Macedonia, Georgia

Coordinates: 34°55′5.92″N 83°43′27.85″W / 34.9183111°N 83.7244028°W

Macedonia is an unincorporated community along Georgia Highway 20 in eastern Cherokee County, Georgia, United States approximately 6 miles east of the county seat, Canton, Georgia. The center of Macedonia is approximately 45 miles north of Atlanta via I-75/I-575, or 35 miles via GA 400. Straight-line distance indicates mileage of 31 miles from the center of downtown Atlanta.

One theory as to how the community got its name is from Macedonia Baptist Church which was established in the late 1870s; from there an elementary school along Dock Lathem Trail (now closed) was also called Macedonia. Macedonia also had a second elementary school along Cokers Chapel Road prior to the present Macedonia Elementary School built in 1956. Macedonia Elementary underwent a significant renovation and a new schoolhouse was built in 1997 to accommodate the explosive growth.

Economy

Since the early 1990s, the Macedonia community has become a hotbed of suburban growth with a mix of residential and commercial development. One major residential development is the Woodmont Country Club, which has over 900 houses and the community's first golf course (privately owned). With Macedonia having a largely rural history, most of the older residents do not live in a subdivision; some residents still own vast amounts of farmland. Since 2002, many commercial developments have been built such as Kroger grocery store, Wells Fargo Bank, McDonald's Restaurant, Waffle House, and several other outparcels. Walgreens Drug Store has also expressed interest in the area. Macedonia has a convenience store that used to also be used as a very small grocery store before Kroger was built. Macedonia Foods has been in operation since the 1980s but has since been bought out by BP and is now primarily a gas station. Prior to 2002, the closest significant commercial development was in the city of Canton.

Transportation

Macedonia is accessible from Exit 19 on Interstate 575 or Exits 7 though 11 on Georgia Highway 400. Its main intersection is with East Cherokee Drive, which runs from south of Ball Ground to north of Woodstock along a high-growth corridor.

Georgia Highway 20 is a very heavily traveled east-west corridor in extreme suburban Atlanta. Traffic counts from the GDOT indicate traffic can increase to 25,000 vehicles per day. With the route being exclusively a two-lane road from I-575 to well into Forsyth County, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has indications to widen the highway within a "long-range" plan. In January 2011, construction had begun on truck climbing lanes from Union Hill Road to SR 369. With the intersection of East Cherokee Drive and SR 20 being encompassed by a cemetery and church, it's rumored that a bypass will be built to the north of the current intersection since the DOT cannot destroy churches or cemeteries. Macedonia was also discussed as being a part of the now supposedly defunct Northern Arc highway plan. The Northern Arc was discussed in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a bypass for I-285 in Atlanta and Highway 20 in Bartow, Cherokee, and Forsyth Counties. The Northern Arc was to run just north of Highway 20, having a major interchange with I-75 in Bartow County, I-575 in Cherokee County, GA 400 in Forsyth County, and I-85 in Gwinnett County. The highway was part of a more expanded plan to have an outer perimeter highway around the exurbs of Atlanta.

Macedonia is split between the zip codes of 30107 (Ball Ground) and 30114, 30115 (Canton). Any area lying north of Georgia Highway 20 is regarded as Ball Ground and anything lying south or along the highway is in the Canton zip code.

Education

There are several schools serving the community, including Macedonia Elementary School (built 1956) , Creekland Middle School (built 2004) , and Creekview High School.

Religion

There are three active churches in the area: Macedonia Baptist (est. 1876), Morning Star Church (est. 2002) , and a Presbyterian Church (est. 2011)

Subdivisions