Mt. Vernon, the city of Jasper's first proposed name

This information is based on interviews conducted with Colonel Lemuel J. Allred and Mr. James Simmons, by the Ellijay Courier newspaper in 1887. Not long after Pickens County was carved out of Cherokee County and Gilmer in 1853 by legislation drafted by Colonel Lemuel Allred, a new town was proposed as the county seat. James Simmons, the former legislator who moved to the area in 1835 and lived in Colonel Haney Nelson's old Tavern along the Federal Road, originally proposed the name Mt. Vernon for the new town.

Mr. James Simmons, lived in Colonel Haney Nelson's tavern along the Federal Road for over 50 years by the time at the was interviewed at the age of 84 in 1887.

Col Lemuel Allred, 73 years old at the time of his interview, instead suggested the name Jasper, named after the Revolutionary war hero, Sergeant William Jasper, who died in the Siege of Savannah. The courts decided upon the latter, and as they say, the rest is history.