Gaylesville, Alabama
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Cedar Bluff-Gaylesville census division. It lies in ZIP code area 35973. It stands on Chattooga River. The Survey maps it on the Gaylesville quadrangle. 170 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 594 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGaylesville grew from 144 to 170 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 144 | |
| 2020 | 170 | +26 (+18%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 20 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1893 USGS Fort Payne quadrangle1:125000
- 1898 USGS Fort Payne quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Fort Payne quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1955 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Rome quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Gaylesville quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1981 USGS Rome quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
306 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 306 fires within 5 miles of Gaylesville between 1992 and 2017, burning about 4,800 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 216 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 216 |
| Debris and open burning | 54 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 9.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 4.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160929-23 |
| 25 September 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Gaylesville: 9 occurrences, 7 past producers, 2 prospects, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaylesville Area | Iron | Past Producer | Hematite | |
| J A Pilgrim Iron Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Rilgrim Land Area | Iron | Past Producer | Hematite | |
| Unnamed | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Unnamed Prospect | Iron | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
20 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gaylesville in 20 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 10 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 2 funnel cloud, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | $10,000 | Trees were blown down and minor structural damage occurred near SR 35 and CR 925. |
| May 1998 | Hail | Gaylesville | $10,000 | Golf ball size hail was reported in Gaylesville. |
| March 1997 | Hail | Gaylesville | $8,000 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | $5,000 | Several trees were blown down on near the intersection of County Road 91 and AL-68. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | $3,000 | Numerous trees were blown down around Gaylesville. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | $2,000 | Several trees were blown down near Gaylesville. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | $1,000 | A tree was blown down across Highway 68. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | $1,000 | Trees were blown down across AL-35 in Gaylesville. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | $1,000 | Several trees were blown down in Gaylesville. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | - | Trees were downed on the north side of Weiss Lake and in the Gaylesville area. The roof was blown of chicken houses just east of Gaylesville. |
| April 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | - | Trees and power lines were downed in the Gaylesville area, with one tree falling on a manufactured home. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gaylesville | - | Trees and power lines were downed in the Gaylesville area. |
| September 2022 | Flood | Gaylesville | - | Heavy rainfall along the Chattooga River basin caused flooding at several bridges and roadways near the river. |
| February 2005 | Hail | Gaylesville | - | Pea to quarter size hail covered the ground around the city of Gaylesville. |
| April 2005 | Funnel Cloud | Gaylesville | - | A funnel cloud was sighted near Gaylesville. |
| May 2005 | Hail | Gaylesville | - | Nickel size hail was observed near Gaylesville. The hail completely covered the ground. |
| October 2005 | Hail | Gaylesville | - | Penny size hail was reported near Gaylesville. |
| March 2003 | Funnel Cloud | Gaylesville | - | A funnel cloud was reported near Gaylesville. |
| April 2009 | Hail | Gaylesville | - | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | Gaylesville | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Acres | 1.8 miles | 20 | |
| Cornwall Furnace | 2.5 miles | 19 | |
| Grassland | 2.7 miles | 20 | |
| Lawrence | 2.8 miles | 19 | |
| Cornwall | 2.9 miles | 19 | |
| Sterling (historical) | 3.2 miles | 19 | |
| Hurley | 3.5 miles | 20 | |
| Farill | 3.7 miles | 17 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Gaylesville | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q68252 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 118879. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.








