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Georgia 1 List
![Mitchell County was created out of Baker County on December 21, 1857. It is the state's 123rd county.[6]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_4b5c9d9137e14589bb7d3ffa94c8c290~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
Mitchell
1857
![Mitchell County was created out of Baker County on December 21, 1857. It is the state's 123rd county.[6]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_d9e1e2c9990848d48bb657ee1d997f00~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![Fulton County was created in 1853 from the western half of DeKalb County. It was named in honor of Robert Fulton, the man who created the first commercially successful steamboat in 1807.[4]
After the American Civil War, there was considerable violence against freedmen in the county. During the post-Reconstruction period, violence and the number of lynchings of blacks increased in the late 19th century, as whites exercised terrorism to re-establish and maintain white supremacy. Whites lynched 35 African Americans here from 1877 to 1950; according to the Georgia Lynching Project, 24 were killed in 1906. This was the highest total in the state.[5] With a total of 589, Georgia was second to Mississippi in its total number of lynchings in this period.[6]
In addition to individual lynchings, during the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, whites killed at least 25 African Americans; the number may have been considerably higher. Two white persons died during the riot; one a woman who died of a heart attack. The violence affected black residential and business development in the city afterward. The Georgia legislature effectively completed disenfranchisement of African Americans in 1908, with constitutional amendments that raised barriers to voter registration and voting, excluding them from the political system[citation needed].
At the beginning of 1932, as an austerity measure to save money during the Great Depression, Fulton County annexed Milton County to the north and Campbell County to the southwest, to centralize administration. That resulted in the current long shape of the county along 80 miles (130 km) of the Chattahoochee River. On May 9 of that year, neighboring Cobb County ceded the city of Roswell and lands lying east of Willeo Creek to Fulton County so that it would be more contiguous with the lands ceded from Milton County.
In the second half of the 20th century, Atlanta and Fulton county became the location of numerous national and international headquarters for leading companies, attracting highly skilled employees from around the country. This led to the city and county becoming more cosmopolitan and diverse.[citation needed]
In 1992, Fulton County elected the first African-American woman, Jacquelyn Harrison Barrett, to the position of Sheriff in the history of the United States.[citation needed]
In 2023, Fulton County received news for the arrest of rapper and Fulton County native Playboi Carti and for the indictment of former President Donald Trump by Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference case, along with other Trump associates such as Rudy Giuliani.[citation needed]
Geography
Garrett Lake, Mountain Park
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 534 square miles (1,380 km2), of which 527 square miles (1,360 km2) is land and 7.7 square miles (20 km2) (1.4%) is water.[7] The county is located in the Piedmont region of the state in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north. The shape of the county resembles a sword with its handle at the northeastern part, and the tip at the southwestern portion.
Going from north to south, the northernmost portion of Fulton County, encompassing Milton and northern Alpharetta, is located in the Etowah River sub-basin of the ACT River Basin (Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin). The rest of north and central Fulton, to downtown Atlanta, is located in the Upper Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The bulk of south Fulton County, from Atlanta to Palmetto, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding sub-basin of the larger ACF River Basin, with just the eastern edges of south Fulton, from Palmetto northeast through Union Hill to Hapeville, in the Upper Flint River sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin Communities
A map of all the cities within Fulton County, Georgia
A map of all the cities within Fulton County, Georgia
There are 15 cities within Fulton County. Four cities include land outside of the county (Atlanta, College Park, Palmetto, and Mountain Park) but still have their center of government and the majority of their land within Fulton County. After the formation of South Fulton in 2017, the only unincorporated part of the county is Fulton Industrial Boulevard, from roughly Fulton Brown Airport (Brown's Field) down to Fairburn Rd. (concurrent with GA-158 and GA-166)[9] This led to Fulton County becoming the first county in Georgia to suspend all city services.[10]
Cities
Alpharetta
Atlanta
Chattahoochee Hills
College Park
East Point
Fairburn
Hapeville
Johns Creek
Milton
Mountain Park
Palmetto
Roswell
Sandy Springs
South Fulton
Union City
Former unincorporated communities
Campbellton (now within South Fulton)
Ocee (now within Johns Creek)
Red Oak (now within South Fulton)
Sandtown (now within South Fulton)
Serenbe (village within Chattahoochee Hills)
Shake Rag (within Johns Creek)](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_712dc8c4ed16481eab6f0be4ce8dcfad~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_234,h_234,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Fulton
1853
![Fulton County was created in 1853 from the western half of DeKalb County. It was named in honor of Robert Fulton, the man who created the first commercially successful steamboat in 1807.[4]
After the American Civil War, there was considerable violence against freedmen in the county. During the post-Reconstruction period, violence and the number of lynchings of blacks increased in the late 19th century, as whites exercised terrorism to re-establish and maintain white supremacy. Whites lynched 35 African Americans here from 1877 to 1950; according to the Georgia Lynching Project, 24 were killed in 1906. This was the highest total in the state.[5] With a total of 589, Georgia was second to Mississippi in its total number of lynchings in this period.[6]
In addition to individual lynchings, during the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, whites killed at least 25 African Americans; the number may have been considerably higher. Two white persons died during the riot; one a woman who died of a heart attack. The violence affected black residential and business development in the city afterward. The Georgia legislature effectively completed disenfranchisement of African Americans in 1908, with constitutional amendments that raised barriers to voter registration and voting, excluding them from the political system[citation needed].
At the beginning of 1932, as an austerity measure to save money during the Great Depression, Fulton County annexed Milton County to the north and Campbell County to the southwest, to centralize administration. That resulted in the current long shape of the county along 80 miles (130 km) of the Chattahoochee River. On May 9 of that year, neighboring Cobb County ceded the city of Roswell and lands lying east of Willeo Creek to Fulton County so that it would be more contiguous with the lands ceded from Milton County.
In the second half of the 20th century, Atlanta and Fulton county became the location of numerous national and international headquarters for leading companies, attracting highly skilled employees from around the country. This led to the city and county becoming more cosmopolitan and diverse.[citation needed]
In 1992, Fulton County elected the first African-American woman, Jacquelyn Harrison Barrett, to the position of Sheriff in the history of the United States.[citation needed]
In 2023, Fulton County received news for the arrest of rapper and Fulton County native Playboi Carti and for the indictment of former President Donald Trump by Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference case, along with other Trump associates such as Rudy Giuliani.[citation needed]
Geography
Garrett Lake, Mountain Park
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 534 square miles (1,380 km2), of which 527 square miles (1,360 km2) is land and 7.7 square miles (20 km2) (1.4%) is water.[7] The county is located in the Piedmont region of the state in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north. The shape of the county resembles a sword with its handle at the northeastern part, and the tip at the southwestern portion.
Going from north to south, the northernmost portion of Fulton County, encompassing Milton and northern Alpharetta, is located in the Etowah River sub-basin of the ACT River Basin (Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin). The rest of north and central Fulton, to downtown Atlanta, is located in the Upper Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The bulk of south Fulton County, from Atlanta to Palmetto, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Lake Harding sub-basin of the larger ACF River Basin, with just the eastern edges of south Fulton, from Palmetto northeast through Union Hill to Hapeville, in the Upper Flint River sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin Communities
A map of all the cities within Fulton County, Georgia
A map of all the cities within Fulton County, Georgia
There are 15 cities within Fulton County. Four cities include land outside of the county (Atlanta, College Park, Palmetto, and Mountain Park) but still have their center of government and the majority of their land within Fulton County. After the formation of South Fulton in 2017, the only unincorporated part of the county is Fulton Industrial Boulevard, from roughly Fulton Brown Airport (Brown's Field) down to Fairburn Rd. (concurrent with GA-158 and GA-166)[9] This led to Fulton County becoming the first county in Georgia to suspend all city services.[10]
Cities
Alpharetta
Atlanta
Chattahoochee Hills
College Park
East Point
Fairburn
Hapeville
Johns Creek
Milton
Mountain Park
Palmetto
Roswell
Sandy Springs
South Fulton
Union City
Former unincorporated communities
Campbellton (now within South Fulton)
Ocee (now within Johns Creek)
Red Oak (now within South Fulton)
Sandtown (now within South Fulton)
Serenbe (village within Chattahoochee Hills)
Shake Rag (within Johns Creek)](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_a762d85486494f908800e429afa4bb41~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![DeKalb County (/dəˈkæb/ də-KAB, /diːˈ-/ dee-) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,382,[1] making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat is Decatur.[2]
DeKalb County is included in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta (the other 90% lies in Fulton County).[3] Stonecrest is the largest city that is entirely within the county. DeKalb is primarily a suburban county.
In recent years, some communities in North DeKalb have incorporated, following a trend in other suburban areas around Metro Atlanta. Stonecrest, Dunwoody and Brookhaven are now the largest cities that are entirely contained within the county.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_82066eddc414414c944e20577801ffd3~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_221,h_221,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
De Kalb
1822
![DeKalb County (/dəˈkæb/ də-KAB, /diːˈ-/ dee-) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,382,[1] making it Georgia's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat is Decatur.[2]
DeKalb County is included in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta (the other 90% lies in Fulton County).[3] Stonecrest is the largest city that is entirely within the county. DeKalb is primarily a suburban county.
In recent years, some communities in North DeKalb have incorporated, following a trend in other suburban areas around Metro Atlanta. Stonecrest, Dunwoody and Brookhaven are now the largest cities that are entirely contained within the county.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_5d3db7dd94364d1c987d66978311abe0~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Monroe
1921
Lamar
1920
Wilkinson
1803
Balldwin
1803
Twiggs
1809
Bleckley
1912
Laurens
1807
Wheeler
1912
Wilcox
1857
Crisp
1905
Lee
1825
Terrell
1856
Randolph
1828
![This area was historically occupied by the Creek Indians until Indian Removal in the 1830s. European Americans pushed them out and developed the land for cotton, bringing in thousands of African slaves to work the land.
The county is named in honor of Henry Clay,[3] famous American statesman, member of the United States Senate from Kentucky and United States Secretary of State in the 19th century. Part of the Black Belt geological formation of Georgia, prior to the American Civil War the county's chief commodity crop was cotton, cultivated and processed by farmers and African-American slaves. After the war, the economy continued to be agricultural, but timber was also harvested.
Clay was created by a February 16, 1854, act of the Georgia General Assembly, and organized from portions of Early and Randolph counties.[4]
Clay County's population is one-third of what it was in 1910.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 217 square miles (560 km2), of which 195 square miles (510 km2) is land and 22 square miles (57 km2) (10.1%) is water.[5]
The central and southwestern portions of Clay County, from west of Bluffton to northwest of Coleman, are located in the Lower Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The county's northwestern corner, which is bisected by State Route 39 running north from Fort Gaines, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Walter F. George Lake sub-basin of the same ACF River Basin. Just the very southeastern corner of Clay County is located in the Spring Creek sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin.[6]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_09602e8c4f20483e85124300e680fd43~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Clay
1854
![This area was historically occupied by the Creek Indians until Indian Removal in the 1830s. European Americans pushed them out and developed the land for cotton, bringing in thousands of African slaves to work the land.
The county is named in honor of Henry Clay,[3] famous American statesman, member of the United States Senate from Kentucky and United States Secretary of State in the 19th century. Part of the Black Belt geological formation of Georgia, prior to the American Civil War the county's chief commodity crop was cotton, cultivated and processed by farmers and African-American slaves. After the war, the economy continued to be agricultural, but timber was also harvested.
