Georgia

Georgia is the southern most state of the the Smoky Mountains area.  Bordering both North Carolina and Tennessee, Georgia lies in the foothills of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.  The mountains and the small towns that dot the landscape, make you feel at home.  The people that settled Georgia were the same kind so f people that settled the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.  Most were of Scotch-Irish descent and they found a home in mountains that reminded them of home.

Georgia was home to the mound building native peoples that had inhabited the areas of Northern Georgia for thousands of years.  On February 1, 1732, the British Colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe.  The colony was setup as an agrarian society with farmers and indentured servants working the land – at this point in history, slavery was prohibited in the colony of Georgia.  After the Revolutionary War, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the constitution and therefore the fourth state to be brought into the UNited STates of America.

Around 40 years after Georgia became a state, gold was found in north Georgia.  The Georgia Gold Rush, as it came to be known, is the second largest gold rush in US history, second only to the California Gold Rush.  From 1828 through the early 1840s the gold rush in north Georgia really shaped that part of the country.  As more and more white settlers and gold miners moved into the area, the Cherokee that had lived on the land for years were displaced.  During the 1840s, the gold seemed to dry up and as gold was found in the Californian territories, the miners moved west.

What was left was small towns like Dahlonega and Dillard.  After the Civil War, which hit Georgia especially hard, the area of north Georgia was once again left to reinvent itself, that happened at the turn of the century.  With the introduction of the car and people getting out and traveling on vacation, many tourists ended up in the Appalachian Mountains.  With the founding of the Great SMoky Mountains National Park, the area of northern Georgia that bordered this new park found tourist and travelers visiting their towns on the way to the mountains.  To this day, north Georgia is a great place to visit in the southern Appalachians and on your way to the Smokies.

Stats

• 9,815,210 population
• Highest Point – Brasstown Bald 4,784 ft
• Capital City – Atlanta
• www.georgia.gov