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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Rainbow Springs ...

Rainbow Springs is located in Macon County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Rainbow Springs, you might consider that their post office opened in 1924.

A typical abbreviation for Rainbow Springs: Rainbow Spgs. (or less commonly used: Rainbow Spngs. or Rainbow Sprngs.)

Rainbow Springs is 3,310 feet [1,009 m] above sea level.<2> In other words, the elevation of Rainbow Springs is about ¾ mile [or 1 km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Rainbow Springs lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for Rainbow Springs: 828

Communities near Rainbow Springs ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Rainbow Springs.

  • Franklin
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Clayton
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Clayton is located in Rabun County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,103 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clayton <3>
  • Andrews
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Young Harris
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Mountain City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Hiawassee
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Hayesville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Tiger
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Tiger is located in Rabun County (GA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tiger
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 418 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tiger <3>
  • Dillard
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Sky Valley
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Rainbow Springs. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Rainbow Springs.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Rainbow Springs. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Rainbow Springs.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Rainbow Springs. See our Newspapers Page for Rainbow Springs.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Rainbow Springs ...

Looking for more information about Rainbow Springs? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Rainbow Springs, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Rainbow Springs.

Adding Rainbow Springs to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Rainbow Springs in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Rainbow Springs was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<4>

From that list, the Rainbow Springs post office opened in 1924. The Rainbow Springs post office closed in 1946.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Rainbow Springs.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of North Carolina's counties, including Macon, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Rainbow Springs - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/