Many settlers worked in regional coke and coal mines that contributed to development of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, area.

The area was long isolated by its geography of mountains and rivers, which some historians say contributed to early residents' separatist attitudes.

For the first century of Dade County's existence, no road connected it directly to the rest of Georgia, so visitors from elsewhere in the state had to reach it by way of Alabama or Tennessee.

Dade County had a short-lived state secessionist movement before the American Civil War.

In 1860, county residents wanted to secede from the Union, but lawmakers for the state of Georgia were cautious.

Legend has it that in 1860, the people of Dade County were so impatient that they announced their own secession from both Georgia and the United States.

[7] On July 4, 1945, a telegram from President Harry S. Truman was read at a celebration marking the county's "rejoining" the Union.

Although he greatly influenced the literary works of Mark Twain, William Faulkner,[10] and Flannery O'Connor,[11] his grave was not verified and given a marker until 2008.

Shortly after the Georgia State Quarter was released by the US Mint, Dade County gained attention because of an apparent mistake in the design.

Some accounts in 2012 suggest the exclusion was intended to refer to the local legend of Dade County's secession from Georgia.

[14] As of the 2020 United States census, there were 16,251 people, 6,195 households, and 4,539 families residing in the county.

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 16,633 people, 6,291 households, and 4,462 families living in the county.

It voted Democratic in every presidential election until 1964, when the county turned towards conservative Republican Barry Goldwater.

In 1972, Dade was Richard Nixon's strongest county nationwide in his 2,900-plus-county landslide over George McGovern.