Editing Ellijay, Georgia (section)

==History==
This area was long settled by cultures of indigenous peoples. It was known as part of the historic homeland of the [[Cherokee people]] until the US government's policy of ethnic cleansing of Native Americans from the Southern States saw them forcibly displaced to Oklahoma in 1838. They had a village here, at the confluence of the [[Ellijay River|Ellijay]] and [[Cartecay River|Cartecay]] Rivers, which together form the [[Coosawattee River]].  About 4,000 Cherokees died in the ensuing trek to Oklahoma.

Ellijay (sometimes formerly spelled "Elejoy") is the anglicized form or transliteration of the [[Cherokee]] name ''Elatseyi'', meaning "new ground".<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n116 117]}}</ref> Other sources say it means "green place".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yyMxAAAAIBAJ&pg=5700%2C4457103 | title=The Names Stayed | work=Calhoun Times and Gordon County News | date=August 29, 1990 | access-date=29 April 2015 | pages=64}}</ref>

Gilmer County was organized by territory cut from [[Cherokee County, Georgia|Cherokee County]] in 1832, and Ellijay was designated as its county seat in 1834.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA229 | title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=Routledge | date=May 13, 2013 | access-date=30 November 2013 | author=Hellmann, Paul T. | pages=229| isbn=978-1135948597 }}</ref> It was a fairly isolated and remote mountain community until the late 19th century. After the Marietta and Northern Georgia Railroad (later the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]]) was constructed through here in 1884, the railroad stimulated a boom in the timber industry by providing a profitable way to get lumber to markets. Many timber companies came into the area with their workers.

More than a century later, another major transportation improvement was construction of the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway ([[Georgia State Route 515|Georgia 515]], named for Georgia governor and U.S. Senator [[Zell Miller]]), which was completed in 1991.