East Ellijay is a city in

Gilmer County, Georgia Gilmer County is a county in the Northwest region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, its population was 31,353. The county seat is Ellijay. named for a historic Cherokee town also spelled as Elejoy in the 18th century. The c ...

, United States. The population was 546 at the 2010 census, down from 707 in 2000. East Ellijay was originally the location of Fort Hetzel, one of the Cherokee removal forts built in 1838 to house the Cherokee people before sending them on the "

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

Geography

East Ellijay is bordered to the north and west by the city of Ellijay. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land. Georgia State Route 5/

515 __NOTOC__ Year 515 ( DXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Florentius and Anthemius (or, less frequently, year 1268 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominatio ...

, a four-lane bypass of Ellijay, runs the length of East Ellijay from north to south. U.S. Route 76 follows Routes 5/515 in the northern half of East Ellijay. The city of Blue Ridge is to the northeast,

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

is to the south, and Chatsworth is to the west.

Georgia State Route 52 State Route 52 (SR 52) is a state highway that travels west to east through portions of Whitfield, Murray, Gilmer, Dawson, Lumpkin, Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In t ...

runs southeast from East Ellijay to Dahlonega. The town lies on the southern border of the

Chattahoochee National Forest The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a rela ...

. The

Cartecay River } The Cartecay River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 27, 2011 river that runs into Ellijay, Georgia, Ellijay, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, in Gilmer Count ...

, a tributary of the Coosawattee River, flows from east to west through East Ellijay.

Demographics

At the 2000

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, there were 707 people, 251 households and 159 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 265 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 68.60%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.26% Native American, 2.97%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 22.35% from other races, and 3.82% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 33.38% of the population. There were 251 households, of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.0% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.18. Age distribution was 24.5% under the age of 18, 16.0% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 120.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 127.2 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

was $35,875, and the median family income was $38,594. Males had a median income of $20,341 versus $20,000 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $13,934. About 14.6% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 16.8% of those under age 18 and 15.9% of those age 65 or over.

References

*Mooney, James. ''Myths of the Cherokee'' (1900, reprint 1995). {{authority control Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Cities in Gilmer County, Georgia