Clay was created by a February 16, 1854, act of the Georgia General Assembly, and organized from portions of Early and Randolph counties.[4]
Clay County's population is one-third of what it was in 1910.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 217 square miles (560 km2), of which 195 square miles (510 km2) is land and 22 square miles (57 km2) (10.1%) is water.[5]
The central and southwestern portions of Clay County, from west of Bluffton to northwest of Coleman, are located in the Lower Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The county's northwestern corner, which is bisected by State Route 39 running north from Fort Gaines, is located in the Middle Chattahoochee River-Walter F. George Lake sub-basin of the same ACF River Basin. Just the very southeastern corner of Clay County is located in the Spring Creek sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin.[6]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_9a555ff722244bf8a04ee818712c78c7~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![Dougherty County is included in the Albany, GA metropolitan statistical area. Historically dominated by cotton plantation agriculture in the nineteenth century, it is part of the Black Belt of the South. The county was created by the Georgia General Assembly on December 15, 1853, from a part of Baker County.[3] It was named after Charles Dougherty,[4] a respected judge and lawyer from Athens, Georgia. In 1854 and 1856 small areas were added from Worth County.
As noted above, the county was developed by European Americans using enslaved African Americans as workers for the production of cotton as a commodity crop. Its county seat of Albany, Georgia is located on the Flint River, which was originally the chief means of transportation for shipped products. Albany was later served by seven railroad lines, adding to its significance as a market center. The city was a center of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly during the early 1960s.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_3f01f5c00a0a412a86a49d3a0bd79f31~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
Dougherty
1853
![Dougherty County is included in the Albany, GA metropolitan statistical area. Historically dominated by cotton plantation agriculture in the nineteenth century, it is part of the Black Belt of the South. The county was created by the Georgia General Assembly on December 15, 1853, from a part of Baker County.[3] It was named after Charles Dougherty,[4] a respected judge and lawyer from Athens, Georgia. In 1854 and 1856 small areas were added from Worth County.
As noted above, the county was developed by European Americans using enslaved African Americans as workers for the production of cotton as a commodity crop. Its county seat of Albany, Georgia is located on the Flint River, which was originally the chief means of transportation for shipped products. Albany was later served by seven railroad lines, adding to its significance as a market center. The city was a center of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly during the early 1960s.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_a549e79cb676410caedfb02ffe31b224~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Calhoun County was named for John C. Calhoun, the seventh Vice President of the United States.[1] It was created from parts of Early and Baker counties on February 20, 1854.[2][3]
Rival political factions disagreed about whether the county seat should be in Concord, a community north of present-day Leary, or in Dickey, then known as Whitney. As a compromise, a spot halfway between Concord and Whitney was chosen for the county seat, and the town of Morgan was established there.[2]
In 1923 the state legislature moved the county seat to Arlington as directed by a county referendum. This decision was reversed in 1929, restoring Morgan as the county seat.[2]
Calhoun Memorial Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Arlington originally founded as a Hill-Burton hospital,[4] closed in 2013 after 62 years of operation.[5][6]
In 2008, members of the Downtown Business Authority in Arlington founded the South Georgia Regional Information Technology Authority (SGRITA) with help from the state government to provide wireless broadband service to several counties in rural southwest Georgia.[7][8] In 2017 SGRITA moved its office to Blakely in Early County.[9]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_262ea30225394894ae6de222c1e12ec5~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_253,h_253,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
Calhoun
1854
![History
Calhoun County was named for John C. Calhoun, the seventh Vice President of the United States.[1] It was created from parts of Early and Baker counties on February 20, 1854.[2][3]
Rival political factions disagreed about whether the county seat should be in Concord, a community north of present-day Leary, or in Dickey, then known as Whitney. As a compromise, a spot halfway between Concord and Whitney was chosen for the county seat, and the town of Morgan was established there.[2]
In 1923 the state legislature moved the county seat to Arlington as directed by a county referendum. This decision was reversed in 1929, restoring Morgan as the county seat.[2]
Calhoun Memorial Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Arlington originally founded as a Hill-Burton hospital,[4] closed in 2013 after 62 years of operation.[5][6]
In 2008, members of the Downtown Business Authority in Arlington founded the South Georgia Regional Information Technology Authority (SGRITA) with help from the state government to provide wireless broadband service to several counties in rural southwest Georgia.[7][8] In 2017 SGRITA moved its office to Blakely in Early County.[9]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_8fed80ca29724bbd8881216dfdc8fbdc~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Prehistoric and nineteenth-century history has been preserved in some of Early County's attractions. It is the site of the Kolomoki Mounds, a park preserving major earthworks built by indigenous peoples of the Woodland culture more than 1700 years ago, from 350 CE to 600 CE. This is one of the largest mound complexes in the United States and the largest in Georgia; it includes burial and ceremonial mounds. The siting of the mounds expresses the ancient people's cosmology, as mounds are aligned with the sun at the spring equinox and summer solstice.
The county area was long territory of the historic Creek Indian peoples of the Southeast, particularly along the Chattahoochee River. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, European-American settlers began to encroach on this territory, pushing the Muscogee out during Indian Removal in the 1830s. The Muscogee were forced to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.
This area was developed by European-American settlers and their African-American enslaved workers for cotton plantations. Agriculture was critical to the economy into the 20th century. The Cohelee Creek Bridge in the county is the southernmost covered bridge still standing. One of the last wooden flagpoles from the American Civil War era is located at the historic courthouse in downtown Blakely.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, in the period from 1877 to 1950, Early County had 24 documented lynchings of African Americans, the second-highest total in the state after the more densely populated Fulton County.[4][5] Most were committed around the turn of the 20th century, in the period of Jim Crow conditions and suppression of black voting. This was still a largely agricultural area, and some disputes arose from confrontations between black sharecroppers or tenant farmers and white landowners, particularly at times to settle accounts. Another, Sidney Grist, was lynched on December 31, 1896, for "political activity".[5]
Among these cases were five African-American men lynched by whites in less than a month in the summer of 1899: three on July 23, one on July 25 (all reportedly for rape and robbery), and one on August 3 for attempted rape.[6] Black men were frequently identified as suspects in such cases and lynched before any trial took place; further investigations have sometimes revealed consensual sex or other persons having committed the crime. A mass lynching took place in the county on December 30, 1915, when seven black men were lynched, allegedly as suspects in a murder.[6]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_4afa0b112d394fb0b2f9c1060e0bc72e~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Early
1818
Baker
1825
Miller
1856
Seminole
1920
![History
The county was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 8, 1823, from a portion of Early County.[3] Three other counties were created from land that was originally part of Decatur County.
In 1825, a portion of Decatur was used in the creation of Thomas County. In 1905, another portion of Decatur was used in the creation of part of Grady County. In 1920, the western portion of Decatur County was used to form Seminole County in its entirety.
Decatur County is named for United States Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur, a hero of the War of 1812.[4]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_4f281de41c614dd69dc4529a158ea1b0~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
Decature
1923
![History
The county was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 8, 1823, from a portion of Early County.[3] Three other counties were created from land that was originally part of Decatur County.
In 1825, a portion of Decatur was used in the creation of Thomas County. In 1905, another portion of Decatur was used in the creation of part of Grady County. In 1920, the western portion of Decatur County was used to form Seminole County in its entirety.
Decatur County is named for United States Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur, a hero of the War of 1812.[4]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_a8017d8a21c341b08f6ebe3ea2067673~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Grady County was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on August 17, 1905, from portions of Decatur and Thomas counties. The county is named for Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution and noted orator.[3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_3c96ec46e1e84bc798835edab2c939f0~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_179,h_179,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Grady
1905
![History
Grady County was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on August 17, 1905, from portions of Decatur and Thomas counties. The county is named for Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution and noted orator.[3]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_fd2c33c570bc4ebca8b407522048b920~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Native Americans and the Spanish
The land that became Lowndes County had historically been inhabited by the Timucua. During most of the age of European colonization, the area of modern Lowndes County was part of the colony of Spanish Florida. From approximately 1625 to 1657, the Spanish Empire maintained a Catholic mission to the Timucua, dubbed Mission Santa Cruz de Cachipile, in the southern portion of Lowndes County near present-day Lake Park. In the centuries that followed, Timucua civilization collapsed due to slave raiding and disease.
The Creek Nation peoples moved into the area and, by the early 19th century, they were well established here. On December 15, 1818, European Americans organized what they called Irwin County, which had been settled by pushing out the Creek people. In the 1830s Georgia and the federal government completed Indian Removal of most of the Native Americans from what became the state.
Early county history
Lowndes County was established by an act passed by the Georgia legislature on December 23, 1825. It was formed out of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, and 16th land districts of Irwin County, Georgia.[3] The county was named for William Jones Lowndes (1782–1822), a prominent South Carolina lawyer and Congressman. His father Rawlins Lowndes had been a Revolutionary War leader and was elected as South Carolina Governor.[4] The Coffee Road was an improved trail first cut by Georgia militia to supply federal troops in Florida during the Creek Wars. It was the first route through the area of Lowndes County and opened up the area to white settlers.
During the first few years after Lowndes County was organized, its courts met at the tavern owned by Sion Hall on the Coffee Road, near what is now Morven, Georgia in Brooks County, on the west side of the Little River. The first county seat was established at Franklinville (sometimes spelled Franklynville) by the Georgia General Assembly on December 16, 1828.[5] Franklinville was located about 5.6 miles to the east of Hahira in the eastern half of land lot 50 in the 11th land district; it was named after statesman and Founding Father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin.
At the time of the 1830 federal census, Lowndes County had 1,072 white males, 1,044 white females, 156 male slaves, 179 female slaves, and 4 free people of color, for a total population of 2,455. The introduction of steam-powered ships on the Withlacoochee and Little rivers led to a shift in the population toward the rivers. In December 1833 the state legislature passed a law establishing a new county seat at a place to be called Lowndesville. The law called for a courthouse, a jail, and a town to be laid out within land lot 109 in the 12th land district. This land lot is near the present Timber Ridge Road in Lowndes County.
It is uncertain why the plans for Lowndesville were abandoned, but in December 1834, the state legislature authorized commissioners to select a suitable site for a courthouse so that the county seat could be moved away from Franklinville. In October 1836, another group of commissioners was advertising for contracting proposals for the construction of a brick courthouse at Troupville. By Summer 1837, Troupville and Franklinville were both serving as courthouse sites. This continued until at least 1838. In December 1837 Troupville was incorporated. Rumors of the coming of the Brunswick and Chattahoochee Railroad, the opening up of Florida, and the prosperity of the surrounding farmland led to the growth of Troupville and Lowndes County in general. In 1845, the remaining county-owned land at Franklinville was sold at the courthouse in Troupville.
The closest battle to Troupville between Native Americans and whites was at Brushy Creek on November 10, 1836, in modern Berrien County. Creek Nation people were passing through Lowndes County to join the Seminole in Florida. General Winfield Scott, commander of United States field forces in the area, intended to stop the Creek movement and did. Virtually no Native Americans were left in South Georgia.
In February 1850 Lowndes County lost land to the formation of Clinch County. At that time the eastern border of Lowndes County was defined as the Alapaha River.[6] By the time of the 1850 census, Lowndes County had a free white population of 5,339, a free colored population of 20, and a slave population of 2,355. Lowndes County lost additional territory with the establishment of Berrien and Colquitt counties on February 25, 1856.
Establishment of Valdosta
Many residents of Lowndes County were unhappy when the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad announced June 17, 1858, that they had selected a planned route that would bypass Troupville. On June 22 at 3:00 AM, the Lowndes County courthouse at Troupville was set aflame by William B. Crawford, who fled to South Carolina after being released on bond.
On August 9, a meeting convened in the academy building in Troupville at which it was decided to create from the area of Lowndes County to the west of the Withlacoochee River a new county to be called Brooks County.[7] Brooks was established on December 11. On December 13, 1858, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill establishing Echols County, Georgia.
