Historic Sites in Dawson County

The history of Dawson County

Dawson County was created in 1857 from parts of Gilmer and Lumpkin counties and named for William Crosby Dawson, a Georgia judge and legislator who went on to serve in the U.S. Senate. Dawsonville, the county seat, was incorporated in 1859. The mountains here belonged to the Cherokee until gold was discovered in north Georgia in 1829. Prospectors poured in, Georgia claimed the territory in 1832 and handed it out to white settlers through land lotteries, and the Cherokee were forcibly removed. Commercial gold mining carried on for decades afterward. The Civil War exposed sharp divisions in the mountains, and Dawson was a Unionist stronghold; men from Dawson, Pickens, and Union counties made up a Union regiment known as the First Georgia State Troops Volunteers. Farming sustained most families into the twentieth century, and during Prohibition the county became known for producing and running moonshine, a reputation recalled by the Moonshine Festival held every year since 1966 and by the racing career of Dawsonville native Bill Elliott. Cotton and gold mining both faded in the 1930s. Amicalola Falls State Park and portions of the Chattahoochee National Forest protect the rugged north, while the creation of Lake Lanier and the extension of Georgia 400 later tied the county's growth to metropolitan Atlanta.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.org