Tidbits of Towns County History
Course Instructors Jerry A. Taylor, Towns County Historian and 

• Local place-names of Cherokee heritage
• The coming of Lake Chatuge
• History of Young Harris
• Finding the Forgotten - A History of the African American Families of Towns and Union Counties

Jerry Taylor is a native of Towns County, having lived in the shadow of Brasstown Bald all his life. He graduated from Towns County High School and YHC. He holds degrees from UGA, North Georgia College and University and Lincoln Memorial University. Jerry is retired after 32 years as a teacher at Towns County High School. He is a member of the Historical Society and is Towns County’s official historian. His home, known as the “The Organ Loft,” features his collection of antique reed organs.

Jason Edwards has been researching local and family history for almost 20 years. Although his family roots run deep in the Hiawassee and Brasstown Valleys, his great-grandparents, like many others, had to leave the area to find work, so he grew up west of Atlanta. But when he visited relatives in the mountains, he always felt that he was “at home.” In 2015 he moved to the area to attend Young Harris College, where he majored in history. He was the 2017 recipient of the Joseph Wilson Boone award for the most outstanding history major at the college, and when he graduated on May 6 of this year, he was awarded the Charles Clegg medal for the highest GPA in the graduating class, a 4.0. He has also served as president of the Paulding County Georgia Historical Society and is actively involved with the Towns County Historical Society. In 2008 he was appointed the Official Historian of Paulding County Georgia, and in 2016 he was appointed Deputy Historian of Towns County. Jason earned an MA in history from UNC - Chapel Hill in 2021.