In December 1859, the Lowndes County board of commissioners were instructed by an act of the Georgia legislature to purchase land for a new county seat; it was to be along the line of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad and as close to the center of the county as possible. As part of the same act the Brooks-Lowndes County border was adjusted so that the east bank of the Little River formed the border.[8]
Land belonging to William Wisenbaker was chosen as the site of the new county seat of Valdosta. The arrival of the railroad led to the downfall of Troupville and the rise of Valdosta as a center for the economy of south Georgia. The shifting county boundary lines led to population loss for Lowndes County. The 1860 census showed the county having 2,850 free whites, no free persons of color, and 2,399 slaves.
Civil War
No battles during the American Civil War were fought in Lowndes County. Several regular Confederate Army companies were raised from the population. Those included:
Company I "Lowndes Volunteers", 12th Regiment Georgia Infantry.
Company G, 26th Regiment Georgia Infantry. Also known as New Company G, 13th Regiment Infantry.
Company D, "Berrien Minutemen", 29th Regiment Georgia Infantry.
Company D, "Valdosta Guards", 50th Regiment Georgia Infantry.
State Guard units included:
Company B, "Lowndes Mounted Infantry" 11th Regiment Cavalry, Georgia State Guards.
In addition, two Georgia Militia companies were partially raised from the population in early 1864 following the reorganization of the militia.[9] Those included:
Company I, 11th Regiment Georgia Militia (which was also partially raised from the population of Ware County, Georgia)
Company I, 12th Regiment Georgia Militia (which was also partially raised from the populations of Mitchell County, Georgia and Talbot County, Georgia)
Lowndes County also had a home guard unit, but it was only called into action once in the fall of 1863. In that instant some soldiers' wives in Thomasville, Georgia were threatening to break into a Confederate Government Commissary to feed their starving children. In April 1864 a group of women rioted at Stockton, Georgia after a local store owner refused to take Confederate money in exchange for yarn. They took all the yarn in his store. At the same time, armed women stole a wagon load of bacon from a government warehouse. A mob of women also went on a rampage for similar reasons in Naylor, Georgia at about the same time.[10]
In February 1864 members of Company I "Woodson Guards", 32nd Regiment Georgia Infantry camped overnight in Valdosta at an area south of the railroad while on their way to Battle of Olustee in northern Florida. It was to be the closest fighting came to Valdosta during the Civil War. Valdosta became a home for many refugees fleeing into south Georgia due to Sherman's March to the Sea. Among those refugees was the family of Doc Holliday. Other refugees came by the railroad from Savannah and the Sea Islands.[11]
Reconstruction
In the years right after the Civil War, members of Company "G", 103rd United States Colored Troops were stationed at Valdosta as part of the military occupation of the South during the Reconstruction era.
Several years after the Civil War, 112 African American men, women, and children moved from Lowndes County to Arthington, Liberia in 1871 and 1872. Some settled there permanently to make their home in a colony established for free American blacks; a small number returned to the United States. Their emigration was supported by the American Colonization Society, which had been working since the antebellum years to relocate free blacks to this new colony in West Africa.[12] African Americans dominated the new colony (and future country) both socially and politically well into the 20th century before indigenous peoples, the majority within the borders of the country, came to power.
Prior to 1872, the southern border of Lowndes County and of Georgia was slightly farther south. The border when Lowndes County was created was along what was called McNeil's Line. A dispute over the border between the states of Florida and Georgia later developed (see Florida v. Georgia). In 1857, the governors of the two states appointed surveyors for a joint survey of the border. This led to the creation of the Orr and Whitney Line, which was agreed to by the United States Congress on April 9, 1872.
20th century to present
In 1899 the cotton mill town of Remerton was established, and by 1920, Lowndes County lost some territory when Lanier County was established.
Lynching of Mary Turner and killing of her unborn child
In 1918, a white planter was murdered in Brooks County. He was known to have mistreated his black workers. Sidney Johnson, one of his workers, was suspected in his death. Mobs of whites hunted in Brooks and Lowndes counties for Johnson, rounding up and killing at least 11 other black men and one black woman and her unborn baby in what historian Meyers called "a lynching rampage." One man was killed in Lowndes County and the others in Brooks. Mary Turner, the married mother of two young children and eight months pregnant, was brutally murdered in Lowndes County, near Folsom Bridge on the Little River. The unborn child was then cut from her womb and its head crushed by a booted foot of one of the participants in the lynching. Her husband had been lynched the day before although neither had anything to do with the white planter's death.[13] None of the lynching participants were prosecuted.
On May 15, 2010, a historical marker memorializing "Mary Turner and the Lynching Rampage" was placed near the lynching site in Lowndes County and dedicated.[14] The plaque includes a description of the associated murders of black people by white mobs in 1918, especially the lynchings of the Turners.[15][16][failed verification] In July 2013, the plaque was found to have five bullet holes shot by an unknown vandal.[17] Since 2013, the plaque now has as many as 27 bullet holes and more recently, was struck multiple times by “some kind of off-road vehicle,” Mark Patrick George, coordinator for the Mary Turner Project, announced in October 2020. The historical marker has been since removed. Project officials said the historical marker will be stored until re-installment plans are made. It is unclear if authorities are investigating the latest vandalism incident.[18]
World War II
On September 15, 1941, Moody Air Force Base opened. it was part of the federal government's investment in military facilities in the South. The region received considerable Federal monies during World War II.
The county's former courthouse was built circa 1905 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it was the county's seventh courthouse. The first courthouse was built in 1828 at Franklinville, the original county seat. In 1834 another courthouse was built at the new county seat of Troupville. It was replaced by a new courthouse in 1842. The 1842 structure was destroyed by a fire set by William B. Crawford in June 1858.
The first courthouse at Valdosta was built in 1860 and was a wooden structure that was sold for the funding of a new courthouse by 1869. The wooden building used for the courts of ordinary burned down in 1869. Lowndes County was without an official courthouse for a number of years. A two-story brick building was completed in 1874. In 1900, county commissioners decided that a larger structure was needed. In March 1904 the old courthouse was demolished and in 1905, the seventh courthouse was completed. This is the structure that is locally referred to in the 21st century as 'the old courthouse.' In August and September 2010, the county government moved to a new judicial complex.[32]
The 1905 Lowndes County Courthouse is widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful county courthouses in Georgia. It is used for meetings, public display, and other community attractions. Today it is used for many events, meetings, and political purposes.[33][34]
Education
Residents not in the Valdosta city limits are in the Lowndes County School District, while those in the Valdosta city limits are in the Valdosta City School District.[35] Lowndes High School and Valdosta High School are the district's respective comprehensive high schools.
Valwood School is a private school in the county.
Valdosta State University is in Valdosta.
South Georgia Regional Library operates libraries in the county.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_fc56ae3c2c034874bef46039dd01ba8e~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Lowndes
1925
![History
Native Americans and the Spanish
The land that became Lowndes County had historically been inhabited by the Timucua. During most of the age of European colonization, the area of modern Lowndes County was part of the colony of Spanish Florida. From approximately 1625 to 1657, the Spanish Empire maintained a Catholic mission to the Timucua, dubbed Mission Santa Cruz de Cachipile, in the southern portion of Lowndes County near present-day Lake Park. In the centuries that followed, Timucua civilization collapsed due to slave raiding and disease.
The Creek Nation peoples moved into the area and, by the early 19th century, they were well established here. On December 15, 1818, European Americans organized what they called Irwin County, which had been settled by pushing out the Creek people. In the 1830s Georgia and the federal government completed Indian Removal of most of the Native Americans from what became the state.
Early county history
Lowndes County was established by an act passed by the Georgia legislature on December 23, 1825. It was formed out of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, and 16th land districts of Irwin County, Georgia.[3] The county was named for William Jones Lowndes (1782–1822), a prominent South Carolina lawyer and Congressman. His father Rawlins Lowndes had been a Revolutionary War leader and was elected as South Carolina Governor.[4] The Coffee Road was an improved trail first cut by Georgia militia to supply federal troops in Florida during the Creek Wars. It was the first route through the area of Lowndes County and opened up the area to white settlers.
During the first few years after Lowndes County was organized, its courts met at the tavern owned by Sion Hall on the Coffee Road, near what is now Morven, Georgia in Brooks County, on the west side of the Little River. The first county seat was established at Franklinville (sometimes spelled Franklynville) by the Georgia General Assembly on December 16, 1828.[5] Franklinville was located about 5.6 miles to the east of Hahira in the eastern half of land lot 50 in the 11th land district; it was named after statesman and Founding Father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin.
At the time of the 1830 federal census, Lowndes County had 1,072 white males, 1,044 white females, 156 male slaves, 179 female slaves, and 4 free people of color, for a total population of 2,455. The introduction of steam-powered ships on the Withlacoochee and Little rivers led to a shift in the population toward the rivers. In December 1833 the state legislature passed a law establishing a new county seat at a place to be called Lowndesville. The law called for a courthouse, a jail, and a town to be laid out within land lot 109 in the 12th land district. This land lot is near the present Timber Ridge Road in Lowndes County.
It is uncertain why the plans for Lowndesville were abandoned, but in December 1834, the state legislature authorized commissioners to select a suitable site for a courthouse so that the county seat could be moved away from Franklinville. In October 1836, another group of commissioners was advertising for contracting proposals for the construction of a brick courthouse at Troupville. By Summer 1837, Troupville and Franklinville were both serving as courthouse sites. This continued until at least 1838. In December 1837 Troupville was incorporated. Rumors of the coming of the Brunswick and Chattahoochee Railroad, the opening up of Florida, and the prosperity of the surrounding farmland led to the growth of Troupville and Lowndes County in general. In 1845, the remaining county-owned land at Franklinville was sold at the courthouse in Troupville.
The closest battle to Troupville between Native Americans and whites was at Brushy Creek on November 10, 1836, in modern Berrien County. Creek Nation people were passing through Lowndes County to join the Seminole in Florida. General Winfield Scott, commander of United States field forces in the area, intended to stop the Creek movement and did. Virtually no Native Americans were left in South Georgia.
In February 1850 Lowndes County lost land to the formation of Clinch County. At that time the eastern border of Lowndes County was defined as the Alapaha River.[6] By the time of the 1850 census, Lowndes County had a free white population of 5,339, a free colored population of 20, and a slave population of 2,355. Lowndes County lost additional territory with the establishment of Berrien and Colquitt counties on February 25, 1856.
Establishment of Valdosta
Many residents of Lowndes County were unhappy when the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad announced June 17, 1858, that they had selected a planned route that would bypass Troupville. On June 22 at 3:00 AM, the Lowndes County courthouse at Troupville was set aflame by William B. Crawford, who fled to South Carolina after being released on bond.
On August 9, a meeting convened in the academy building in Troupville at which it was decided to create from the area of Lowndes County to the west of the Withlacoochee River a new county to be called Brooks County.[7] Brooks was established on December 11. On December 13, 1858, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill establishing Echols County, Georgia.
In December 1859, the Lowndes County board of commissioners were instructed by an act of the Georgia legislature to purchase land for a new county seat; it was to be along the line of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad and as close to the center of the county as possible. As part of the same act the Brooks-Lowndes County border was adjusted so that the east bank of the Little River formed the border.[8]
Land belonging to William Wisenbaker was chosen as the site of the new county seat of Valdosta. The arrival of the railroad led to the downfall of Troupville and the rise of Valdosta as a center for the economy of south Georgia. The shifting county boundary lines led to population loss for Lowndes County. The 1860 census showed the county having 2,850 free whites, no free persons of color, and 2,399 slaves.
Civil War
No battles during the American Civil War were fought in Lowndes County. Several regular Confederate Army companies were raised from the population. Those included:
Company I "Lowndes Volunteers", 12th Regiment Georgia Infantry.
Company G, 26th Regiment Georgia Infantry. Also known as New Company G, 13th Regiment Infantry.
Company D, "Berrien Minutemen", 29th Regiment Georgia Infantry.
