Pickens County is a county in the Northwest region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,216. The county seat is Jasper. Pickens County is part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia metropolitan statistical area.

History

The Georgia General Assembly passed an act on December 5, 1853, to create Pickens County from portions of Cherokee and Gilmer Counties. Pickens received several more land additions from Cherokee (1869) and Gilmer Counties (1858 and 1863); however, several sections of Pickens County have also been transferred to other counties: Dawson County (1857), Gordon County (1860), and Cherokee County (1870).

Pickens County is named for American Revolutionary War General Andrew Pickens.

During the Civil War, Company D of the 1st Georgia Infantry Battalion of the Union Army was raised in Pickens County.

Most of Pickens County's early industry revolved around marble. Georgia Marble Company is located in Marble Hill near Tate. The Tate elementary school is built out of marble. The marble was also used to make the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. Most of the marble is white, but Pickens County is one of the few places in the world where pink marble is found. The marble is also used for tombstones for the United States military.

Pickens County has seen very rapid growth with the building of Georgia State Route 515, locally referred to as the "four-lane". Many new businesses and residents continue to move to Pickens County.

Pickens County is home the Georgia Marble Festival.

Geography

thumb|Sharp Top Mountain, viewed from Grandview Lake Dam

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (0.3%) is covered by water.

The county is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The highest point in Pickens County is the 3,288-ft summit of Mount Oglethorpe, the southernmost peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and for a number of years, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Other notable peaks in Pickens County include Sharp Top Mountain and Sharp Mountain. One of the best viewpoints of Sharp Top Mountain is from Grandview Lake Dam on Grandview Road.

The eastern half of Pickens County is located in the Etowah River subbasin of the ACT River Basin (Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin). The western half of the county is located in the Coosawattee River sub-basin of the same larger ACT River Basin.

Adjacent counties

  • Gilmer County - north
  • Dawson County - east
  • Cherokee County - south
  • Bartow County - southwest
  • Gordon County - west

Communities

Cities

  • Jasper
  • Nelson (partially in Cherokee County)

Town

  • Talking Rock

Unincorporated communities

  • Tate
  • Marble Hill
  • Blaine

Private communities

A significant portion of the county population resides in gated master-planned communities that function similar to a municipality, with HOA fees to provide many municipal-type services independently from the county government.

  • Bent Tree
  • Big Canoe (partially in Dawson County)

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Pickens County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition<br><small></small>

!Race / Ethnicity <small>(NH = Non-Hispanic)</small>

!Pop 1980

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|-

|White alone (NH)

|11,306

|14,091

|21,897

|27,802

|style='background: #ffffe6; |30,122

|97.03%

|97.64%

|95.27%

|94.47%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |90.69%

|-

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|264

|245

|292

|297

|style='background: #ffffe6; |286

|2.27%

|1.70%

|1.27%

|1.01%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.86%

|-

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|7

|31

|84

|69

|style='background: #ffffe6; |85

|0.06%

|0.21%

|0.37%

|0.23%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.26%

|-

|Asian alone (NH)

|9

|19

|52

|118

|style='background: #ffffe6; |191

|0.08%

|0.13%

|0.23%

|0.40%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.58%

|-

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|x

|x

|6

|5

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4

|x

|x

|0.03%

|0.02%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.01%

|-

|Other race alone (NH)

|0

|0

|12

|13

|style='background: #ffffe6; |70

|0.00%

|0.00%

|0.05%

|0.04%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.21%

|-

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|x

|x

|173

|308

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,260

|x

|x

|0.75%

|1.05%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.79%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|66

|46

|467

|819

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,198

|0.57%

|0.32%

|2.03%

|2.78%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.61%

|-

|Total

|11,652

|14,432

|22,983

|29,431

|style='background: #ffffe6; |33,216

|100.00%

|100.00%

|100.00%

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

|}

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 33,216, and 19.2% of residents lived in urban areas while 80.8% lived in rural areas.

Those residents comprised 13,120 households and 8,539 families.

The median age was 47.7 years, 19.3% of residents were under the age of 18, and 24.4% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 97.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 95.1 males age 18 and over.

Of the 13,120 households, 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 22.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 22.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. For elections to the Georgia House of Representatives, Pickens County is part of District 11.

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Transportation

Major highways

  • 23px Interstate 575
  • 20px State Route 5
  • 20px State Route 53
  • 20px State Route 53 Business
  • 23px State Route 108
  • 23px State Route 136
  • 23px State Route 136 Connector
  • 23px State Route 372
  • 23px State Route 417 (unsigned designation for I-575)
  • 23px State Route 515

<!-- encyclopedic? ===Other highways===

  • Burnt Mountain Road (Old Georgia State Route 108)
  • Canton Highway (Old Georgia State Route 5)
  • Church Street (Georgia State Route 53 Business)
  • Cove Road
  • Ellijay Road (Old Georgia State Route 5)
  • Henderson Mountain Road (Old Georgia State Route 143/Georgia State Route 379)
  • Jones Mountain Road
  • Lumber Company Road
  • Philadelphia Road
  • Refuge Road (Old Georgia State Route 108)
  • Steve Tate Highway
  • Salem Church Road
  • Sunrise Ridge Road (Old Georgia State Route 108)
  • Talking Rock Road (Old Georgia State Route 5)
  • Yellow Creek Road
  • Whitestone Road

-->

Education

The Pickens County School District is the sole school district in the county.

Notable residents

  • Farish Carter Tate, U.S. congressman
  • John Bozeman, frontiersman; co-founder of Bozeman, Montana
  • Chandler Smith, professional racecar driver
  • Duff Floyd, Prohibition era ATF agent

See also

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Pickens County, Georgia
  • List of counties in Georgia

References

;General

;Specific

The weekly newspaper for Pickens County is the Pickens Progress, a family-owned newspaper published since 1887 in Jasper.

  • Encyclopedia of Georgia Pickens County article
  • GeorgiaInfo Pickens County Courthouse info
  • Documents from Pickens County in the Digital Library of Georgia