Name derivation:Named in honor of Governor George Rockingham Gilmer, whose long service to the state included building Fort Standing Peachtree on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, which he used as a based camp to attack Creek settlements further west. It was his defience of federal law as governor, establishing the Sixth Land Lottery and the Gold Lottery, dividing up a Cherokee Nation that had not ceded the land, that made him wildly popular throughout the state of Georgia. Following the naming of the county in his honor, he was re-elected governor and was serving in that position during the Trail of Tears.
Acquisition: Treaty of New Echota (1835)
Taken from: Original county
Counties created from:
Cities: Ellijay (county seat)

Web sites:
National Register of Historic Places in Gilmer County, Georgia
Gilmer County, Georgia, links