Lumpkin County, Georgia

Lumpkin County is a county in the Northeast region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,488. Its county seat is Dahlonega. Lumpkin County is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia metropolitan statistical area.

This area was settled by the Cherokee, who also occupied areas of what became delimited as southeastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

Lumpkin County was created on December 3, 1832. The county was named for Wilson Lumpkin, who at the time was Governor of Georgia. Lumpkin's daughter, Martha Wilson Lumpkin Compton, was the namesake of the town named Marthasville, the early-1840s name for Atlanta in Fulton County; this was designated as the capital of the state after the Civil War.

In the 1830s, gold was discovered in the county near Auraria, leading to a rush of miners and development. The U.S. government established a mint in Dahlonega, operating for 23 years until the outbreak of the American Civil War. State contractors later acquired gold from Lumpkin County to gild the dome of the current state capitol building in Atlanta.

Agriculture and agritourism are top business industries. In addition, vineyards have been developed here and, since the mid-1990s, Lumpkin County has been recognized as "the heart of Georgia wine country."^{[citation needed]} The county features several vineyards and five licensed wineries, which attract many tourists. In 2015, state senator Steve Gooch introduced Georgia Senate Resolution 125, officially recognizing Lumpkin County as the Wine Tasting Room Capital of Georgia.

The historic Dahlonega Square is also a popular destination. It has gift shops, restaurants, art galleries and artists' studios, and additional tasting rooms.

Lumpkin County is the home of the U.S. Army's Camp Frank D. Merrill, the base of the 5th Ranger Training Battalion of the U.S. Army Ranger School's mountain phase. Camp Frank D. Merrill is located in the northern end of the county, within the Blue Ridge Wildlife Management Area of the Chattahoochee National Forest.

Three veterans' organizations are located in Lumpkin County, to serve the veterans and the community: the Heyward Fields American Legion Post 239, the US Army Mountain Ranger Association, and the Lumpkin and White County Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5533.