The 1836 Lumpkin County Courthouse is now
the Dahlonega Gold Museum.
To me, the northeast Georgia town with the unusual name of Dahlonega has always been one of the state's most interesting small cities. (The name, by the way, means "yellow earth" -- the Cherokee word for gold.) It is forever tied to the discovery of gold in the north Georgia mountains and America's first gold rush.
In 1828, gold was discovered in nearby Auraria (the name means "city of gold"). By 1829, more than a thousand miners had flooded into the area. Auraria was the county seat from 1828 to 1832, and boasted 20 saloons, five hotels, and a newspaper.
The general store in Auraria was built as a tavern in 1830.
The county seat was moved to Dahlonega in 1832, and now nothing is left of Auraria except one of the taverns, which stayed in business as a general store into the 1980s. It is still standing, but not in good condition. Some person or organization needs to step up and do an intervention or this historically significant building will be lost.
The Georgia gold rush ended in 1849, when gold was discovered in California and the miners left en masse, even though the Dahlonega Mint assayer Dr. M.F. Stephenson stood on the courthouse steps and tried to persuade miners to stay in Dahlonega by telling them, "There's millions in it," usually misquoted as "Thar's gold in them thar hills!" He was no doubt correct, as the "Mother Lode" has never been found.
Robbie and Jennifer panning for gold at Crisson's Gold Mine.
Did you know you can still prospect for gold in the area? My wife and I spent an enjoyable afternoon with two of our grandchildren panning for gold at Crisson's Gold Mine, which has been in business since 1847. We did in fact, find some gold, some of which my wife incorporated into her wedding band when she had it recast. At Consolidated Gold Mines, you can not only pan for gold, but also take a tour of the largest underground gold mine east of the Mississippi.
The photos: The old courthouse/gold museum was photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Classic with the Canon EF 17-35L lens. For the old store in Auraria I used an Olympus E-M5 with the Panasonic 14-140mm lens, and for the photo of my grandchildren panning gold I used a Canon EOS A2 film camera.
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Photography and text copyright 2011-2025 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.
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