Dahlonega ( də-LON-ig-ə) is the county chair of Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,242, and in 2018 the population was estimated to be 6,884.

Dahlonega is located at the north halt of Georgia highway 400, a freeway which connects Dahlonega to Atlanta. Dahlonega was named as one of the best places to retire by the publication Real Estate Scorecard.

Dahlonega was the site of the first major Gold Rush in the United States initiation in 1829. The Dahlonega Gold Museum Historic Site which is located in the middle of the public square, was originally built in 1836 as the Lumpkin County Courthouse. In 1849, when local gold miners were as soon as heading west to partner the California Gold Rush, Dr. Matthew Fleming Stephenson, the assayer at the Dahlonega Branch Mint, tried to persuade miners to stay in Dahlonega. Standing upon the courthouse balcony and pointing at the distant Findley Ridge, Dr. Stephenson was recalled in his speech as saying: “Why mount up California? In yonder hill lies more riches than anyone ever dreamed of. There’s millions in it,” This phrase was repeated by those miners who did make the journey to California and was shared in the mining camps of the west. Years later, the pubescent Samuel Clemons improved known as the author Mark Twain, also heard of Stephenson’s phrase. Twain was fittingly enthralled by the phrase “There’s Millions In It,” that used it frequently in his tape The Gilded Age. Over time, the phrase has been misquoted to the more capably known “Thar’s gold in them thar hills.”

In 1829, the first documented discovery of gold was made in Georgia. As news of the discovery spread, thousands of would be gain rich Fast men flooded into the mountains looking for the yellowish-brown metal in the creeks and rivers. At that mature in history, the frontier of Georgia bordered the Cherokee Nation. During the winter of 1829-1830, white gold prospectors began illegally crossing the Chestatee River into the Cherokee Nation in search of gold. After objections were made to the Federal Indian Agent in the territory, United States troops were sent in to forcibly cut off the gold miners from the nation.