According to the United States Census Bureau, the Gumlog CDP has a total area of 16.1 square miles (41.6 km2), of which 13.4 square miles (34.8 km2) is land and 2.6 square miles (6.8 km2), or 16.32%, is water.[4]Tugaloo State Park occupies a peninsula on Lake Hartwell in the eastern part of the CDP.
Georgia Highway 328, known locally as Gumlog Road, is nearly the only way in and out of the community of Gumlog. It is 10 miles (16 km) long and crosses over the Gumlog Cove branch of Lake Hartwell. Gumlog Road runs from Highway 59 in Lavonia to a junction with Highway 17 in Avalon. Gumlog Creek also starts near the same junction in Avalon. Avalon[7] was going to be named "Gumlog" after Gumlog Creek, but when the charter came back from the State Legislature, the name had been changed instead to Avalon.
Gumlog, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 2,025 people, 849 households, and 625 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 149.0 inhabitants per square mile (57.5/km2). There were 1,430 housing units at an average density of 105.2 per square mile (40.6/km2). The racial makeup of the community was 92.69% White, 4.40% African American, 0.94% Native American, 1.14% from other races, and 0.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.53% of the population.
There were 849 households, out of which 26.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.6% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% were non-families. 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.78.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 20.2% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 30.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.9 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $39,609, and the median income for a family was $42,813. Males had a median income of $29,405 versus $25,139 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $20,859. About 6.0% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.
Historical notes
What is in a Name
Some say Gumlog is an amateur translation of the Indian name "tsilalu hi", meaning "Sweet-Gum Settlement." Others say the name comes from the sweet-gum tree logs early settlers used for benches when they held their first court referred to as the Gum Log Court.[24]
First court in Franklin County
In 1785, the Yazoo land fraud caused the state of Georgia to surrender its claim on what is now Alabama and Mississippi. South Carolina took advantage of the situation to move the boundary with Georgia from the main branch of the Keowee River to the Tugaloo branch, absorbing some Franklin County territory. Like other Georgia counties at the time, Franklin County had to decide which land claims were legitimate and which were fraudulent. The first county court was held at the home of Warren Philpot on Gumlog Creek. George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was the court's chief justice.[25] The assistant justices were Jesse Walton, Benjamin Cleveland, Larkin Cleveland, and John Gorham.[26]
^Darney, Joseph Earl(1974), Mountain Spirits, Bright Mountain Books, Asheville, NC, ISBN0-914875-02-7, p.156,. “The community of Gumlog, located in a remote section of northeast Georgia along the South Carolina border, was known far and wide as a prolific producer of corn whiskey.”
^
Stepens County History(1996). Stephens County Historical Society, Inc. and Don Mills, Inc. Wadsworth Publishing, Waynesville, NC. Communities. p. 6,. by Dean, Imogene. "Conforming to a pattern of naming places according to the nearest stream, and since Gumlog Creek "rises here" the name of the post office was proposed as Gumlog." "During Prohibition, an easy symbiosis appeared to exist among bootleggers, law enforcement officials, and the rest of the community; this phenomenon was clear in the Gumlog/Avalon area. Remote creeks, wooded areas, traditional skills, wide demand for good inexpensive whiskey and a need for income greater than that provided by subsistence farming -- all supported an extensive culture of bootlegging. Gumlog/Avalon provided the same kind of service to the wider area that Golden Pond provided to Chicago during the AL Capone era. For the inexperience, vulnerable offender, federal imprisonment was an occupational hazard; from this area area offenders were often sent to Tallahassee, Florida or Chillicothe, Ohio."
^Alexander, Jerry L.(2006), Where Have All the Moonshiners Gone, Seneca, SC, ISBN 0-9763844-2-6, p.156,. “”GUMLOG, Georgia! The Land of Spirits!!! Where legends of illegal liquor making will never die... Early settlers held the first court here and sat on “Gum Log” benches, giving the area its name! But the lasting legend of Gumlog sprang from the many moonshine stills a-cooking here in the early to mid-1900s when hundreds of thousands of gallons were made, sold and shipped to nearby towns and cities.””
^Lake Living Magazine Volume 5, Issue 2(June 2003) Community News Papers, Inc, Athens, GA How Gumlog Got Its Name by Willis, Ross,. p.16,. “Well, it is said that Gumlog received its name from the gum tree logs that were cut and used as benches during the first sessions of the Franklin County Superior Court which was presided over by George Walton on the banks of a nearby creek.”
^History of Franklin County, Georgia, Library of Congress 85 52027 copyright 1986, fourth printing 2004. Franklin County Historical Society, POB 541 Carnesville, GA 30521. Part III The Courts, pg 151. "The same chief justice, who was elected by the assembly, served all superior courts."