Company D, "Valdosta Guards", 50th Regiment Georgia Infantry.
State Guard units included:
Company B, "Lowndes Mounted Infantry" 11th Regiment Cavalry, Georgia State Guards.
In addition, two Georgia Militia companies were partially raised from the population in early 1864 following the reorganization of the militia.[9] Those included:
Company I, 11th Regiment Georgia Militia (which was also partially raised from the population of Ware County, Georgia)
Company I, 12th Regiment Georgia Militia (which was also partially raised from the populations of Mitchell County, Georgia and Talbot County, Georgia)
Lowndes County also had a home guard unit, but it was only called into action once in the fall of 1863. In that instant some soldiers' wives in Thomasville, Georgia were threatening to break into a Confederate Government Commissary to feed their starving children. In April 1864 a group of women rioted at Stockton, Georgia after a local store owner refused to take Confederate money in exchange for yarn. They took all the yarn in his store. At the same time, armed women stole a wagon load of bacon from a government warehouse. A mob of women also went on a rampage for similar reasons in Naylor, Georgia at about the same time.[10]
In February 1864 members of Company I "Woodson Guards", 32nd Regiment Georgia Infantry camped overnight in Valdosta at an area south of the railroad while on their way to Battle of Olustee in northern Florida. It was to be the closest fighting came to Valdosta during the Civil War. Valdosta became a home for many refugees fleeing into south Georgia due to Sherman's March to the Sea. Among those refugees was the family of Doc Holliday. Other refugees came by the railroad from Savannah and the Sea Islands.[11]
Reconstruction
In the years right after the Civil War, members of Company "G", 103rd United States Colored Troops were stationed at Valdosta as part of the military occupation of the South during the Reconstruction era.
Several years after the Civil War, 112 African American men, women, and children moved from Lowndes County to Arthington, Liberia in 1871 and 1872. Some settled there permanently to make their home in a colony established for free American blacks; a small number returned to the United States. Their emigration was supported by the American Colonization Society, which had been working since the antebellum years to relocate free blacks to this new colony in West Africa.[12] African Americans dominated the new colony (and future country) both socially and politically well into the 20th century before indigenous peoples, the majority within the borders of the country, came to power.
Prior to 1872, the southern border of Lowndes County and of Georgia was slightly farther south. The border when Lowndes County was created was along what was called McNeil's Line. A dispute over the border between the states of Florida and Georgia later developed (see Florida v. Georgia). In 1857, the governors of the two states appointed surveyors for a joint survey of the border. This led to the creation of the Orr and Whitney Line, which was agreed to by the United States Congress on April 9, 1872.
20th century to present
In 1899 the cotton mill town of Remerton was established, and by 1920, Lowndes County lost some territory when Lanier County was established.
Lynching of Mary Turner and killing of her unborn child
In 1918, a white planter was murdered in Brooks County. He was known to have mistreated his black workers. Sidney Johnson, one of his workers, was suspected in his death. Mobs of whites hunted in Brooks and Lowndes counties for Johnson, rounding up and killing at least 11 other black men and one black woman and her unborn baby in what historian Meyers called "a lynching rampage." One man was killed in Lowndes County and the others in Brooks. Mary Turner, the married mother of two young children and eight months pregnant, was brutally murdered in Lowndes County, near Folsom Bridge on the Little River. The unborn child was then cut from her womb and its head crushed by a booted foot of one of the participants in the lynching. Her husband had been lynched the day before although neither had anything to do with the white planter's death.[13] None of the lynching participants were prosecuted.
On May 15, 2010, a historical marker memorializing "Mary Turner and the Lynching Rampage" was placed near the lynching site in Lowndes County and dedicated.[14] The plaque includes a description of the associated murders of black people by white mobs in 1918, especially the lynchings of the Turners.[15][16][failed verification] In July 2013, the plaque was found to have five bullet holes shot by an unknown vandal.[17] Since 2013, the plaque now has as many as 27 bullet holes and more recently, was struck multiple times by “some kind of off-road vehicle,” Mark Patrick George, coordinator for the Mary Turner Project, announced in October 2020. The historical marker has been since removed. Project officials said the historical marker will be stored until re-installment plans are made. It is unclear if authorities are investigating the latest vandalism incident.[18]
World War II
On September 15, 1941, Moody Air Force Base opened. it was part of the federal government's investment in military facilities in the South. The region received considerable Federal monies during World War II.
The county's former courthouse was built circa 1905 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it was the county's seventh courthouse. The first courthouse was built in 1828 at Franklinville, the original county seat. In 1834 another courthouse was built at the new county seat of Troupville. It was replaced by a new courthouse in 1842. The 1842 structure was destroyed by a fire set by William B. Crawford in June 1858.
The first courthouse at Valdosta was built in 1860 and was a wooden structure that was sold for the funding of a new courthouse by 1869. The wooden building used for the courts of ordinary burned down in 1869. Lowndes County was without an official courthouse for a number of years. A two-story brick building was completed in 1874. In 1900, county commissioners decided that a larger structure was needed. In March 1904 the old courthouse was demolished and in 1905, the seventh courthouse was completed. This is the structure that is locally referred to in the 21st century as 'the old courthouse.' In August and September 2010, the county government moved to a new judicial complex.[32]
The 1905 Lowndes County Courthouse is widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful county courthouses in Georgia. It is used for meetings, public display, and other community attractions. Today it is used for many events, meetings, and political purposes.[33][34]
Education
Residents not in the Valdosta city limits are in the Lowndes County School District, while those in the Valdosta city limits are in the Valdosta City School District.[35] Lowndes High School and Valdosta High School are the district's respective comprehensive high schools.
Valwood School is a private school in the county.
Valdosta State University is in Valdosta.
South Georgia Regional Library operates libraries in the county.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_89f1e9136bf6448a8a794790eb72877c~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Berrien
1856
![History
Worth County was created from Dooly and Irwin counties on December 20, 1853, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, becoming Georgia's 106th county. It was named for Major General William J. Worth of New York.[3] In 1905, portions of Worth County were used to create Tift and Turner counties.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_97a0d24cb4194f0aa19eeffd5abd7cd7~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.jpg)
Worth
1953
![History
Worth County was created from Dooly and Irwin counties on December 20, 1853, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, becoming Georgia's 106th county. It was named for Major General William J. Worth of New York.[3] In 1905, portions of Worth County were used to create Tift and Turner counties.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_6eed08a17e734cd7b2ebd9e1070fd6d2~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
The county was created on August 17, 1905, and is named for Henry Harding Tift, who founded Tifton in 1872. Tift purchased about 65,000 acres of virgin pine timberland there in the Wiregrass Region of South Georgia, and established a sawmill and a village for his workers. Tift eventually expanded into turpentine and barrel-making operations, and turned his barren timberlands into farms for cotton, corn, livestock, fruit, tobacco, pecans and sweet potatoes. When the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway intersected the Brunswick and Western Railroad near Tift's mill in 1888, the settlement was connected to Atlanta and became a boom town. It was incorporated as Tifton by the Georgia Legislature in 1890.
Tift provided employment and financial growth opportunities for his flourishing market center by founding the Tifton Cotton Mill, the Bank of Tifton, and other types of businesses in which he had a leading interest. These included fruit growing, groceries and general merchandise, cottonseed oil, lumber, brick and stone, and several railroads, all essential for the development of a region. Tift also established a model farm north of town and donated a large parcel of acreage for an agricultural experiment station; these enterprises led eventually to the development of Abraham Baldwin College and the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton.
Tift's civic commitment was most evident in his donation of lands for churches (Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopal) and Fulwood Park, and in his decades of service as a city councilman and mayor. Through a variety of business and civic undertakings, Tift contributed significantly to the economic and social development of south central Georgia. Though a captain of industry, agriculture, and finance, he is best remembered for his civic service and generosity.
Tift County was created on August 17, 1905, by an act of the General Assembly.[3] Because Georgia law in 1905 did not allow a new county to be named after a living person, the legislature voted to name Tift County after Nelson Tift of Albany, Georgia, who was an uncle of Henry Harding Tift.
In 2013, John Edward (Edd) Dorminey a native of Tifton, author and historian drafted resolutions and presented them to the Tifton and Tift County Commissions which were passed unanimously. Soon after with assistance from Representative Jay Roberts the Georgia House of Representatives and the Senate voted to approve the submitted resolution establishing the naming of Tift County after its rightful founder, Henry Harding Tift.[4]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_b4c2103f3ffb414b8ce0568b90d3c681~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_199,h_199,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Tift
1905
![History
The county was created on August 17, 1905, and is named for Henry Harding Tift, who founded Tifton in 1872. Tift purchased about 65,000 acres of virgin pine timberland there in the Wiregrass Region of South Georgia, and established a sawmill and a village for his workers. Tift eventually expanded into turpentine and barrel-making operations, and turned his barren timberlands into farms for cotton, corn, livestock, fruit, tobacco, pecans and sweet potatoes. When the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway intersected the Brunswick and Western Railroad near Tift's mill in 1888, the settlement was connected to Atlanta and became a boom town. It was incorporated as Tifton by the Georgia Legislature in 1890.
Tift provided employment and financial growth opportunities for his flourishing market center by founding the Tifton Cotton Mill, the Bank of Tifton, and other types of businesses in which he had a leading interest. These included fruit growing, groceries and general merchandise, cottonseed oil, lumber, brick and stone, and several railroads, all essential for the development of a region. Tift also established a model farm north of town and donated a large parcel of acreage for an agricultural experiment station; these enterprises led eventually to the development of Abraham Baldwin College and the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton.
Tift's civic commitment was most evident in his donation of lands for churches (Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopal) and Fulwood Park, and in his decades of service as a city councilman and mayor. Through a variety of business and civic undertakings, Tift contributed significantly to the economic and social development of south central Georgia. Though a captain of industry, agriculture, and finance, he is best remembered for his civic service and generosity.
Tift County was created on August 17, 1905, by an act of the General Assembly.[3] Because Georgia law in 1905 did not allow a new county to be named after a living person, the legislature voted to name Tift County after Nelson Tift of Albany, Georgia, who was an uncle of Henry Harding Tift.
In 2013, John Edward (Edd) Dorminey a native of Tifton, author and historian drafted resolutions and presented them to the Tifton and Tift County Commissions which were passed unanimously. Soon after with assistance from Representative Jay Roberts the Georgia House of Representatives and the Senate voted to approve the submitted resolution establishing the naming of Tift County after its rightful founder, Henry Harding Tift.[4]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_6095e0dcaa564d2090751654692d0412~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Colquitt
1856
Thomas
1925
![History
Thomas County was created by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 23, 1825, from portions of Decatur and Irwin Counties.[3] Colquitt (1856), Brooks (1858), and Grady (1905) Counties all were formed partially from lands within Thomas County's original borders.
The county is named for Jett Thomas, an officer in the War of 1812 who is also known for overseeing the construction of the first building at the University of Georgia (originally referred to as Franklin College and known today as Old College) as well as the state capital at Milledgeville.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_ac5cfdc9adfc4e97baee78c19b03c4c3~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
On December 13, 1858, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill establishing Echols County from a south-eastern section of Lowndes County and a south-western section Clinch County. The original borders of the county were a line from the mouth of the Suwanoochee Creek directly south to the state line, then along the state line, then north to the junction of Grand Bay Creek and Mud Swamp, then up the course of Grand Bay Creek to Carter's Ford, then a direct line to where Cow's Creek enters the Alapaha River, then up the creek to Griffins' Mill, then a direct line to Jack's Fort on Suwanoochee Creek, and then down Suwanoochee Creek to its mouth. With the exception of some minor adjustments of the border Echols shares with Lowndes and the loss of a thin strip to Florida following Florida v. Georgia, the borders of Echols County has changed little since its establishment. Statenville was declared the county seat in 1859.
