Its Register listing is the Towns County Jail. Most of Hiawassee was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: maps from 1935 on and the census since 1880.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hiawassee is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hiawassee’s overall grade.
Georgia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Georgia town has 10.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Hiawassee’s 7.7 sits near the middle of its state (49% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Hiawassee’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Hiawassee was established along the route of the Unicoi Turnpike, a 1,000-year-old Native American trail. In the early 18th century, deerskins and furs were transported along the route from Tennessee to Savannah and Charleston for shipping to Europe. Hiawassee was originally inhabited by predominantly Cherokee peoples. The name of Hiawassee was originally derived from the Native American word ayuhwasi, meaning river and/or valley. A United States fur trade factory was built in present-day Hiawassee between 1807 and 1811.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Questions about Hiawassee’s history
What year was Hiawassee founded?
The Hiawassee post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hiawassee rank for history?
Hiawassee is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Hiawassee?
One place: the Towns County Jail (listed 1985).
How old are the homes in Hiawassee?
1% of Hiawassee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1993.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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