Glynn County | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 31°13′N81°29′W / 31.22°N 81.49°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Georgia |
Founded | 1777 |
Named for | John Glynn |
Seat | Brunswick |
Largest city | Brunswick |
Government | |
• Chairman, Board of Commissioners | David O'Quinn |
Area | |
• Total | 585 sq mi (1,520 km2) |
• Land | 420 sq mi (1,100 km2) |
• Water | 165 sq mi (430 km2) 28.3% |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 84,499 |
• Density | 201/sq mi (78/km2) |
Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
Congressional district | 1st |
Website | glynncounty.org |
Glynn County is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 84,499. [1] The county seat is Brunswick. [2] Glynn County is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.
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:
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.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 585 square miles (1,520 km2), of which 420 square miles (1,100 km2) is land and 165 square miles (430 km2) (28.3%) is water. [4]
The majority of Glynn County is located in the Cumberland-St. Simons sub-basin of the St. Marys- Satilla River basin. Most of the county's northern and northwestern border area is located in the Altamaha River sub-basin of the basin by the same name. [5]
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1790 | 413 | — | |
1800 | 1,874 | 353.8% | |
1810 | 3,417 | 82.3% | |
1820 | 3,418 | 0.0% | |
1830 | 4,567 | 33.6% | |
1840 | 5,302 | 16.1% | |
1850 | 4,933 | −7.0% | |
1860 | 3,889 | −21.2% | |
1870 | 5,376 | 38.2% | |
1880 | 6,497 | 20.9% | |
1890 | 13,420 | 106.6% | |
1900 | 14,317 | 6.7% | |
1910 | 15,720 | 9.8% | |
1920 | 19,370 | 23.2% | |
1930 | 19,400 | 0.2% | |
1940 | 21,920 | 13.0% | |
1950 | 29,046 | 32.5% | |
1960 | 41,954 | 44.4% | |
1970 | 50,528 | 20.4% | |
1980 | 54,981 | 8.8% | |
1990 | 62,496 | 13.7% | |
2000 | 67,568 | 8.1% | |
2010 | 79,626 | 17.8% | |
2020 | 84,499 | 6.1% | |
2023 (est.) | 86,172 | [7] | 2.0% |
U.S. Decennial Census [8] 1790-1880 [9] 1890-1910 [10] 1920-1930 [11] 1930-1940 [12] 1940-1950 [13] 1960-1980 [14] 1980-2000 [15] 2010 [16] |
Race | Num. | Perc. |
---|---|---|
White (non-Hispanic) | 52,987 | 62.71% |
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 20,469 | 24.22% |
Native American | 175 | 0.21% |
Asian | 1,175 | 1.39% |
Pacific Islander | 92 | 0.11% |
Other/Mixed | 3,265 | 3.86% |
Hispanic or Latino | 6,336 | 7.5% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 84,499 people, 34,614 households, and 22,352 families residing in the county.
In terms of European ancestry, 40.8% were English, 10.6% were "American", 10.2% were Irish, and 7.9% were German. [18]
Glynn County's public schools are operated by Glynn County School System.
Glynn County is home to four Superfund sites. Those include the "LCP Chemicals Georgia" site, [19] the "Brunswick Wood Preserving" site, [20] the "Hercules 009 Landfill" site, [21] and the "Terry Creek Dredge Spoil Areas/Hercules Outfall" site. [22]
The Hanlin Group, Inc., which maintained a facility named "LCP Chemicals" in Glynn County just outside the corporate limits of Brunswick, was convicted of dumping 150 tons of mercury into Purvis Creek, a tributary of the Turtle River and surrounding tidal marshes between the mid-1980s and its closure in 1994. Three executives were sentenced to prison time over the incident. [23]
The LCP facility had been declared a Superfund site when it closed in 1994. It had been under scrutiny by the EPA after Service biologists discovered mercury poisoning in endangered wood storks on St. Simons Island. Fish, shellfish, crabs, and shrimps taken in coastal waters, as well as other bird species, also contained the toxic metal. The Service traced the source of the contamination to the LCP plant and documented the extent of the damage to wildlife resources. Their effort resulted in the addition of Endangered Species Act charges to those that would be brought against Hanlin and its officers. [24]
In 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ranked the Brunswick metropolitan area (which includes the counties of Glynn, Brantley and McIntosh) as the 7th most dangerous metropolitan area in the state of Georgia. [25]
On August 29, 2009, Glynn County resident Guy Heinze Jr. murdered eight members of his extended family including his father, Guy Heinze Sr. in the family's trailer located in New Hope Plantation Mobile Home Park near Brunswick. Two others were critically injured, with one dying later in a hospital in Savannah. Heinze Jr. avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole on October 30, 2013. [26]
Similar to Southeast Georgia, Glynn County is heavily Republican, having last voted Democratic in 1980, when the Democratic nominee was Georgia native Jimmy Carter.
Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 25,617 | 61.00% | 15,882 | 37.82% | 495 | 1.18% |
2016 | 21,512 | 62.47% | 11,775 | 34.19% | 1,150 | 3.34% |
2012 | 20,893 | 62.95% | 11,950 | 36.00% | 348 | 1.05% |
2008 | 20,479 | 61.31% | 12,676 | 37.95% | 248 | 0.74% |
2004 | 18,608 | 67.08% | 8,962 | 32.31% | 169 | 0.61% |
2000 | 14,346 | 64.09% | 7,778 | 34.75% | 260 | 1.16% |
1996 | 12,305 | 56.96% | 8,058 | 37.30% | 1,239 | 5.74% |
1992 | 11,242 | 49.02% | 8,581 | 37.42% | 3,109 | 13.56% |
1988 | 11,126 | 63.18% | 6,339 | 35.99% | 146 | 0.83% |
1984 | 11,724 | 64.07% | 6,574 | 35.93% | 0 | 0.00% |
1980 | 7,214 | 47.54% | 7,540 | 49.69% | 419 | 2.76% |
1976 | 5,403 | 36.35% | 9,459 | 63.65% | 0 | 0.00% |
1972 | 9,443 | 75.88% | 3,002 | 24.12% | 0 | 0.00% |
1968 | 3,725 | 30.24% | 3,251 | 26.39% | 5,341 | 43.36% |
1964 | 7,341 | 56.22% | 5,712 | 43.75% | 4 | 0.03% |
1960 | 2,926 | 44.95% | 3,584 | 55.05% | 0 | 0.00% |
1956 | 3,098 | 50.22% | 3,071 | 49.78% | 0 | 0.00% |
1952 | 2,575 | 43.47% | 3,348 | 56.53% | 0 | 0.00% |
1948 | 1,090 | 23.80% | 2,444 | 53.36% | 1,046 | 22.84% |
1944 | 385 | 16.18% | 1,995 | 83.82% | 0 | 0.00% |
1940 | 274 | 11.94% | 2,014 | 87.76% | 7 | 0.31% |
1936 | 260 | 11.88% | 1,925 | 87.98% | 3 | 0.14% |
1932 | 186 | 12.81% | 1,262 | 86.91% | 4 | 0.28% |
1928 | 799 | 59.27% | 549 | 40.73% | 0 | 0.00% |
1924 | 283 | 29.18% | 612 | 63.09% | 75 | 7.73% |
1920 | 132 | 23.83% | 422 | 76.17% | 0 | 0.00% |
1916 | 36 | 6.45% | 477 | 85.48% | 45 | 8.06% |
1912 | 16 | 3.21% | 470 | 94.19% | 13 | 2.61% |
Wayne County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,144. The county seat is Jesup.
Tattnall County is a county located in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Georgia, located within the Magnolia Midlands, a part of the Historic South region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,842. The county seat is Reidsville. Tattnall County was created on December 5, 1801, from part of Montgomery County, Georgia by the Georgia General Assembly.
Peach County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,981. Its county seat is Fort Valley. Founded in 1924, it is the state's newest county, taken from Houston and Macon counties on July 18 of that year. Its namesake is the peach on account of it being located in a peach-growing district.
McIntosh County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,975, a drop of 23.4 percent since the 2010 census. The county seat is Darien.
Laurens County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,570, up from 48,434 in 2010. The county seat is Dublin. The county was founded on December 10, 1807, and named after Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, an American soldier and statesman from South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War.
Johnson County is a county located along the oconee River in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,189. The county seat is Wrightsville. Johnson County is part of the Dublin, Georgia, micropolitan statistical area.
Jeff Davis County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,779. The county seat is Hazlehurst. The county was created on August 18, 1905, and named for Jefferson Davis, the only Confederate president.
Dodge County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2020, the population was 19,925. The county seat is Eastman. Dodge County lies in the Historic South and Black Belt region of Georgia, an area that was devoted to cotton production in the antebellum years. It has significant historic buildings and plantations, has a substantial African-American population, and shows cultural aspects of the South.
