Hiawassee,
the county seat of Towns County, was incorporated on May 17, 1956. Hiawassee,
a Cherokee word meaning "meadow". The City of Hiawassee and the
Hiawassee River have long been popular tourist areas. In the 1800s through
the 1930s, wealthy families from the lowlands would "summer in the mountains"
to escape the heat and disease more prevalent in the larger populated areas.