At the time of the 1860 census, Echols County had a white population of 1,177, with 314 slaves, and no free people of color.[4]
Echols County became notable as it has served as a place of banishment for many of Georgia's criminals. As the Georgia State Constitution forbids banishment beyond the borders of the state, officials instead ban the offender from 158 of Georgia's 159 counties, with Echols remaining as their only option.[5] Few criminals have been documented as actually moving to Echols.[6] This is because almost all banished criminals choose to leave the state instead of moving to Echols County.[7]
Banishment, including 158-county banishment, has repeatedly been upheld by Georgia courts. The first case when banishment was upheld was in the 1974 case State v Collett, when the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the banishment of a drug dealer from seven counties.[8] The most recent time banishment was upheld, in 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional to banish David Nathan Thompson (a mentally ill man who was convicted of firing a gun into a home, although no one was injured) from all but one county in Georgia.[9]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_2918c63d62554f538d8995c2ec5e1cc8~mv2.gif)
Echols
1958
![History
On December 13, 1858, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill establishing Echols County from a south-eastern section of Lowndes County and a south-western section Clinch County. The original borders of the county were a line from the mouth of the Suwanoochee Creek directly south to the state line, then along the state line, then north to the junction of Grand Bay Creek and Mud Swamp, then up the course of Grand Bay Creek to Carter's Ford, then a direct line to where Cow's Creek enters the Alapaha River, then up the creek to Griffins' Mill, then a direct line to Jack's Fort on Suwanoochee Creek, and then down Suwanoochee Creek to its mouth. With the exception of some minor adjustments of the border Echols shares with Lowndes and the loss of a thin strip to Florida following Florida v. Georgia, the borders of Echols County has changed little since its establishment. Statenville was declared the county seat in 1859.
At the time of the 1860 census, Echols County had a white population of 1,177, with 314 slaves, and no free people of color.[4]
Echols County became notable as it has served as a place of banishment for many of Georgia's criminals. As the Georgia State Constitution forbids banishment beyond the borders of the state, officials instead ban the offender from 158 of Georgia's 159 counties, with Echols remaining as their only option.[5] Few criminals have been documented as actually moving to Echols.[6] This is because almost all banished criminals choose to leave the state instead of moving to Echols County.[7]
Banishment, including 158-county banishment, has repeatedly been upheld by Georgia courts. The first case when banishment was upheld was in the 1974 case State v Collett, when the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the banishment of a drug dealer from seven counties.[8] The most recent time banishment was upheld, in 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional to banish David Nathan Thompson (a mentally ill man who was convicted of firing a gun into a home, although no one was injured) from all but one county in Georgia.[9]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_0cbb6b588a1842969dc471f019af9b99~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Charlton County was created from a portion of Camden County, Georgia, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on February 18, 1854.[4] The original county seat was at Trader's Hill, until 1901. Additional lands from Ware County, Georgia, were added to Charlton's borders by an 1855 act of the General Assembly. In 1856, an additional legislative act redefined the Charlton–Camden borders again with each county ceding land to the other.[5]
The county is named for Robert Milledge Charlton, a U. S. Senator from Georgia.[6]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_76b0eba8b11c474999c65d0450468fde~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_186,h_186,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Charlton
1854
![History
Charlton County was created from a portion of Camden County, Georgia, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on February 18, 1854.[4] The original county seat was at Trader's Hill, until 1901. Additional lands from Ware County, Georgia, were added to Charlton's borders by an 1855 act of the General Assembly. In 1856, an additional legislative act redefined the Charlton–Camden borders again with each county ceding land to the other.[5]
The county is named for Robert Milledge Charlton, a U. S. Senator from Georgia.[6]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_af221fe74d804b98a4af53902bf41810~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Colonial period
The first recorded European to visit what is today Camden County was Captain Jean Ribault of France in 1562. Ribault was sent out by French Huguenots to find a suitable place for a settlement. Ribault named the rivers he saw the Seine and the Some, known today as the St. Marys and Satilla Rivers. Ribault described the area as, "Fairest, fruitfulest and pleasantest of all the world."[6]
In 1565, Spain became alarmed by the French settlements and sent out a large force to take over and settle the area. During that time, the Spaniards attempted to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism. At least two missions operated on Cumberland Island, ministering to the Timucuan people, who had resided on the island for at least 4,000 years.
Competing British and Spanish claims to the territory between their respective colonies of South Carolina and Florida was a source of international tension, and the colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 in part to protect the British interests. The Spanish theoretically lost their claim to the territory in 1742 after the Battle of Bloody Marsh (on St. Simons Island). However, settlement south of the Altamaha River (what is now Glynn and Camden Counties) was discouraged by both the British and Spanish governments. One group of settlers led by Edmund Gray sparked Spanish military action after settling on the Satilla River in the 1750s near present-day Burnt Fort, and were subsequently disbanded by the Royal Governor John Reynolds.[7]
General Oglethorpe was at Cumberland Island when Tomochichi gave the barrier island its name. Later, he erected a hunting lodge on Cumberland named Dungeness, which was the predecessor of the famous Greene and Carnegie Dungeness Mansions. He also founded Fort St. Andrews on the north end of Cumberland Island, as well as a strong battery, Fort Prince Williams, on the south end. Fort Prince Williams commanded the entrance to the St. Marys River but had become a ruin by the Revolutionary War.
In 1763, Spain, under a treaty of peace with Great Britain, ceded Florida to the British. After this, the boundaries of Georgia were extended from the Altamaha (now the southern boundary of McIntosh County) to the St. Marys River (the current southern boundary of Camden). In 1765, four parishes were laid out between the Altamaha and St. Marys Rivers. These were St. Davids, St. Patricks, St. James, and the parishes of St. Marys and St. Thomas.
Early American era
Largely due to security issues arising from proximity to powerful Indian groups and British Florida, Georgia was the last colony to join in the War for Independence in 1775. In the Georgia Constitution of 1777 St. Thomas and St. Marys Parishes were formed into Camden County, named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden in England, a supporter of American independence. Originally Camden County was larger and also included parts of present-day Ware, Brantley, and Charlton Counties, which were re-designated in the nineteenth century.
Also under the 1777 state constitution, Glynn County and Camden County had limited and restricted representation in the new patriotic Georgia government due to their extreme "state of alarm" throughout the war.[8] Between 1776 and 1778 Camden County saw the construction of numerous forts, three failed American campaigns against the British at St. Augustine, and numerous depredations by raiders of various allegiance. One of the most notorious of these raiders was Daniel McGirth.[9] A significant loyalist faction existed in Camden County, headed by the brothers of Royal Governor James Wright, Charles and German Wright. They built a fort on the St. Marys River in 1775 to protect their lands and chattel during the war after repeated attacks by patriot banditti. Wright's Fort became a rendezvous for a group of loyalists called the "Florida Rangers". Two skirmishes were fought by Loyalist and Continental forces over Wright's Fort, and both times American troops failed to rout the Loyalists from the area. Finally, retreating British soldiers burned it down in 1778. The Americans rebuilt it when they invaded East Florida, and then burned it down to prevent it falling into enemy hands. The archaeological site was rediscovered in 1975.[10]
The primary economic enterprise of the county was rice planting, particularly along the Satilla River. Sea Island cotton was grown on Cumberland Island, and short-staple cotton was grown on the mainland along with sugar cane. Various forest products including turpentine and timber were produced, mainly for consumption in the naval industry and the West Indies.[11] Camden County also served as a hub of backcountry trade with American settlers and various Indian groups, and as a shipyard and shipping center centered around the town of St. Marys. The land in Camden County was owned by fewer than 300 people throughout the colonial and antebellum eras. Most of the white population worked in trades or as tenant farmers, while nearly all black residents were slaves. Until the 1840s (and increasingly strict black codes), Camden County had a small population of free black workers, mainly involved in day labor or maritime industry.
Camden County was the site of many trading posts with the Native Americans, who by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries consisted mainly of people of the Creek Nation. From America's earliest years and even after Indian Removal in the 1830s, the county was a site of significant conflict between settlers and Indians, leading to a small series of local Indian wars, and displacement of both Indian and local American refugees. An important step towards establishing boundaries in the Early Federal period came with the Treaty of Colerain which was signed on June 29, 1796, on the St. Marys between United States agents and the Creeks.
Many men from Camden County volunteered to fight under John Houstoun McIntosh, a wealthy landowner in the region, during the Patriot War in Florida in 1811. These men would go on to help capture the town of Fernandina, Florida.[12]
On January 15, 1815, British troops led by Sir George Cockburn landed on Cumberland Island. Their goal was to attack the fort at Point Peter. They quickly overwhelmed the small American forced and took Ft. Point Peter easily. After the skirmish, British soldiers occupied the county through February. They raided the town of St. Marys, as well as many plantations and smaller settlements. Although New Orleans was the last major battle of the war, the skirmish at Point Peter happened even later, almost a month after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed. The British occupation of Camden County led to the liberation of an estimated 1,485 slaves from Georgia and Florida.[13]
Camden County was on an international border until the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 between the United States and Spain, making the Florida provinces American territory.
Civil War and Reconstruction
At the beginning of the Civil War, the population was 5,482 of which 1,721 were white. During the war, many of the county's civilians moved farther inland, particularly to Centerville and Trader's Hill on the St. Marys River in Charlton County. The inhabitant's fears were realized when the town of St. Marys was attacked by United States Navy.[citation needed] At least one federal party to "carry off" slaves was met by armed resistance on White Oak Creek off the Satilla River.[14]
Camden County organized four volunteer companies: the Camden Chasseurs, St. Marys Volunteers Guard, Camden Rifles, and Camden County Guards.[15]
Camden County land fell under Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15. which dictated the distribution of parcels of land to freedmen. However, by 1868, Camden County's freedmen found themselves dispossessed of land they had lived and worked on since emancipation or earlier. Confiscated lands were returned to former landowners.[16] During the first years of Reconstruction, Republican candidates and many local blacks were able to gain political victories. The first Democratic victory in the county after the war went to Ray Tompkins. This signaled a return to a white political majority and the end of the Reconstruction Era concurrent with the statewide Democratic victory in 1870.[17]
Since the 1830s
Earlier plans for railways in the area dated back to the 1830s, but construction was never begun. In 1893, Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad built a Savannah-Jacksonville line through Camden County. In 1923 the county seat of Camden County was moved from St. Marys to Woodbine, a reflection of the shift from the water transportation to railways. In 1927, U.S. Route 17 was constructed through Woodbine and Kingsland.[11]
From 1917 to 1937, a pogy plant producing oil for Procter & Gamble and fertilizer for the Southern Fertilizer and Chemical Company was one of the major economic activities of the area. The layoffs from the pogy plant found relief when the Gilman Paper Company came to the county in 1939. The company was sold to Durango Paper Co. in 1999, and went out of business in 2002, resulting in 900 workers losing their jobs.[18]
In 1965, Thiokol Chemical launched a 13-foot (4.0 m)-diameter, 3,000,000-pound-force (13,000 kN)-thrust rocket from their chemical plant in the eastern part of the county.[19] On February 3, 1971, a fire and explosion occurred at the plant, located 12 miles southeast of Woodbine. The industrial accident killed 29 workers and seriously injured 50 others.[6]
During World War II, the Georgia State Guard and local Home Guard held bases on Cumberland Island.[11] The island and surrounding waters were also patrolled by the United States Coast Guard.[16] The U.S. Army began to acquire land south of Crooked River in 1954 to build a military ocean terminal to ship ammunition in case of a national emergency. In November 1976, the area of Kings Bay was selected for a submarine base. Soon afterward, the first Navy personnel arrived in the Kings Bay area and started preparations for the orderly transfer of property from the Army to the Navy. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay not only occupies the former Army terminal land, but several thousand additional acres. Camden County's population grew enormously after the military took an interest in the area, and during the 1980s, was the fourth fastest growing county in the United States.[11]
Cumberland Island National Seashore was established in 1970 to protect and preserve the natural and historic resources of the island. Crooked River State Park was established in 1985.
