Early County, Georgia

Early County
County
Early County Courthouse in Blakely
Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 31°20′N84°55′W / 31.33°N 84.91°W / 31.33; -84.91
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	1818;206 years ago (1818)
Named for	Peter Early
Seat	Blakely
Largest city	Blakely
Area
• Total	516 sq mi (1,340 km2)
• Land	513 sq mi (1,330 km2)
• Water	3.8 sq mi (10 km2)  0.7%
Population  (2020)
• Total	10,854
• Density	21/sq mi (8/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	2nd
Website	earlycountyga.org

Early County is a county located on the southwest border of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,854. ^[1] The county seat is Blakely, where the Early County Courthouse is located. ^[2] Created on December 15, 1818, it was named for Peter Early, 28th Governor of Georgia. ^[3] The county is bordered on the west by the Chattahoochee River, forming the border with Alabama.

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]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 516 square miles (1,340 km²), of which 513 square miles (1,330 km²) is land and 3.8 square miles (9.8 km²) (0.7%) is water. ^[7]

The northeastern and eastern portions of Early County, east of Blakely, and extending south to a line east of Jakin, are located in the Spring Creek sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The western portion of the county is located in the Lower Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the same ACF River Basin. ^[8]

Major highways

• U.S. Route 27
• 
  U.S. Route 27 Business
• U.S. Route 84
• State Route 1
• State Route 1 Business
• State Route 39
• State Route 45
• State Route 62
• State Route 62 Bypass
• State Route 200
• State Route 216
• State Route 273
• State Route 273 Spur
• State Route 370

Adjacent counties

• Clay County (north)
• Calhoun County (northeast)
• Baker County (east)
• Miller County (southeast)
• Seminole County (south or east)
• Houston County, Alabama (southwest/CST Border)
• Henry County, Alabama (west/CST Border)

Communities

Cities

• Arlington (shared with Calhoun County)
• Blakely
• Damascus
• Jakin

Census designated places

• Cedar Springs

Unincorporated communities

• Colomokee
• Cuba
• Freeman
• Hentown
• Hilton
• Jones Crossroads
• Killarney
• Lucile
• New Hope
• Nicholasville
• Old Damascus
• Rock Hill
• Rowena
• Saffold
• Urquhart

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1820	768		—
1830	2,051		167.1%
1840	5,444		165.4%
1850	7,246		33.1%
1860	6,149		−15.1%
1870	6,998		13.8%
1880	7,611		8.8%
1890	9,792		28.7%
1900	14,828		51.4%
1910	18,122		22.2%
1920	18,983		4.8%
1930	18,273		−3.7%
1940	18,679		2.2%
1950	17,413		−6.8%
1960	13,151		−24.5%
1970	12,682		−3.6%
1980	13,158		3.8%
1990	11,854		−9.9%
2000	12,354		4.2%
2010	11,008		−10.9%
2020	10,854		−1.4%
2023 (est.)	10,563	[9]	−2.7%
U.S. Decennial Census [10] 1790-1880 [11] 1890-1910 [12] 1920-1930 [13] 1930-1940 [14] 1940-1950 [15] 1960-1980 [16] 1980-2000 [17] 2010 [18] 2020 [19]

Early County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.

Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000 [20]	Pop 2010 [18]	Pop 2020 [19]	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	6,159	5,250	4,813	49.85%	47.69%	44.34%
Black or African American alone (NH)	5,901	5,441	5,534	47.77%	49.43%	50.99%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	23	34	31	0.19%	0.34%	0.29%
Asian alone (NH)	23	37	47	0.19%	0.34%	0.43%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	7	2	0	0.06%	0.02%	0.00%
Other race alone (NH)	5	5	11	0.04%	0.05%	0.10%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	84	68	232	0.68%	0.62%	2.14%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	152	171	186	1.23%	1.55%	1.71%
Total	12,354	11,008	10,854	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 10,854 people, 4,074 households, and 2,659 families residing in the county.

