Hall County

Located about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta in the foothills of Georgia's Mountain Region, Hall County was founded in 1818 as the trading center of Northeast Georgia. It was named for Lyman Hall, (1724-90), American Revolutionary War leader, born in Wallingford, Conn.; signer of Declaration of Independence; the 9th Governor of Georgia who served in 1783-85. With the discovery of gold in the nearby mountains in 1829, America's first "gold rush" brought many people to the area. As miners headed west in the mid 1800s, Hall County developed as the hub of the area's growing farming region. In the later 1800s, Hall County developed as a mountain summer resort with local spring providing "health-giving qualities" and "resistance to fever" that appealed to many people, once again boosting the area economy.

The 1900's brought the first major industries, cotton mills, and the lumber harvested and milled in the mountains to the north soon found Hall County as the major shipping point for their products. The cotton industry, as well as the economy in general for the area, suffered greatly during the Great Depression of the 1930's. In the years after World War II however, poultry replaced cotton as the cash crop of the area, and along with all the new industries that sprang up in support of the production and processing of chickens and eggs, caused a recovery that has persisted since. In the 1950's the US Army Corp of Engineers built the Buford Dam in South Hall County, creating a 38,000 acre lake with 540 miles of shoreline which has brought a large recreational industry to the area.

Today, Hall County continues as the primary center of Northeast Georgia.

County Related Information

2000 Census Population was 139,277