Dalton lies in the northwestern portion of Georgia in the southeastern region of the United States. Officially established in 1847, the town was named after Tristam Dalton, a Harvard graduate, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and U.S. Senator. Dalton owes much of its early growth to the completion of the Western and Atlantic Railroad in 1850. Nicknamed the "Carpet Capital of the World", nearly 90 percent of the functional carpet produced on the globe comes from within a 65-mile radius of this city.http://www.cityofdalton-ga.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=113&Itemid=65

Due to the invention of the automobile in the twentieth century, a home-based cottage industry sprouted along "Peacock Alley", the local name for U.S. Highway 41 near Dalton. This newly paved road ran from Copper Harbor, Michigan to Miami, Florida, and contributed to the growing carpet economy of the Georgian city. Carpet mills remain major employers of the area.http://daltoncvb.com/history.html

Cherokee Indians originally held the land that makes up the city of Dalton until their forced removal in 1838, an event later referred to as the Trail of Tears. Soon afterward, a railroad intended to connect the Tennessee and Chattahoochee Rivers began to be built.http://daltoncvb.com/history.html Edward White, grandson of Tristam Dalton, renamed the town Dalton in 1847, placing the Western and Atlantic Railroad depot at the center of town.http://www.cityofdalton-ga.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=113&Itemid=65 With a proximity to a pivotal railroad, Dalton's population grew. In the early twentieth century, a woman named Catherine Whitner founded Evans Mills, which used a revolutionary tufting technique that was eventually developed into machine production. These same machines would be converted to produce the wall-to-wall carpet that became popular in the 1950s, allowing Dalton to become a major carpet manufacturer.http://www.daltoncvb.com/carpetindustry.html

Dalton lies at latitude 34˚ 77'N and longitude 84˚ 97'W. The town is the county seat of Whitfield County.http://georgia.hometownlocator.com/ga/whitfield/dalton.cfm With a land area of 19.8 square miles at an average altitude of 726 feet, Dalton offers an annual temperature of 60.1F and average monthly precipitation of 4.71 inches.http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/home/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/30720

Dalton is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northeast Georgia, approximately 87 miles from Atlanta.http://www.daltoncvb.com/faq.html

• Roland Hayes Museum: This museum honors the life of African-American classical singer, Roland Hayes.http://www.cgarts.org/RolandHayesMuseum/tabid/787/Default.aspx
• Tunnel Hill Heritage Center: Explores one of the South's oldest railroad tunnels located ten miles north of Dalton.http://www.tunnelhillheritagecenter.com/hcmuseum.htm
• Prater's Mill: Water-powered mill built in 1855.http://www.pratersmill.org/
• The Chieftains Trail: A collection of Native American sites throughout northwest Georgia.http://chieftainstrail.com/

• Deborah Norville: Television broadcasterhttp://dnorville.com/page.php?page=appearances
• Morris Almond: Athletehttp://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1330002548126/noticia/Noticia/Morris_Almond_signs_with_Real_Madrid.htm
• Mitchell Boggs: Athletehttp://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=29152
• Jeff Burr: Film directorhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0123009/
• Lane Davies: Actorhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0203810/
• Mike Erwin: Actorhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0991437/
• Carey Parrish: Writerhttp://www.careyparrish.com/AboutTheAuthor.html