Education

The Early County School District holds grades pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of one elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. ^[21] The district has 156 full-time teachers and over 2,764 students. ^[22]

• Early County Elementary School
• Early County Middle School
• Early County High School

Politics

Despite being a Black-majority county, Early County leans Republican. As recently as 2012, the county selected Barack Obama (D) over Mitt Romney (R). However, Early County voted for Donald Trump (R) both in 2016 and 2020, even though Joe Biden (D) defeated Trump statewide in 2020. In the 2022 midterms, Governor Kemp carried it by 19.5 points while Brad Raffensperger carried it by over 21%

United States presidential election results for Early County, Georgia ^[23]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	2,718	55.71%	2,158	44.23%	3	0.06%
2020	2,710	52.24%	2,450	47.22%	28	0.54%
2016	2,552	53.13%	2,168	45.14%	83	1.73%
2012	2,557	47.71%	2,765	51.60%	37	0.69%
2008	2,711	50.74%	2,603	48.72%	29	0.54%
2004	2,495	59.14%	1,701	40.32%	23	0.55%
2000	1,938	54.06%	1,622	45.24%	25	0.70%
1996	1,374	41.98%	1,648	50.35%	251	7.67%
1992	1,457	35.17%	1,970	47.55%	716	17.28%
1988	1,918	58.46%	1,359	41.42%	4	0.12%
1984	2,239	59.98%	1,494	40.02%	0	0.00%
1980	1,538	41.77%	2,110	57.31%	34	0.92%
1976	1,157	32.48%	2,405	67.52%	0	0.00%
1972	2,396	82.37%	513	17.63%	0	0.00%
1968	327	8.37%	785	20.08%	2,797	71.55%
1964	2,398	75.67%	771	24.33%	0	0.00%
1960	254	11.77%	1,904	88.23%	0	0.00%
1956	193	9.60%	1,818	90.40%	0	0.00%
1952	307	14.55%	1,803	85.45%	0	0.00%
1948	94	6.95%	1,110	82.04%	149	11.01%
1944	77	4.21%	1,753	95.79%	0	0.00%
1940	104	5.60%	1,751	94.29%	2	0.11%
1936	46	3.98%	1,107	95.68%	4	0.35%
1932	19	1.65%	1,131	98.18%	2	0.17%
1928	231	25.52%	674	74.48%	0	0.00%
1924	22	5.06%	351	80.69%	62	14.25%
1920	34	8.19%	381	91.81%	0	0.00%
1916	4	0.88%	442	97.14%	9	1.98%
1912	7	1.31%	501	93.64%	27	5.05%

See also

• State of Georgia portal

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Early County, Georgia
• List of counties in Georgia

References

1. "Census - Geography Profile: Early County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved December 27, 2022.
2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
3. "Early County". Georgia.gov. Archived from the original on August 7, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
4. Lynching in America, 2nd edition Archived June 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine , Supplement by County: "Georgia, Early County", p. 3
5. "THE LYNCHING PROJECT: EARLY COUNTY". Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
6. "Known Georgia Lynching Victims" Archived March 8, 2018, at the Wayback Machine , Mary Turner Project, 2014; based on F.W. Brundage (1993) and R. Ginzburg (1988)
7. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
8. "Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Interactive Mapping Experience". Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
9. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
10. "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decades". United States Census Bureau.
11. "1880 Census Population by Counties 1790-1800" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1880.
12. "1910 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1910.
13. "1930 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1930.
14. "1940 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1940.
15. "1950 Census of Population - Georgia -" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1950.
16. "1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1980.
17. "2000 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000.
18. "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Early County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
19. "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Early County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
20. "P004 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Early County, Alabama". United States Census Bureau.
21. Georgia Board of Education ^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}, Retrieved June 8, 2010.
22. School Stats, Retrieved June 8, 2010.
23. Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 19, 2018.

External links

• Early County Official Website - The official website of Early County
• Early County 2055 - a non-profit corporation established by native son Charles Barton Rice and Catherine B. Rice to support the revitalization, economic development and preservation of Blakely and Early County, Georgia.
• Blakely - Early County Chamber of Commerce Archived April 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine - Chamber of Commerce for Blakely and surrounding communities of Jakin, Arlington and Damascus.
• Southwest Georgia Academy(SGA)-a private school is located in Damascus and its adjoining Counties by Georgia Independent School Association (GISA)
• Early County News, a local newspaper founded by the Fleming Family in 1859
• Early County historical marker

Further reading

• Jerald T. Milanich, The Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994).
• Jerald T. Milanich, et al., McKeithen Weeden Island: The Culture of Northern Florida, A.D. 200-900 (New York: Academic Press, 1984).
• Thomas J. Pluckhahn, Kolomoki: Settlement, Ceremony, and Status in the Deep South, A.D. 350 to 750 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003).
• William H. Sears, Excavations at Kolomoki: Final Report (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1956).
• Christopher Trowell, "A Kolomoki Chronicle: The History of a Plantation, a State Park, and the Archaeological Search for Kolomoki's Prehistory," Early Georgia 26, no. 1 (1998).
• Mark Williams and Daniel T. Elliott, eds., A World Engraved: Archaeology of the Swift Creek Culture (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1998).

31°20′N84°55′W / 31.33°N 84.91°W / 31.33; -84.91