Lumpkin County, Georgia | |
|---|---|
 Lumpkin County Courthouse in Dahlonega | |
 Seal | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofGeorgia | |
| Coordinates:34°34′N84°00′W / 34.57°N 84°W /34.57; -84 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Georgia |
| Founded | December 3, 1832; 193 years ago (1832-12-03) |
| Named after | Wilson Lumpkin |
| Seat | Dahlonega |
| Largest city | Dahlonega |
| Area | |
• Total | 284 sq mi (740 km2) |
| • Land | 283 sq mi (730 km2) |
| • Water | 1.3 sq mi (3.4 km2) 0.4% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 33,488 |
| • Density | 106/sq mi (41/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Congressional district | 9th |
| Website | lumpkincounty.gov |
Lumpkin County is acounty in theNortheast region of theU.S. state ofGeorgia. As of the2020 census, the population was 33,488.[1] Itscounty seat isDahlonega.[2] Lumpkin County is included in theAtlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia metropolitan statistical area.
This area was settled by theCherokee, who also occupied areas of what became delimited as southeasternTennessee and westernNorth Carolina.
Lumpkin County was created on December 3, 1832.[3] The county was named forWilson Lumpkin, who at the time wasGovernor of Georgia.[4] Lumpkin's daughter, Martha Wilson Lumpkin Compton, was the namesake of the town namedMarthasville, the early-1840s name forAtlanta 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 nearAuraria, leading to a rush of miners and development. TheU.S. government established a mint inDahlonega, operating for 23 years until the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War. State contractors later acquired gold from Lumpkin County to gild the dome of the currentstate capitol building in Atlanta.
Agriculture andagritourism 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."[citation needed] The county features severalvineyards and five licensedwineries, which attract many tourists. In 2015, state senatorSteve Gooch 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 theU.S. Army'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 theBlue Ridge Wildlife Management Area of theChattahoochee National Forest.[5]
Three veterans' organizations are located in Lumpkin County, to serve the veterans and the community: the Heyward FieldsAmerican Legion Post 239, the US Army Mountain Ranger Association, and the Lumpkin and White CountyVeterans of Foreign Wars 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.[6]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 284 square miles (740 km2), of which 283 square miles (730 km2) is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2) (0.4%) is water.[7]
The county is located in theBlue Ridge Mountains. The summit ofBlood Mountain, which Lumpkin County shares withUnion County to the north, is the highest point in the county. At 4,458 feet (1,359 m), Blood Mountain is the fifth-highest peak in Georgia and the highest point on Georgia's portion of theAppalachian Trail.
The western 40% of Lumpkin County is located in theEtowah River sub-basin of theACT River Basin (Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin), while the eastern 60% of the county is located in the UpperChattahoochee River sub-basin of theACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin).[8]
Penitentiary Cove is located in the north/northwest part of Lumpkin County.[9]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1840 | 5,671 | — | |
| 1850 | 8,955 | 57.9% | |
| 1860 | 4,626 | −48.3% | |
| 1870 | 5,161 | 11.6% | |
| 1880 | 6,526 | 26.4% | |
| 1890 | 6,867 | 5.2% | |
| 1900 | 7,433 | 8.2% | |
| 1910 | 5,444 | −26.8% | |
| 1920 | 5,240 | −3.7% | |
| 1930 | 4,927 | −6.0% | |
| 1940 | 6,223 | 26.3% | |
| 1950 | 6,574 | 5.6% | |
| 1960 | 7,241 | 10.1% | |
| 1970 | 8,728 | 20.5% | |
| 1980 | 10,762 | 23.3% | |
| 1990 | 14,573 | 35.4% | |
| 2000 | 21,016 | 44.2% | |
| 2010 | 29,966 | 42.6% | |
| 2020 | 33,488 | 11.8% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 36,016 | [10] | 7.5% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[11] 1790-1880[12] 1890-1910[13] 1920-1930[14] 1930-1940[15] 1940-1950[16] 1960-1980[17] 1980-2000[18] 2010[1] | |||
| Race | Num. | Perc. |
|---|---|---|
| White (non-Hispanic) | 29,241 | 87.32% |
| Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 412 | 1.23% |
| Native American | 151 | 0.45% |
| Asian | 257 | 0.77% |
| Pacific Islander | 21 | 0.06% |
| Other/Mixed | 1,616 | 4.83% |
| Hispanic orLatino | 1,790 | 5.35% |
As of the2020 census, there were 33,488 people, 11,676 households, and 7,800 families residing in the county.[20]
The median age was 36.7 years, with 17.3% of residents under the age of 18 and 18.2% aged 65 or older.[21] For every 100 females there were 96.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.5 males age 18 and over.[20] About 19.4% of residents lived in urban areas, while 80.6% lived in rural areas.[21]
The racial makeup of the county was 88.8% White, 1.3%Black or African American, 0.6%American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%Asian, 0.1%Native Hawaiian andPacific Islander, 2.1% from some other race, and 6.4% fromtwo or more races.Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 5.3% of the population.[22]
There were 11,676 households in the county, of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 24.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[20]
There were 13,006 housing units, of which 10.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 72.4% were owner-occupied and 27.6% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.2%.[20]
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 (Long Branch Elementary School, Blackburn Elementary School, and Cottrell Elementary). TheUniversity of North Georgia has its campus in Lumpkin County.
