
Free Home, GA
Water Damage in Free Home, GA: Where the Little River Starts
Free Home sits where Georgia 20 meets Georgia 372, roughly halfway between Canton and Cumming, and Wikipedia says the Little River starts just southeast of it. The county's 2023 plan calls the area rural, which makes the sewer-or-septic question the first one to settle. The sewage backup page explains who answers for each. Call (678) 658-3988 when the room is safe.
Free Home in the numbers that exist
- 13 ftflood stage listed for the Free Home gauge on Settingdown CreekNational Weather Service, 2009 flood table
- 14.23 ftthat gauge's crest on the morning of 22 September 2009National Weather Service
- 55.58 inrain in a year at the Canton gauge, about 12 miles west, adding its twelve monthly normalsNOAA 1991-2020
- 3.6days a year with 2 inches of rain or more at the Canton gaugeNOAA 1991-2020
- 77.3%of Cherokee County homes owner-occupied, 2020-2024Census Bureau QuickFacts
- $1,799county median gross rent, 2020-2024Census Bureau QuickFacts
What to say about a rural address
Say this first
Give the road name and the nearest highway crossing, since mailing addresses in the area may not match the community name. Say whether the house runs on a septic tank or a sewer line, and whether a well or a water bill supplies it. Add the wet room and the time water first showed. A rented home goes to the owner or manager first; the line serves owners and landlords.
A creek gauge in September 2009
In the National Weather Service's table for the September 2009 floods, the Free Home gauge on Settingdown Creek has a 13-foot flood stage. It stayed above that from the afternoon of the 21st until the morning of the 22nd and crested at 14.23 feet at 5:45 a.m. The nearest rain gauge in the normals set is in Canton, about 12 miles west by its coordinates, where heavy days of 2 inches or more average 3.6 a year.
Offices that answer here
Free Home is an unincorporated community, so building questions go to the Cherokee County Development Service Center at (770) 721-7810. The residential page lists renovations, additions and basement finishes among permit work and carpeting, painting and tiling among exempt work. The county FAQ sends water and sewer questions for unincorporated addresses to the Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority, 770-479-1813, and septic questions to Environmental Health, 770-479-0444.
For creek flooding, the county's floodplain page lists the stormwater line at 678-493-6074 and says FEMA revised the flood maps on 7 June 2019. The offices page has the full list.

The houses in this town
The pages read for Free Home give no home count, no median build year and no renter share, so none appears here. The county's 2023 plan describes a rural target area along Cumming Highway from the Forsyth County line, with traffic congestion and a lack of community facilities among its concerns. Wikipedia names Free Home Elementary School in the community. Across Cherokee County the 2020-2024 estimate is 77.3 percent owner-occupied, with a median gross rent of $1,799. On rural parcels, the first practical question after water arrives is whether the lot has a sewer line or a tank.
A crossroads named for a land offer
Wikipedia says Captain Delevan Lively offered land to anyone willing to build a house on it, and the community took its name from that arrangement. The same article puts the community at Georgia 20 and Georgia 372, with the head of the Little River just southeast.
Side notes
- Wikipedia, Free Home, Georgia
- Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Cherokee County Comprehensive Plan Update (adopted 15 Aug 2023)
- National Weather Service Peachtree City, The Epic Floods of 2009
- NOAA NCEI, U.S. Monthly Climate Normals 1991-2020, Canton GA station (USC00091585)
- NOAA NCEI, climate normals station search around Canton GA
- Cherokee County, Floodplain Information
- Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority, home page
- Cherokee County, Septic and Public Utilities (zoning FAQ)
- North Georgia Health District, Environmental Health
- Cherokee County, Residential Permits
- Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Cherokee County, Georgia (ACS 2020-2024)
- Cherokee County, Septic System and Stormwater Information
Checked 1 Nov 2026