Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Gumlog, GA

Gumlog is an unincorporated lakeside community and census-designated place in the northeast corner of Franklin County, Georgia.

Gumlog carries the motto 'Land of Spirits,' a nod to its famous moonshine heritage — the remote area was long known as a prolific producer of corn whiskey, and bootlegging flourished there during Prohibition.

One origin story for the name says early settlers held Franklin County's first court sitting on benches made of sweet-gum logs — the 'Gum Log Court' — while another says Gumlog translates an Indigenous name meaning 'Sweet-Gum Settlement.'

Franklin County's first court was held at the home of Warren Philpot on Gumlog Creek, presided over by chief justice George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Gumlog consists of extensive residential neighborhoods along the shores of Lake Hartwell on the Savannah River, and its northeastern border is the centerline of the lake, which also forms the Georgia-South Carolina state line.

Tugaloo State Park occupies a peninsula on Lake Hartwell in the eastern part of the Gumlog CDP.

Gumlog first appeared as a census-designated place in the 1990 census, and as of the 2020 census it had a population of 2,358.

The 2020 census counted 1,027 households and 1,580 housing units in Gumlog, with about 35 percent of homes vacant — reflecting the many seasonal and lake houses in the community.

The CDP covers about 16.1 square miles, of which 2.6 square miles is water, and the Census Bureau classified all of Gumlog's residents as rural in 2020.

Georgia Highway 328, known locally as Gumlog Road, is nearly the only way in and out of the community, running about 10 miles from Lavonia and crossing the Gumlog Cove branch of Lake Hartwell.