As of the 2020s, Lumpkin County is a strongly Republican voting county, voting 80% forDonald Trump in2024. For elections to theUnited States House of Representatives, Lumpkin County is part ofGeorgia's 7th congressional district, currently represented byRich McCormick. For elections to theGeorgia State Senate, Lumpkin County is part ofDistrict 50.[23] For elections to theGeorgia House of Representatives, Lumpkin County is part ofDistrict 9.[24]
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1912 | 29 | 6.52% | 297 | 66.74% | 119 | 26.74% |
| 1916 | 55 | 8.08% | 455 | 66.81% | 171 | 25.11% |
| 1920 | 205 | 56.94% | 155 | 43.06% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1924 | 111 | 23.22% | 357 | 74.69% | 10 | 2.09% |
| 1928 | 381 | 40.49% | 560 | 59.51% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 81 | 8.06% | 924 | 91.94% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1936 | 160 | 20.59% | 617 | 79.41% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1940 | 165 | 15.46% | 899 | 84.25% | 3 | 0.28% |
| 1944 | 212 | 19.13% | 896 | 80.87% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 142 | 19.22% | 547 | 74.02% | 50 | 6.77% |
| 1952 | 370 | 27.07% | 997 | 72.93% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 486 | 41.22% | 693 | 58.78% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 495 | 36.13% | 875 | 63.87% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1964 | 855 | 41.81% | 1,189 | 58.14% | 1 | 0.05% |
| 1968 | 687 | 32.24% | 396 | 18.58% | 1,048 | 49.18% |
| 1972 | 1,477 | 79.32% | 385 | 20.68% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1976 | 547 | 19.21% | 2,301 | 80.79% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1980 | 1,024 | 33.19% | 1,951 | 63.24% | 110 | 3.57% |
| 1984 | 1,991 | 64.21% | 1,110 | 35.79% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1988 | 2,688 | 67.20% | 1,286 | 32.15% | 26 | 0.65% |
| 1992 | 1,972 | 39.16% | 2,010 | 39.91% | 1,054 | 20.93% |
| 1996 | 2,576 | 49.86% | 1,949 | 37.73% | 641 | 12.41% |
| 2000 | 4,427 | 65.59% | 2,121 | 31.42% | 202 | 2.99% |
| 2004 | 6,690 | 75.35% | 2,091 | 23.55% | 97 | 1.09% |
| 2008 | 8,326 | 74.95% | 2,586 | 23.28% | 196 | 1.76% |
| 2012 | 8,647 | 78.98% | 2,055 | 18.77% | 246 | 2.25% |
| 2016 | 9,619 | 76.85% | 2,220 | 17.74% | 678 | 5.42% |
| 2020 | 12,163 | 78.24% | 3,126 | 20.11% | 256 | 1.65% |
| 2024 | 14,339 | 80.22% | 3,356 | 18.78% | 179 | 1.00% |
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 2020 | 11,941 | 77.73% | 2,926 | 19.05% | 496 | 3.23% |
| 2020 | 10,877 | 79.41% | 2,820 | 20.59% | 0 | 0.00% |
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 2020 | 7,074 | 46.20% | 2,042 | 13.34% | 6,196 | 40.46% |
| 2020 | 10,831 | 79.06% | 2,868 | 20.94% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 2022 | 9,765 | 77.05% | 2,539 | 20.03% | 369 | 2.91% |
| 2022 | 9,005 | 79.38% | 2,339 | 20.62% | 0 | 0.00% |
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 2022 | 10,525 | 82.63% | 2,070 | 16.25% | 142 | 1.11% |
Places adjacent to Lumpkin County, Georgia | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities and communities ofLumpkin County, Georgia,United States | ||
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| Unincorporated community | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
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