In 2009, the Camden County Sheriff's Office was ordered by the Justice Department to repay $662,000 of improperly spent funds seized from alleged criminals before it would be allowed to participate in the Justice Department's equitable sharing program. Items that were determined to have been purchased by the Camden County Sheriff's Department improperly included a Dodge Viper purchased for approximately $90,000 which the Sheriff's Office intended to use in anti-drug programs.[20][21]
In 2012, the Camden County Joint Development Authority began considering developing a spaceport for both horizontal and vertical spacecraft operations. Options included moving the St. Marys' airport to the Atlantic coastal site[22] which had previously been used for a rocket launch in 1965.[19] In 2013, the authority contracted for an Environmental Impact Statement to be completed on 200 acres (81 ha) of authority-owned land, part of a larger 4,200 acres (1,700 ha) site, in order to build a commercial launch site.[23] As of September 2014, the county was investigating options to purchase 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) of land from landowners who own the land formerly occupied by Thiokol Chemical and Bayer CropScience at Harrietts Bluff. If an agreement is reached with landowners, then another 18-month-long environmental impact process could begin on the larger parcel of land. Georgia state legislators would likely offer tax incentives for commercial development in the project. If development were to proceed, the earliest launch possible would have been in 2018, according to the 2014 projections.[19][needs update]
In June 2015, the Camden board decided to formally advance the Spaceport Camden project by initiating an FAA Environmental Impact Assessment of the 4000+ acre facility.[24] As of 2023, the investors have called off the project, and the property is on sale.[25]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_9d71790a659c4b119c6edd53d7972490~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_210,h_210,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Camden
1777
![History
Colonial period
The first recorded European to visit what is today Camden County was Captain Jean Ribault of France in 1562. Ribault was sent out by French Huguenots to find a suitable place for a settlement. Ribault named the rivers he saw the Seine and the Some, known today as the St. Marys and Satilla Rivers. Ribault described the area as, "Fairest, fruitfulest and pleasantest of all the world."[6]
In 1565, Spain became alarmed by the French settlements and sent out a large force to take over and settle the area. During that time, the Spaniards attempted to convert the Native Americans to Catholicism. At least two missions operated on Cumberland Island, ministering to the Timucuan people, who had resided on the island for at least 4,000 years.
Competing British and Spanish claims to the territory between their respective colonies of South Carolina and Florida was a source of international tension, and the colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 in part to protect the British interests. The Spanish theoretically lost their claim to the territory in 1742 after the Battle of Bloody Marsh (on St. Simons Island). However, settlement south of the Altamaha River (what is now Glynn and Camden Counties) was discouraged by both the British and Spanish governments. One group of settlers led by Edmund Gray sparked Spanish military action after settling on the Satilla River in the 1750s near present-day Burnt Fort, and were subsequently disbanded by the Royal Governor John Reynolds.[7]
General Oglethorpe was at Cumberland Island when Tomochichi gave the barrier island its name. Later, he erected a hunting lodge on Cumberland named Dungeness, which was the predecessor of the famous Greene and Carnegie Dungeness Mansions. He also founded Fort St. Andrews on the north end of Cumberland Island, as well as a strong battery, Fort Prince Williams, on the south end. Fort Prince Williams commanded the entrance to the St. Marys River but had become a ruin by the Revolutionary War.
In 1763, Spain, under a treaty of peace with Great Britain, ceded Florida to the British. After this, the boundaries of Georgia were extended from the Altamaha (now the southern boundary of McIntosh County) to the St. Marys River (the current southern boundary of Camden). In 1765, four parishes were laid out between the Altamaha and St. Marys Rivers. These were St. Davids, St. Patricks, St. James, and the parishes of St. Marys and St. Thomas.
Early American era
Largely due to security issues arising from proximity to powerful Indian groups and British Florida, Georgia was the last colony to join in the War for Independence in 1775. In the Georgia Constitution of 1777 St. Thomas and St. Marys Parishes were formed into Camden County, named for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden in England, a supporter of American independence. Originally Camden County was larger and also included parts of present-day Ware, Brantley, and Charlton Counties, which were re-designated in the nineteenth century.
Also under the 1777 state constitution, Glynn County and Camden County had limited and restricted representation in the new patriotic Georgia government due to their extreme "state of alarm" throughout the war.[8] Between 1776 and 1778 Camden County saw the construction of numerous forts, three failed American campaigns against the British at St. Augustine, and numerous depredations by raiders of various allegiance. One of the most notorious of these raiders was Daniel McGirth.[9] A significant loyalist faction existed in Camden County, headed by the brothers of Royal Governor James Wright, Charles and German Wright. They built a fort on the St. Marys River in 1775 to protect their lands and chattel during the war after repeated attacks by patriot banditti. Wright's Fort became a rendezvous for a group of loyalists called the "Florida Rangers". Two skirmishes were fought by Loyalist and Continental forces over Wright's Fort, and both times American troops failed to rout the Loyalists from the area. Finally, retreating British soldiers burned it down in 1778. The Americans rebuilt it when they invaded East Florida, and then burned it down to prevent it falling into enemy hands. The archaeological site was rediscovered in 1975.[10]
The primary economic enterprise of the county was rice planting, particularly along the Satilla River. Sea Island cotton was grown on Cumberland Island, and short-staple cotton was grown on the mainland along with sugar cane. Various forest products including turpentine and timber were produced, mainly for consumption in the naval industry and the West Indies.[11] Camden County also served as a hub of backcountry trade with American settlers and various Indian groups, and as a shipyard and shipping center centered around the town of St. Marys. The land in Camden County was owned by fewer than 300 people throughout the colonial and antebellum eras. Most of the white population worked in trades or as tenant farmers, while nearly all black residents were slaves. Until the 1840s (and increasingly strict black codes), Camden County had a small population of free black workers, mainly involved in day labor or maritime industry.
Camden County was the site of many trading posts with the Native Americans, who by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries consisted mainly of people of the Creek Nation. From America's earliest years and even after Indian Removal in the 1830s, the county was a site of significant conflict between settlers and Indians, leading to a small series of local Indian wars, and displacement of both Indian and local American refugees. An important step towards establishing boundaries in the Early Federal period came with the Treaty of Colerain which was signed on June 29, 1796, on the St. Marys between United States agents and the Creeks.
Many men from Camden County volunteered to fight under John Houstoun McIntosh, a wealthy landowner in the region, during the Patriot War in Florida in 1811. These men would go on to help capture the town of Fernandina, Florida.[12]
On January 15, 1815, British troops led by Sir George Cockburn landed on Cumberland Island. Their goal was to attack the fort at Point Peter. They quickly overwhelmed the small American forced and took Ft. Point Peter easily. After the skirmish, British soldiers occupied the county through February. They raided the town of St. Marys, as well as many plantations and smaller settlements. Although New Orleans was the last major battle of the war, the skirmish at Point Peter happened even later, almost a month after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed. The British occupation of Camden County led to the liberation of an estimated 1,485 slaves from Georgia and Florida.[13]
Camden County was on an international border until the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 between the United States and Spain, making the Florida provinces American territory.
Civil War and Reconstruction
At the beginning of the Civil War, the population was 5,482 of which 1,721 were white. During the war, many of the county's civilians moved farther inland, particularly to Centerville and Trader's Hill on the St. Marys River in Charlton County. The inhabitant's fears were realized when the town of St. Marys was attacked by United States Navy.[citation needed] At least one federal party to "carry off" slaves was met by armed resistance on White Oak Creek off the Satilla River.[14]
Camden County organized four volunteer companies: the Camden Chasseurs, St. Marys Volunteers Guard, Camden Rifles, and Camden County Guards.[15]
Camden County land fell under Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15. which dictated the distribution of parcels of land to freedmen. However, by 1868, Camden County's freedmen found themselves dispossessed of land they had lived and worked on since emancipation or earlier. Confiscated lands were returned to former landowners.[16] During the first years of Reconstruction, Republican candidates and many local blacks were able to gain political victories. The first Democratic victory in the county after the war went to Ray Tompkins. This signaled a return to a white political majority and the end of the Reconstruction Era concurrent with the statewide Democratic victory in 1870.[17]
Since the 1830s
Earlier plans for railways in the area dated back to the 1830s, but construction was never begun. In 1893, Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad built a Savannah-Jacksonville line through Camden County. In 1923 the county seat of Camden County was moved from St. Marys to Woodbine, a reflection of the shift from the water transportation to railways. In 1927, U.S. Route 17 was constructed through Woodbine and Kingsland.[11]
From 1917 to 1937, a pogy plant producing oil for Procter & Gamble and fertilizer for the Southern Fertilizer and Chemical Company was one of the major economic activities of the area. The layoffs from the pogy plant found relief when the Gilman Paper Company came to the county in 1939. The company was sold to Durango Paper Co. in 1999, and went out of business in 2002, resulting in 900 workers losing their jobs.[18]
In 1965, Thiokol Chemical launched a 13-foot (4.0 m)-diameter, 3,000,000-pound-force (13,000 kN)-thrust rocket from their chemical plant in the eastern part of the county.[19] On February 3, 1971, a fire and explosion occurred at the plant, located 12 miles southeast of Woodbine. The industrial accident killed 29 workers and seriously injured 50 others.[6]
During World War II, the Georgia State Guard and local Home Guard held bases on Cumberland Island.[11] The island and surrounding waters were also patrolled by the United States Coast Guard.[16] The U.S. Army began to acquire land south of Crooked River in 1954 to build a military ocean terminal to ship ammunition in case of a national emergency. In November 1976, the area of Kings Bay was selected for a submarine base. Soon afterward, the first Navy personnel arrived in the Kings Bay area and started preparations for the orderly transfer of property from the Army to the Navy. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay not only occupies the former Army terminal land, but several thousand additional acres. Camden County's population grew enormously after the military took an interest in the area, and during the 1980s, was the fourth fastest growing county in the United States.[11]
Cumberland Island National Seashore was established in 1970 to protect and preserve the natural and historic resources of the island. Crooked River State Park was established in 1985.
In 2009, the Camden County Sheriff's Office was ordered by the Justice Department to repay $662,000 of improperly spent funds seized from alleged criminals before it would be allowed to participate in the Justice Department's equitable sharing program. Items that were determined to have been purchased by the Camden County Sheriff's Department improperly included a Dodge Viper purchased for approximately $90,000 which the Sheriff's Office intended to use in anti-drug programs.[20][21]
In 2012, the Camden County Joint Development Authority began considering developing a spaceport for both horizontal and vertical spacecraft operations. Options included moving the St. Marys' airport to the Atlantic coastal site[22] which had previously been used for a rocket launch in 1965.[19] In 2013, the authority contracted for an Environmental Impact Statement to be completed on 200 acres (81 ha) of authority-owned land, part of a larger 4,200 acres (1,700 ha) site, in order to build a commercial launch site.[23] As of September 2014, the county was investigating options to purchase 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) of land from landowners who own the land formerly occupied by Thiokol Chemical and Bayer CropScience at Harrietts Bluff. If an agreement is reached with landowners, then another 18-month-long environmental impact process could begin on the larger parcel of land. Georgia state legislators would likely offer tax incentives for commercial development in the project. If development were to proceed, the earliest launch possible would have been in 2018, according to the 2014 projections.[19][needs update]
In June 2015, the Camden board decided to formally advance the Spaceport Camden project by initiating an FAA Environmental Impact Assessment of the 4000+ acre facility.[24] As of 2023, the investors have called off the project, and the property is on sale.[25]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_4c54e95ea38947bbba01eaa402388315~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Clinch
1850
![History
In the peak lynching era, from 1880 to 1930, this county had 20 lynchings, the third-highest number of any county in Georgia, which was the state with the highest number of lynchings in the country. All of the victims in Georgia were black, including at least 13 killed in the May 1918 lynching rampage in this county, starting with the murders of Hayes Turner, and shortly after of his pregnant wife Mary Turner.
