state after the Civil War. In the 1830s, gold was discovered in the county near Auraria, leading to a rush of miners and development. The U.S. government established a mint in

, operating for 23 years until the outbreak of the American Civil War. State contractors later acquired gold from Lumpkin County to gild the dome of the current state capitol building in Atlanta.

20th century to present

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and

agritourism Agritourism or agrotourism involves any agriculturally based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch. Types A 2018 article published in the ''Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development'' classified a ...

are top business industries. In addition, vineyards have been developed here and, since the mid-1990s, Lumpkin County has been recognized as "the heart of Georgia wine country." The county features several

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s and five licensed

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, b ...

, which attract many tourists. In 2015, state senator

Steve Gooch Steve Gooch, (born February 25, 1967) is an American politician. He is a member of the Georgia State Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Legal provisions The Ge ...

introduced Georgia Senate Resolution 125, officially recognizing Lumpkin County as the Wine Tasting Room Capital of Georgia. The historic Dahlonega Square is also a popular destination. It has gift shops, restaurants, art galleries and artists' studios, and additional tasting rooms. Lumpkin County is the home of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

's Camp Frank D. Merrill, the base of the 5th Ranger Training Battalion of the U.S. Army Ranger School's mountain phase. Camp Frank D. Merrill is located in the northern end of the county, within the

Blue Ridge Wildlife Management Area Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...

of the

Chattahoochee National Forest The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chatta ...

. Three veterans' organizations are located in Lumpkin County, to serve the veterans and the community: the Heyward Fields

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is made up of state, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, and these are in turn made up of lo ...

Post 239, the US Army Mountain Ranger Association, and the Lumpkin and White County

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or ...

Post 5533. Lumpkin County has an agency to help veterans, the Lumpkin County Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee. This group is in charge of the Lumpkin County Veterans Memorial and the twice yearly veterans' memorial crosses, which are installed to line both sides of the major roads in Dahlonega from mid-May through the Fourth of July, and again for the month of November. The crosses are adorned with the names of the county's veterans who have died, some in combat (marked with KIA), and those who returned home and later died.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.4%) is water. The county is located in the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

. The summit of

Blood Mountain Blood Mountain is the highest peak on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail and the sixth-tallest mountain in Georgia, with an elevation of .Brown (1996), p.93 It is located on the border of Lumpkin County with Union County and is with ...

, which Lumpkin County shares with Union County to the north, is the highest point in the county. At , Blood Mountain is the 5th-highest peak in Georgia and the highest point on Georgia's portion of the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian T ...

. The western 40% of Lumpkin County is located in the

Etowah River The Etowah River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 waterway that rises northwest of Dahlonega, Georgia, north of Atlanta. On Matthew Carey's 1795 ...

sub-basin of the

ACT River Basin The Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin (ACT River Basin) is a drainage basin (watershed) in the Southeastern United States. This area is classified as a sub-region by the USGS hydrological code system. Sub-regions This sub-region consists of two ...

(Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin), while the eastern 60% of the county is located in the Upper

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattah ...

sub-basin of the

ACF River Basin The ACF River Basin is the drainage basin, or watershed, of the Apalachicola River, Chattahoochee River, and Flint River, in the Southeastern United States. This area is alternatively known as simply the Apalachicola Basin and is listed by ...

(Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin).

Major highways

U.S. Route 19 U.S. Route 19 (US 19) is a north–south U.S. Highway in the Eastern United States. Despite encroaching Interstate Highways, the route has remained a long-haul road, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with Lake Erie. The highway's southern ...

U.S. Route 19 Business * US 129

U.S. Route 129 * Georgia 9

State Route 9 * Georgia 11

State Route 11 * Georgia 52

State Route 52 * Georgia 60

State Route 60 * Georgia 60 Business

State Route 60 Business * Georgia 115

State Route 115 * Georgia 400

State Route 400

Adjacent counties

* Union County – north * White County – east * Hall County – southeast * Dawson County – west * Fannin County – northwest

National protected area

(part)

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, there were 29,966 people, 10,989 households, and 7,645 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 12,925 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 94.4% white, 1.1% black or African American, 0.6% American Indian, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 1.5% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 17.6% were American, 17.5% were

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, 15.6% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, 14.4% were German, and 5.0% were Scotch-Irish. Of the 10,989 households, 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.3% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.4% were non-families, and 22.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 36.1 years. The median income for a household in the county was $43,394 and the median income for a family was $50,318. Males had a median income of $38,043 versus $30,755 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,088. About 9.2% of families and 15.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 15.9% of those under age 18 and 11.2% of those age 65 or over.

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, there were 33,488 people, 11,570 households, and 7,800 families residing in the county.

Education

Lumpkin County School System manages and operates the public schools. There is one high school (Lumpkin County High School), one middle school (Lumpkin County Middle School), and three elementary schools (Lumpkin County Elementary School, Long Branch Elementary School, and Blackburn Elementary School). The

University of North Georgia The University of North Georgia (UNG) is a public senior military college with multiple campuses in Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia. The university was established on January 8, 2013 by a merger of North Georgia College ...

has its campus in Lumpkin County.

Politics

Communities

* Auraria *

References

{{Coord, 34.57, -84.00, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-GA_source:UScensus1990 Georgia (U.S. state) counties 1832 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Populated places established in 1832 Northeast Georgia Counties of Appalachia