Dade County

Dade County

Dade County

County Formed: December 25, 1837
County Seat: Trenton
Incorporated Cities: Trenton
Total Area: 173.9 square miles

History:

Dade County, in Georgia’s extreme northwestern corner, was established in 1837, a year before the federal government began removing the original inhabitants, the Cherokee Indians. Carved from western Walker County, it was the 91st county created in the state.

Dade County was named for a Virginian, Major Francis Langhorne Dade, who was killed in 1835 while fighting the Seminoles. Trenton, the county seat, was named after the city in New Jersey.

Located on the “Backside of Lookout Mountain,” Dade County was for many years unknown to most Georgians. Until a long-delayed state highway over the mountain was completed in 1948, the only reliable route to the county by automobile was through Alabama or Tennessee. For this reason, the county was known as “The Independent State of Dade.”

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