Native Americans and the Spanish
Historic Native peoples occupying the area at the time of European encounter were the Apalachee and the Lower Creek.[3] The first Europeans in what is now Brooks County were Spanish missionaries from their colony in Florida, who arrived around 1570.
Early history
The area that was to become Brooks County was first opened up to European-American settlement in 1818 when Irwin County was established. Coffee Road was built through the region in the 1820s. Lowndes County's first court session was held at the tavern owned by Sion Hall on the Coffee Road, near what is now Morven, Georgia in Brooks County. Many residents of Lowndes County were unhappy when the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad announced June 17, 1858, that they had selected a planned route that would bypass Troupville, the county seat. On June 22 at 3:00 am, the Lowndes County courthouse at Troupville was set aflame by William B. Crawford, who fled to South Carolina after being released on bond.
On August 9, a meeting convened in the academy building in Troupville, at which residents decided to divide Lowndes and create a new county to the west of the Withlacoochee River, to be called Brooks County.
On December 11, 1858, Brooks County was officially organized by the state legislature from parts of Lowndes and Thomas counties. It was named for Preston Brooks, a member of Congress prior to the Civil War. He was very popular in the South because of his 1856 caning of abolitionist senator Charles Sumner, and the citizens of Georgia wanted to honor him. Brooksville, Florida, and Brooksville, Virginia, also named or renamed themselves for Brooks.
The county had been developed along the waterways for cotton plantations, dependent on enslaved laborers, many of whom were transported to the South in the domestic slave trade during the Antebellum years. Cotton brought a high return from local and international markets, making large planters wealthy. At the time of the 1860 federal census, Brooks County had a white population of 3,067, a Free people of color population of 2, and a slave population of 3,282. The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad reached Quitman, the county seat, on October 23, 1860.
Civil War
During the Civil War, the county was the main producer of food for the Confederacy; it became known as the "Smokehouse of the Confederacy."[4]
Some Confederate Army regiments were raised from the men of Brooks County. Plantation owners, county officials, and slave patrol members were exempt from military conscription, which caused some contention between the different economic classes in Brooks County.
Georgia Historical Marker for the Civil War Slave Conspiracy
In August 1864, a local white man named John Vickery began plotting a slave rebellion. His plan called for killing the slave owners, stealing what weapons they could find, setting fire to Quitman, going to Madison, Florida, burning the town, getting help from Union troops from the Gulf Coast, and then returning to Quitman. On the evening before the rebellion, a slave was arrested for theft and interrogated. Vickery was soon arrested as well. Vickery and four slave suspects were given a military trial by the local militia. Two Confederate deserters from Florida were also believed to have been involved, but were not caught by the time of the trial.[5]
On August 23, 1864, at 6:00 p.m., Vickery, and slaves Sam, Nelson, and George were publicly hanged in Quitman. The court could not reach a decision on the guilt of Warren, a slave held by Buford Elliot.[5]
Post-Reconstruction and imposition of Jim Crow
After the war, many freedmen worked as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. Following the war and the Reconstruction era, Brooks County was one of the areas with a high rate of racial violence by whites against blacks. Its 20 deaths make it the county in Georgia that had the third-highest number of lynchings from 1870 to 1950.[6] (From 1880 to 1930, Georgia had the highest number of such extrajudicial murders in the country).[7] See, for example, the Brooks County race war of 1894.
In May 1918, at least 13 African Americans were killed during a white manhunt and rampage after Sidney Johnson killed an abusive white planter.[8] Johnson had been forced to work for the man under the state's abusive convict lease system. Among those killed were Hayes Turner, and the next day his wife Mary Turner, who was eight months pregnant. They were the parents of two children. Mary Turner had condemned the mob's killing of her husband. She was abducted by the mob in Brooks County and brutally murdered at Folsom's Bridge on the Little River on the Lowndes County side; her unborn child was cut from her body and killed separately. During the next two weeks, at least another eleven blacks were killed by the mob. Johnson was killed in a shootout with police. As many as 500 African Americans fled Lowndes and Brooks counties to escape future violence.[9]
Mary Turner's lynching drew widespread condemnation nationally. It was a catalyst for the Anti-Lynching Crusaders campaign for the 1922 Dyer Bill, sponsored by Leonidas Dyer of St. Louis. It proposed to make lynching a federal crime, as southern states essentially never prosecuted the crimes.[10] The Solid South Democratic block of white senators consistently defeated such legislation, aided by having disenfranchised most black voters in the South. In 2010, a state historical marker, encaptioned "Mary Turner and the Lynching Rampage," was installed at Folsom's Bridge in Lowndes County to commemorate these atrocities.
Modern history
In the 21st century, Brooks County is classified as being in the Plantation Trace tourist region.
Historical sites
The Brooks County Courthouse was constructed in 1864 in the county seat of Quitman, Georgia. It was designed by architect John Wind. Brooks County officials paid for the structure with $14,958 in Confederate money. The currency soon became useless.
The Brooks County Museum and Cultural Center, formerly a library, was adapted for use as a cultural center. It is the site of a series of music, art, and culinary events throughout the year.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_864af805e4bb4d428f3a2e47229a32d3~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_249,h_249,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Brooks
1958
![History
In the peak lynching era, from 1880 to 1930, this county had 20 lynchings, the third-highest number of any county in Georgia, which was the state with the highest number of lynchings in the country. All of the victims in Georgia were black, including at least 13 killed in the May 1918 lynching rampage in this county, starting with the murders of Hayes Turner, and shortly after of his pregnant wife Mary Turner.
Native Americans and the Spanish
Historic Native peoples occupying the area at the time of European encounter were the Apalachee and the Lower Creek.[3] The first Europeans in what is now Brooks County were Spanish missionaries from their colony in Florida, who arrived around 1570.
Early history
The area that was to become Brooks County was first opened up to European-American settlement in 1818 when Irwin County was established. Coffee Road was built through the region in the 1820s. Lowndes County's first court session was held at the tavern owned by Sion Hall on the Coffee Road, near what is now Morven, Georgia in Brooks County. Many residents of Lowndes County were unhappy when the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad announced June 17, 1858, that they had selected a planned route that would bypass Troupville, the county seat. On June 22 at 3:00 am, the Lowndes County courthouse at Troupville was set aflame by William B. Crawford, who fled to South Carolina after being released on bond.
On August 9, a meeting convened in the academy building in Troupville, at which residents decided to divide Lowndes and create a new county to the west of the Withlacoochee River, to be called Brooks County.
On December 11, 1858, Brooks County was officially organized by the state legislature from parts of Lowndes and Thomas counties. It was named for Preston Brooks, a member of Congress prior to the Civil War. He was very popular in the South because of his 1856 caning of abolitionist senator Charles Sumner, and the citizens of Georgia wanted to honor him. Brooksville, Florida, and Brooksville, Virginia, also named or renamed themselves for Brooks.
The county had been developed along the waterways for cotton plantations, dependent on enslaved laborers, many of whom were transported to the South in the domestic slave trade during the Antebellum years. Cotton brought a high return from local and international markets, making large planters wealthy. At the time of the 1860 federal census, Brooks County had a white population of 3,067, a Free people of color population of 2, and a slave population of 3,282. The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad reached Quitman, the county seat, on October 23, 1860.
Civil War
During the Civil War, the county was the main producer of food for the Confederacy; it became known as the "Smokehouse of the Confederacy."[4]
Some Confederate Army regiments were raised from the men of Brooks County. Plantation owners, county officials, and slave patrol members were exempt from military conscription, which caused some contention between the different economic classes in Brooks County.
Georgia Historical Marker for the Civil War Slave Conspiracy
In August 1864, a local white man named John Vickery began plotting a slave rebellion. His plan called for killing the slave owners, stealing what weapons they could find, setting fire to Quitman, going to Madison, Florida, burning the town, getting help from Union troops from the Gulf Coast, and then returning to Quitman. On the evening before the rebellion, a slave was arrested for theft and interrogated. Vickery was soon arrested as well. Vickery and four slave suspects were given a military trial by the local militia. Two Confederate deserters from Florida were also believed to have been involved, but were not caught by the time of the trial.[5]
On August 23, 1864, at 6:00 p.m., Vickery, and slaves Sam, Nelson, and George were publicly hanged in Quitman. The court could not reach a decision on the guilt of Warren, a slave held by Buford Elliot.[5]
Post-Reconstruction and imposition of Jim Crow
After the war, many freedmen worked as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. Following the war and the Reconstruction era, Brooks County was one of the areas with a high rate of racial violence by whites against blacks. Its 20 deaths make it the county in Georgia that had the third-highest number of lynchings from 1870 to 1950.[6] (From 1880 to 1930, Georgia had the highest number of such extrajudicial murders in the country).[7] See, for example, the Brooks County race war of 1894.
In May 1918, at least 13 African Americans were killed during a white manhunt and rampage after Sidney Johnson killed an abusive white planter.[8] Johnson had been forced to work for the man under the state's abusive convict lease system. Among those killed were Hayes Turner, and the next day his wife Mary Turner, who was eight months pregnant. They were the parents of two children. Mary Turner had condemned the mob's killing of her husband. She was abducted by the mob in Brooks County and brutally murdered at Folsom's Bridge on the Little River on the Lowndes County side; her unborn child was cut from her body and killed separately. During the next two weeks, at least another eleven blacks were killed by the mob. Johnson was killed in a shootout with police. As many as 500 African Americans fled Lowndes and Brooks counties to escape future violence.[9]
Mary Turner's lynching drew widespread condemnation nationally. It was a catalyst for the Anti-Lynching Crusaders campaign for the 1922 Dyer Bill, sponsored by Leonidas Dyer of St. Louis. It proposed to make lynching a federal crime, as southern states essentially never prosecuted the crimes.[10] The Solid South Democratic block of white senators consistently defeated such legislation, aided by having disenfranchised most black voters in the South. In 2010, a state historical marker, encaptioned "Mary Turner and the Lynching Rampage," was installed at Folsom's Bridge in Lowndes County to commemorate these atrocities.
Modern history
In the 21st century, Brooks County is classified as being in the Plantation Trace tourist region.
Historical sites
The Brooks County Courthouse was constructed in 1864 in the county seat of Quitman, Georgia. It was designed by architect John Wind. Brooks County officials paid for the structure with $14,958 in Confederate money. The currency soon became useless.
The Brooks County Museum and Cultural Center, formerly a library, was adapted for use as a cultural center. It is the site of a series of music, art, and culinary events throughout the year.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_5260c143b77f465781313a8ea77511a9~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
On December 13, 1858, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill establishing Echols County from a south-eastern section of Lowndes County and a south-western section Clinch County. The original borders of the county were a line from the mouth of the Suwanoochee Creek directly south to the state line, then along the state line, then north to the junction of Grand Bay Creek and Mud Swamp, then up the course of Grand Bay Creek to Carter's Ford, then a direct line to where Cow's Creek enters the Alapaha River, then up the creek to Griffins' Mill, then a direct line to Jack's Fort on Suwanoochee Creek, and then down Suwanoochee Creek to its mouth. With the exception of some minor adjustments of the border Echols shares with Lowndes and the loss of a thin strip to Florida following Florida v. Georgia, the borders of Echols County has changed little since its establishment. Statenville was declared the county seat in 1859.
