At the
time Union county was formed there was a fierce political strife between the nullifiers and the Union men, and
the new county was called Union because of the devotion of its people to the union of States and the sympathy of
a Union Legislature with their views.
The account we have given of Gilmer is suited to Union, for there is but little difference between the two counties.
Mountains, only broken into by small and narrow valleys, cover the county.
The people were mainly emigrants from North Carolina and generally poor, and the farms are generally sterile. Along
the river there are some beautiful valleys and some bodies of excellent land.
Blairsville, the county site, is quite a small village peopled by some very good people.
There are a few gold mines in the county which have now and then produced a good yield of gold, but the mining
resources of the county are limited.
There were only a few slaves in the county when the emancipation proclamation was issued.
The settlers in Union are of the same class as those who inhabit the other counties written of. They have the best
Virginia and North Carolina names. There are no people in Georgia of better blood than these mountaineers, and
from the families of this hill country have gone men of brawn and brain to all sections of the southern country.
Union has been long difficult to reach. Lying in the lap of the Blue Ridge, with mountains on all sides, it has
been out of the lines of travel. There was little for its first inhabitants to do save to make a plain livelihood
by farming, and they have been content with small returns from their labors. They made but little for market. Some
cabbages, some apples, a few cattle and a little bacon were about all they had to sell. They lived among themselves
and by the aid of their own resources. There has been a steady improvement among them for some years, and when
a railway opens a market for the fine timber, and when fruit is grown for market and the charming scenery of the
country draws the tourist, Union will be appreciated as it deserves to be.
