Canton, GA

The Etowah River crosses the center of Canton, the Cherokee County seat 40 miles north of downtown Atlanta by Interstates 575 and 75. The 2020 census counted 32,973 residents. The city’s history includes the forced removal of Cherokee people: by autumn 1838, federal troops marched those held at Fort Buffington toward Indian Territory along the Trail of Tears. During the Civil War, Union forces burned Canton between November 1 and 5, 1864, when the community had about 200 residents; the nearby railroad was a supply line between captured Chattanooga and Atlanta. Interstate 575 now follows the city’s eastern side. A satellite campus of Chattahoochee Technical College opened in Canton’s technology park in fall 2011.