At the time of the 1860 census, Echols County had a white population of 1,177, with 314 slaves, and no free people of color.[4]
Echols County became notable as it has served as a place of banishment for many of Georgia's criminals. As the Georgia State Constitution forbids banishment beyond the borders of the state, officials instead ban the offender from 158 of Georgia's 159 counties, with Echols remaining as their only option.[5] Few criminals have been documented as actually moving to Echols.[6] This is because almost all banished criminals choose to leave the state instead of moving to Echols County.[7]
Banishment, including 158-county banishment, has repeatedly been upheld by Georgia courts. The first case when banishment was upheld was in the 1974 case State v Collett, when the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the banishment of a drug dealer from seven counties.[8] The most recent time banishment was upheld, in 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional to banish David Nathan Thompson (a mentally ill man who was convicted of firing a gun into a home, although no one was injured) from all but one county in Georgia.[9]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_28848296ed8a4e7cb10eba87e780c8b9~mv2.gif)
Lanier
1920
![History
On December 13, 1858, the Georgia General Assembly passed a bill establishing Echols County from a south-eastern section of Lowndes County and a south-western section Clinch County. The original borders of the county were a line from the mouth of the Suwanoochee Creek directly south to the state line, then along the state line, then north to the junction of Grand Bay Creek and Mud Swamp, then up the course of Grand Bay Creek to Carter's Ford, then a direct line to where Cow's Creek enters the Alapaha River, then up the creek to Griffins' Mill, then a direct line to Jack's Fort on Suwanoochee Creek, and then down Suwanoochee Creek to its mouth. With the exception of some minor adjustments of the border Echols shares with Lowndes and the loss of a thin strip to Florida following Florida v. Georgia, the borders of Echols County has changed little since its establishment. Statenville was declared the county seat in 1859.
At the time of the 1860 census, Echols County had a white population of 1,177, with 314 slaves, and no free people of color.[4]
Echols County became notable as it has served as a place of banishment for many of Georgia's criminals. As the Georgia State Constitution forbids banishment beyond the borders of the state, officials instead ban the offender from 158 of Georgia's 159 counties, with Echols remaining as their only option.[5] Few criminals have been documented as actually moving to Echols.[6] This is because almost all banished criminals choose to leave the state instead of moving to Echols County.[7]
Banishment, including 158-county banishment, has repeatedly been upheld by Georgia courts. The first case when banishment was upheld was in the 1974 case State v Collett, when the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the banishment of a drug dealer from seven counties.[8] The most recent time banishment was upheld, in 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional to banish David Nathan Thompson (a mentally ill man who was convicted of firing a gun into a home, although no one was injured) from all but one county in Georgia.[9]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_8af24342d3a7434aa5ac6d81c21aee66~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Cook
1918
![History
Glynn County, one of the state's original eight counties created on February 5, 1777, was named after John Glynn,[3] a member of the British House of Commons who defended the cause of the American Colonies before the American Revolution. The Battle of Bloody Marsh was fought in Glynn County. James Oglethorpe built Fort Frederica, which was used a base in the American Revolutionary War. Glynn Academy, established to educate boys, is the second oldest school in Georgia.
Glynn County includes the most prominent of the Sea Islands of Georgia, including Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, and Sea Island. The Georgia poet Sidney Lanier immortalized the seacoast there in his poem, "The Marshes of Glynn", which begins:
Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven
With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven
Clamber the forks of the multiform boughs,--
Emerald twilights,--
Virginal shy lights,
Wrought of the leaves to allure to the whisper of vows,
When lovers pace timidly down through the green colonnades
Of the dim sweet woods, of the dear dark woods,
Of the heavenly woods and glades,
That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach within
The wide sea-marshes of Glynn;--
During World War II, Naval Air Station Glynco, named for the county, was a major base for training for blimps and anti-submarine warfare. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) now uses a substantial part of the former NAS as its main campus.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_4627fb40e8ee4dfcbbb336a950e767e2~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Glynn
1777
![History
Glynn County, one of the state's original eight counties created on February 5, 1777, was named after John Glynn,[3] a member of the British House of Commons who defended the cause of the American Colonies before the American Revolution. The Battle of Bloody Marsh was fought in Glynn County. James Oglethorpe built Fort Frederica, which was used a base in the American Revolutionary War. Glynn Academy, established to educate boys, is the second oldest school in Georgia.
Glynn County includes the most prominent of the Sea Islands of Georgia, including Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, and Sea Island. The Georgia poet Sidney Lanier immortalized the seacoast there in his poem, "The Marshes of Glynn", which begins:
Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven
With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven
Clamber the forks of the multiform boughs,--
Emerald twilights,--
Virginal shy lights,
Wrought of the leaves to allure to the whisper of vows,
When lovers pace timidly down through the green colonnades
Of the dim sweet woods, of the dear dark woods,
Of the heavenly woods and glades,
That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach within
The wide sea-marshes of Glynn;--
During World War II, Naval Air Station Glynco, named for the county, was a major base for training for blimps and anti-submarine warfare. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) now uses a substantial part of the former NAS as its main campus.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_520ad0a1ce434e5e8944eeacbdb2d4a2~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Georgia voters passed a state constitutional amendment on November 2, 1920, to form Brantley County from pieces of three earlier surrounding Georgia counties: Charlton, Pierce, and Wayne counties.[4] Although the precise origin of the county name is unknown, it is believed that it honors U.S. Representative (congressman) William Gordon Brantley or his father, Benjamin Daniel Brantley, a well-known local merchant and Confederate States Army soldier in the American Civil War (1861–1865).[7][1][8][9][4]
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 447 square miles (1,160 km2), of which 442 square miles (1,140 km2) is land and 4.8 square miles (12 km2) (1.1%) is water.[10] The Satilla River runs through Brantley County.
The bulk of Brantley County, from east of Hortense south to west of Waynesville and west to east of Waycross, is located in the Satilla River sub-basin of the St. Marys-Satilla basin. The county's eastern border area, east of Waynesville, is located in the Cumberland-St. Simons sub-basin of the St. Marys-Satilla River basin. A small northwestern corner, west of Hortense, is located in the Little Satilla sub-basin of the larger St. Marys-Satilla River basin, and a very small southwestern corner of Brantley County is located in the Upper Suwannee River sub-basin of the larger Suwannee River basin.[11]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_0e0eacfb547241048f3f52f9b6289af4~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Brantley
1920
![History
Georgia voters passed a state constitutional amendment on November 2, 1920, to form Brantley County from pieces of three earlier surrounding Georgia counties: Charlton, Pierce, and Wayne counties.[4] Although the precise origin of the county name is unknown, it is believed that it honors U.S. Representative (congressman) William Gordon Brantley or his father, Benjamin Daniel Brantley, a well-known local merchant and Confederate States Army soldier in the American Civil War (1861–1865).[7][1][8][9][4]
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 447 square miles (1,160 km2), of which 442 square miles (1,140 km2) is land and 4.8 square miles (12 km2) (1.1%) is water.[10] The Satilla River runs through Brantley County.
The bulk of Brantley County, from east of Hortense south to west of Waynesville and west to east of Waycross, is located in the Satilla River sub-basin of the St. Marys-Satilla basin. The county's eastern border area, east of Waynesville, is located in the Cumberland-St. Simons sub-basin of the St. Marys-Satilla River basin. A small northwestern corner, west of Hortense, is located in the Little Satilla sub-basin of the larger St. Marys-Satilla River basin, and a very small southwestern corner of Brantley County is located in the Upper Suwannee River sub-basin of the larger Suwannee River basin.[11]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_491cbd4de57f4a29913c5d442a9fb37c~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
![History
Ware County, Georgia's 60th county, was created on December 15, 1824, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly from land that was originally part of Appling County.
The county is named for Nicholas Ware, the mayor of Augusta, Georgia from (1819–1821) and United States Senator who represented Georgia from 1821 until his death in 1824.
Several counties were later created from parts of the original Ware County borders:
Bacon County (from portions of Appling, Pierce, and Ware counties in 1917)
Charlton County (from portions of Camden and Ware county in 1854)
Clinch County (from portions of Lowndes and Ware counties in 1850)
Coffee County (from portions of Clinch, Irwin, Telfair, and Ware counties in 1854)
Pierce County (from portions of Appling and Ware counties in 1857)
Ware County was home to Laura S. Walker (1861–1955) a noted author and conservationist. Walker promoted a comprehensive program of forestry activity, including the establishment of forest parks. She erected markers and monuments along old trails and at historic sites, in Waycross and Ware County so that local history would not be forgotten. Walker wrote three books about the land and history of her home. They are: History of Ware County, Georgia[3] About "Old Okefenåok"[4] and Doctors of Primitive Times and Horse and Buggy Days of Ware County.[5]
An effort to recognize her work culminated in President Franklin D. Roosevelt issuing a proclamation to establish the Laura S. Walker National Park, located in Ware County, in her honor. She was the only living person for whom a state or national park was named.[6] In 1937, the federal government purchased distressed farmland for the park.[7][8] Work on the park was undertaken by the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1941, the national park was deeded over to Georgia, becoming the State's 13th state park.[8]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_72c7c1eeafa546fb8c4df6c11e49601e~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_189,h_189,al_c,lg_1,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Ware
1924
![History
Ware County, Georgia's 60th county, was created on December 15, 1824, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly from land that was originally part of Appling County.
The county is named for Nicholas Ware, the mayor of Augusta, Georgia from (1819–1821) and United States Senator who represented Georgia from 1821 until his death in 1824.
Several counties were later created from parts of the original Ware County borders:
Bacon County (from portions of Appling, Pierce, and Ware counties in 1917)
Charlton County (from portions of Camden and Ware county in 1854)
Clinch County (from portions of Lowndes and Ware counties in 1850)
Coffee County (from portions of Clinch, Irwin, Telfair, and Ware counties in 1854)
Pierce County (from portions of Appling and Ware counties in 1857)
Ware County was home to Laura S. Walker (1861–1955) a noted author and conservationist. Walker promoted a comprehensive program of forestry activity, including the establishment of forest parks. She erected markers and monuments along old trails and at historic sites, in Waycross and Ware County so that local history would not be forgotten. Walker wrote three books about the land and history of her home. They are: History of Ware County, Georgia[3] About "Old Okefenåok"[4] and Doctors of Primitive Times and Horse and Buggy Days of Ware County.[5]
An effort to recognize her work culminated in President Franklin D. Roosevelt issuing a proclamation to establish the Laura S. Walker National Park, located in Ware County, in her honor. She was the only living person for whom a state or national park was named.[6] In 1937, the federal government purchased distressed farmland for the park.[7][8] Work on the park was undertaken by the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1941, the national park was deeded over to Georgia, becoming the State's 13th state park.[8]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b91845_5114c4e399e64f2aa55c78bd70d2b02a~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_265,h_265,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Image-empty-state.png)
Atkinson
1918
Coffee
1854
Jeff Davis
1905
Bacon
1914
Appling
1818
Wayne
1803
Mcintosh
1793
Chatham
1777
Liberty
1777
Bryan
1793
Evans
1914
Tattnall
1801
Toombs
1905
Montgomery
1793
Effingham
1777
Bulloch
1796
Candler
1914
Treutlen
1918
Screven
1793
Jenkins
1905
Burke
1777
Jefferson
1796
Emanuel
1812
Johnson
1858
Washington
1784
Glasscock
1857
Richmond
1777
Columbia
1790
Lincoln
1796
Mcduffie
1870
Warren
1793
Taliaferro
1825
Green
1786
Wilkes
1777
oglethorpe
1793
Oconeee
1875
Barrow
1914
Clarke
1801
Elbert
1790
Madison
1811
Jackson
1796
Hart
1853
Franklin
1784
Banks
1858
Halll
1818
Stephens
1905
Habersham
1818
Rabun
1819
Appling County
1818
White
1857
Towns
1856
Union
1832
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