Formed December 3, 1857 (118th county)
Dawson County (26,796), Dawsonville (3,717)
The Modern style 2011 brown brick and concrete courthouse was designed by Rosser International. There were 1978 and 1858 courthouses also in Dawsonville, the only county seat. It is located on Shoal Creek Road at Justice Place. Georgia State Highway 53 is one block south. It features columns. The county was established on December 3, 1857 from Cherokee County as the 118th county. Senator William Crosby Dawson provided his name for the county and the county seat. He is also the source for the Terrell County seat name. The county center is 2.7 miles Northwest of Dawsonville.
Dawson County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Twenty-eight Superior Court Judges serve Dawson, Cherokee, Fannin, Forsyth, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union, and White counties and Six County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Dawson County (judicial.) The county is in northern Georgia northeast of Atlanta, Georgia and southeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The county is surrounded clockwise by Lumpkin, Hall, Forsyth, Cherokee, Pickens, and Gilmer counties.
The area of the county is 211 square miles. It is 134 of 159 in size in the state. It ranks 70 out of 159 in population in the state. It has a density of 127.0 persons per square mile making it 48 out of 159 in the state. Dawson County has 13.9% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 19 comes in from Lumpkin County to the northeast and exits south into Forsyth County. The county shape could be described as a reclining chair opened up. Dawsonville is south and slightly east of center in the county. Dawsonville is the county seat and the largest and only incorporated city in the county. It is 13.9% of the county population. This county is in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Dawsonville
