Waleska, Georgia

Waleska, Georgia
City
Waleska city hall
Location in Cherokee County and the state of Georgia
Coordinates: 34°19′5″N 84°33′11″W / 34.31806°N 84.55306°W / 34.31806; -84.55306Coordinates: 34°19′5″N 84°33′11″W / 34.31806°N 84.55306°W / 34.31806; -84.55306
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Cherokee
Area
• Total	1.46 sq mi (3.79 km2)
• Land	1.46 sq mi (3.77 km2)
• Water	0.008 sq mi (0.02 km2)
Elevation	1,109 ft (338 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	644
• Density	442/sq mi (170.7/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	30183
Area code(s)	770/678/470
FIPS code	13-79948
GNIS feature ID	0333342
Website	cityofwaleska.com

Waleska (/wɔːˈlɛskə/ waw-LES-kə) is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 644 at the 2010 census.

The first white settlement in the Waleska area began in the early 1830s. Among these first pioneer settlers were the Reinhardt, Heard and Rhyne families, who moved into the region looking for fresh, fertile farm land. At first, these settlers lived among the Cherokee population already established in the area, but by 1838 all of the Cherokee had been forced westward to Oklahoma in the U.S. government relocation movement known as the Trail of Tears.

Early settler Lewis W. Reinhardt established a church in 1834 in the settlement known as Reinhardt Chapel and befriended many of the native Cherokee population. When the Trail of Tears forced the movement of Warluskee, the daughter of a local Cherokee chief and friend of Reinhardt's, westward, he named this settlement in her honor (see Funk Heritage Center below).

In 1883, Augustus M. Reinhardt, an Atlanta lawyer, former Confederate captain, and son of one of the founders of Waleska, along with his brother-in-law, former Civil War Lieutenant-Colonel John J. A. Sharp, founded Reinhardt Academy in Waleska for the impoverished children of Cherokee County. This school eventually became Reinhardt University.