Walker County

Walker County

Walker County

County Formed: December 18,1833
County Seat: LaFayette
Incorporated Cities: Chickamauga, LaFayette, Lookout Mountain, and Rossville
Total Area: 446.3 square miles
Current Population Estimates (2009):1

  • Walker County – 64,983
  • Chickamauga – 2,621
  • LaFayette – 7,529
  • Lookout Mountain – 1,517
  • Rossville – 3,390

Community SnapshotHistory:2

Walker County, the 99th county created in the state, was formed from part of Cherokee County in 1833. It was named after Major Freeman Walker of Augusta, a lawyer and U.S. Senator.

Walker County is home to the John B. Gordon Hall which is the oldest standing brick school building in Georgia, completed in 1836.

Points of Interest:

Walker County has two of Georgia’s top 25 tourist attractions: Chickamauga-Chattanooga Battlefield National Park and Rock City Gardens.

Notable Citizens:

There are several notable people from Walker County including John Ross who was the “Principle Chief” of the Cherokees for forty years. He also served in the War of 1812 under Andrew Jackson. Another interesting person from Walker County was Garnet Carter, the inventor of the first miniature golf course, which was on top of Lookout Mountain. He was also the leading force behind the Rock City attraction.

Higher Education:

Northwestern Technical College and Covenant College.

Annual Events:

Some of the local festivals are the John Ross Festival, Chickamauga Christmas in the Streets, Downtown Days, the Freedom Festival and the LaFayette Downtown Christmas Parade.

Additional Resources:

  1. Source: Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/popest.estimates.html; County Estimate Source: Table 1: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties for Georgia: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2010 (CO-EST2009-01-13) Release Date: March 2010.  Incorporated Estimate Source: Table 4: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Georgia: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009 (SUB-EST2009-04-13) Release Date: September 2010. [↩]
  2. Georgia Department of Community Affairs [↩]