Cornelia, Georgia

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Cornelia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30531. It lies near Chenocetah Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Clarkesville quadrangle. 4,503 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,499 feet above sea level.

Cornelia within Habersham County

On record in Cornelia

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 5 records

Chenocetah Fire Towerlisted 1984
Cornelia Community Houselisted 1982
Loudermilk Boarding Houselisted 2001
Cornelia Commercial Historic Districtlisted 2022
Irvin General Merchandise Storelisted 1984

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 18 printed sheets

Matched 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.

1886 USGS Dahlonega quadrangle1:125000
1892 USGS Dahlonega quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
1896 USGS Dahlonega quadrangle1:125000
1903 USGS Dahlonega quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
1954 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1958 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000
1964 USGS Clarkesville quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1981 USGS Toccoa quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Photographs

3 photographs, 1936

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Apple monument at depot of Cornelia, Georgia
Mydans, Carl, photographer, 1936. Library of Congress

Waterwheel at active grist mill. Owner is Logan Maxwell. It is three miles from Cornelia, Georgia
Mydans, Carl, photographer, 1936. Library of Congress

Terracing and cotton patch with Appalachian Mountains in the distance. Near Cornelia, Georgia
Mydans, Carl, photographer, 1936. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

224 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 224 fires within 5 miles of Cornelia between 1992 and 2020, burning about 325 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 37 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
Debris and open burning	121
Arson/incendiarism	37
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	14
Equipment and vehicle use	13
Railroad operations and maintenance	12
Misuse of fire by a minor	10
Smoking	7
Natural	6
Recreation and ceremony	4

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
8 September 1997	Smoking	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
26 September 1999	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
15 September 2010	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2011-BANKS-001
12 September 2002	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2003-HABERSHAM-013
6 August 2010	Natural	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2011-HABERSHAM-001
3 August 2007	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
29 August 2014	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2015-HABERSHAM-001
29 August 1997	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Habersham County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Cornelia: 2 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron, Manganese. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
J.P.Fort Property	Manganese	Past Producer	Residual
Piedmont College Farm	Iron	Past Producer	Residual
Habersham Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Stamborough Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer

Every working recorded in Habersham County

Storms near this place

28 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cornelia in 28 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 13 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 3 tornado, 2 flash 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
June 1994	Tornado (F1)	Cornelia	$500,000	A tornado touched down and destroyed one brick home, three mobile homes, one business and moderately damaged three additional homes. The three homes moderately damaged suffered primarily roof and glass damage. Also, several trees were snapped midway from the crown and numerous power lines were downed from the tornadic winds.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	$100,000	Damage, reported as moderate to major, to 8 buildings, mainly around the Lakeview Heights section between Cornelia and Mt Airy. Numerous trees were either uprooted or had their tops blown out. Several trees fell on homes and power lines.
February 1997	Tornado (F1)	Cornelia	$100,000	no account filed
September 2004	Tornado (F1)	Cornelia	$2,000	This tornado blew down numerous trees and power lines along its 2-mile track.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	$1,000	Trees and power lines were blown down.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	$500	A few large trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
April 2025	Hail	Cornelia	-	County comms reported quarter size hail in the town of Cornelia.
June 2025	Hail	Cornelia	-	Public reported quarter size hail.
April 2021	Hail	Cornelia	-	Public reported lots of 3/4 inch hail between Mt Airy and Demorest.
March 2017	Hail	Cornelia	-	Radio station reported quarter size hail.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	-	County comms reported trees blown down on Locke Rd and on Chase Rd on the north side of Cornelia.
May 2014	Hail	Cornelia	-	Public reported up to half dollar size hail near Alto.
May 2014	Hail	Cornelia	-	Multiple public reports of dime to nickel size hail were received from the Alto area, including one report on Nantucket Dr (6 WSW Cornelia).
July 2009	Flash Flood	Cornelia	-	Flooding along South Fork Mud Creek caused water to pool to waist-depth on Hoyt St in Cornelia.
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	-	Trees were blown down in the Cornelia area.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	-	A large tree, some large limbs, and power lines were blown down between Cornelia and Mt Airy.
January 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	-	Four to five large pine trees blown down on Crane Mill Rd. Also, power lines were blown down in Mt Airy and in Cornelia.
February 2005	Hail	Cornelia	-	Mainly dime sized hail with a few larger stones.
July 2005	Lightning	Cornelia	-	Lightning struck a building, igniting a fire that gutted the building.
July 2005	Hail	Cornelia	-	Hail ranged in size from quarters to golfballs.
November 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	-	A few trees down in and around Mt. Airy and Cornelia.
September 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Cornelia	-	A couple of trees were blown down.
June 2011	Hail	Cornelia	-	no account filed
September 2010	Hail	Cornelia	-	no account filed
August 2005	Hail	Cornelia	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	Cornelia	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Cornelia	-	no account filed
October 1997	Flash Flood	Cornelia	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Habersham County

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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Baldwin	1.5 miles	14
Mount Airy	1.5 miles	18
Wilbanks Corner	2.4 miles	14
Stottsville	2.5 miles	18
Longview	3.6 miles	14
New Switzerland	3.7 miles	18
Demorest	3.8 miles	18
Hughesboro (historical)	4.6 miles	14

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 Cornelia	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1858978	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 355323. 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.