BlockFortsonia, Georgia
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Elberton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30635. The Survey maps it on the Elberton East quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 15 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 Elberton quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1954 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Elberton quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Elberton East quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1979 USGS Abbeville quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
142 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 142 fires within 5 miles of Fortsonia between 1992 and 2020, burning about 525 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 7 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 | 82 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 14 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 6 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
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 1999 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 2 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2.6 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2012-ELBERT-004 |
| 18 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | 4.9 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 15 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 1993 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 7.7 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | not named |
| 12 September 2010 | Debris and open burning | 24 acres | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2011-ELBERT-004 |
| 11 September 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Georgia Forestry Commission | FY2002-ELBERT-003 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Fortsonia: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Granite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hedquist Pink Quarry Keystone Gr | Granite | Producer |
Storms near this place
11 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fortsonia in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 4 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2004 | Tornado (F1) | Fortsonia | 1 hurt, $100,000 | This tornado touched down near Fortsonia, causing damage to a house. A resident of the house received minor injuries. Damage was mainly restricted to trees along the the remainder of the path. |
| June 2025 | Tornado (EF1) | Fortsonia | $20,000 | NWS storm survey found a brief tornado touched down in Bobby Brown State Park, downing trees across Bobby Brown State Park Road before intensifying as it crossed Ranger Road. Dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted as the tornado approached a cove along the Savannah River. Some structural damage to pavilions occurred at the Bobby Brown Recreational Center before the tornado crossed the Savannah River into McCormick County, SC just east of Ranger Dr. |
| December 2015 | Flash Flood | Fortsonia | $1,000 | County comms reported minor flash flooding across the southern part of Elbert County, after around 2 inches of rain fell in just a few hours. Chastain Rd was closed, possibly due to flooding along a tributary of Wahachee Creek. Wahachee Creek also overflowed its banks and flooded Morgan Ln, briefly threatening a home. |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fortsonia | - | County comms reported numerous trees blown down between Elberton and Fortsonia. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fortsonia | - | Multiple trees were blown down in the southern part of the county. |
| August 2005 | Flash Flood | Fortsonia | - | A culvert collapsed on Sam Tate Rd due to flooding along Falling Creek. Several other roads were flooded around the area, mainly due to poor drainage. Also, the Broad River was out of its banks, but was not threatening any roads or other structures. |
| October 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fortsonia | - | Trees were blown down. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Fortsonia | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Fortsonia | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Fortsonia | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Fortsonia | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell | 1.8 miles | 12 | |
| Cauthen | 3.5 miles | 15 | |
| Stansell (historical) | 4.1 miles | 14 | |
| Middleton | 5.8 miles | 15 | |
| Beverly | 6.2 miles | 14 | |
| Pearl | 7.1 miles | 14 | |
| Silk Mills | 7.2 miles | 15 | |
| Huguenot (historical) | 7.7 miles | 13 |
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.
| Wikidata item Q122597895 | 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 331758. 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.