Camden County is a county located in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2020 census, its population was 54,768. Its county seat is Woodbine, and the largest city is Kingsland. It is one of the original counties of Georgia, created February 5, 1777. It is the 11th-largest county in the state of Georgia by area, and the 41st-largest by population.
Brantley County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,021. The county seat is Nahunta. Brantley County is part of the Brunswick, Georgia metropolitan statistical area.
Bleckley County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,583. The county seat is Cochran.
Brunswick is a city in and the county seat of Glynn County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the primary urban and economic center of the lower southeast portion of Georgia, it is the second-largest urban area on the Georgia coastline after Savannah and contains the Brunswick Old Town Historic District. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population of the city proper was 15,210; the Brunswick metropolitan area's population as of 2020 was 113,495.
Country Club Estates is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Brunswick metropolitan statistical area. The population was 8,373 at the 2020 census, down from 8,545 in 2010.
Dock Junction is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Brunswick metropolitan statistical area. The population was 7,721 at the 2010 census, growing to 8,266 in 2020. Its original name was Arco until the 1970s, the name deriving from the Atlantic Refining Company.
St. Simons Island is a barrier island and census-designated place (CDP) located on St. Simons Island in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. The names of the community and the island are interchangeable, known simply as "St. Simons Island" or "SSI", or locally as "The Island". St. Simons is part of the Brunswick metropolitan statistical area, and according to the 2020 U.S. census, the CDP had a population of 14,982. Located on the southeast Georgia coast, midway between Savannah and Jacksonville, St. Simons Island is both a seaside resort and residential community. It is the largest of Georgia's renowned Golden Isles. Visitors are drawn to the Island for its warm climate, beaches, variety of outdoor activities, shops and restaurants, historical sites, and natural environment.
The Altamaha River is a major river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles (220 km) from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties into the ocean near Brunswick, Georgia. No dams are directly on the Altamaha, though some are on the Oconee and the Ocmulgee. Including its tributaries, the Altamaha River's drainage basin is about 14,000 square miles (36,000 km2) in size, qualifying it among the larger river basins of the US Atlantic coast.
Southeast Georgia's Lower Coastal Plain, often referred to as the "Coastal Empire", is a subregion that encompasses the lowest-lying areas of the Atlantic coastal plain in the state, containing barrier islands, marshes, and swampy lowlands, as well as flat plains and low terraces. It differs from Georgia's Upper Coastal Plain in that it is lower in elevation with less relief and wetter soils. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines the Lower Coastal Plain as an ecoregion, part of the larger, interstate Southern Coastal Plain.
The Golden Isles of Georgia consist of barrier islands, and the mainland port cities of Brunswick and Darien on the 100-mile-long coast of the U.S. state of Georgia on the Atlantic Ocean. They include St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, Sapelo Island, and Blackbeard Island. The islands are part of a long chain of barrier islands known as the "Sea Islands", located along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida.
The recorded History of Brunswick, Georgia dates to 1738, when a 1,000-acre (4 km2) plantation was established along the Turtle River. By 1789, the city was recognized by President George Washington as having been one of five original ports of entry for the American colonies. In 1797, Brunswick's prominence was further recognized when it became the county seat of Glynn County, a status it retains to this day. During the later stages of the Civil War, with the approach of the Union Army, much of the city was abandoned and burned. Economic prosperity eventually returned, when a large lumber mill was constructed in the area. By the late 19th-century, despite yellow fever epidemics and occasional hurricanes, business in Brunswick was thriving, due to port business for cotton, lumber, naval stores, and oysters. During this period, Brunswick also enjoyed a tourist trade, stimulated by nearby Jekyll Island, which had become a posh, exclusive getaway for some of the era's most influential people. World War I stimulated ship building activity in Brunswick. But it was not until World War II that the economy boomed, when 16,000 workers were employed to produce ninety-nine Liberty ships and "Knot" ships. During the war, Brunswick's Glynco Naval Air Station was, for a time, the largest blimp base in the world. Since the end of World War II, the city has enjoyed a period of moderate economic activity, centered on its deep natural port, which is the westernmost harbor on the eastern seaboard. In recent years, in recognition of a thriving local enterprise, Brunswick has declared itself to be the "Shrimp Capital of the World".
The Glynn County School District is a public school district in Glynn County, Georgia, United States, based in Brunswick. It serves the communities of Brunswick, Country Club Estates, Dock Junction, Everett, St. Simons Island, and Sterling.