The U.S. state of Georgia is divided into 159 counties, more than any other state except for Texas, which has 254 counties. Under the Georgia State Constitution, all of its counties are granted home rule to deal with problems that are purely local in nature. Each county has a county seat. In Georgia, county seats typically have a courthouse at a town square. Of the current 159 counties and two historic counties, 47 counties have changed their county seat at least once.
When counties were established some counties already had towns, which were soon named county seats. Several counties upon establishment lacked populations centers and did not have a county seat for a year or more. Typically during those periods without a definite county seat, county courts and other local government business was held at the residences of community leaders or at churches. A county changing county seats in Georgia has become very rare since the 1920s, as has the creation of new counties. The last county to legally change its county seat was Bryan County because of the establishment of Fort Stewart in the 1930s. Columbia County has two county seats; Evans has been Columbia County's de facto county seat since the 1980s, while Appling remains as the de jure county seat.
While some Georgian counties have kept their same county seat since they were first created, many other counties have had their county seat changed one or more times. County seats in Georgia have changed over time for a variety of reasons. Among the more common reasons for county seats being changed include:
Towns along waterways growing as steamships were introduced
Railroads bypassing the county seat
Shifting county lines changing the center of population
A few county seats have regained their position of county seat after losing it:
Morgan was the county seat of Calhoun County from 1856 to 1923; it was re-designated the county seat in 1929
Stark(s)ville was the county seat of Lee County from 1832 to 1854, and then again from 1856 to 1872
Vienna, then known as Berrien, was the county seat of Dooly County from 1826 to 1836; it was re-designated the county seat in 1841
Waynesville was the county seat of Wayne County for several nonconsecutive periods in the mid-1800s
Three county seats have later become the county seats of other counties:
Pond Town was the temporary county seat of Lee County, Georgia when the county was first established from Muscogee (Creek) Nation lands in 1826. The county was very large and otherwise lacked European-American settlement. It was replaced in 1828. Pond Town evolved to become the town of Ellaville and became the county seat of Schley County in 1857.
Lumpkin was named the county seat of Randolph County on December 2, 1830. On December 23, 1830 Stewart County was created from the section of Randolph where Lumpkin was. Lumpkin became the county seat of Stewart County on December 30, 1830.
Watkinsville was the county seat of Clarke County from 1802 to 1871 when it was replaced by Athens, and then became the county seat of Oconee in 1875 when it was created.
On three occasions, the creation of new counties has put a current county seat completely outside of the new boundaries of a county:
In 1812, when Emanuel County was created from Montgomery County, the county seat of the plantation of Arthur Lott was transferred to the new county
Citizens of Clinton refused to have the Macon and Northern Railroad built through their town in the 1890s. Gray grew up along the route the railroad was built.
Established as Station Number 9 of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad in the 1850s. Additional railroads soon intersected the location as well. Changed by referendum.
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in the U.S. state of Vermont and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions.
Webster County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census reflected a population of 2,348, making it the third-least populous county in Georgia. The county seat is Preston.
Stewart County is a county located in the west central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,314. The county seat is Lumpkin. The county was created on December 23, 1830.
Randolph County is a county located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia and is considered part of the Black Belt, historically an area of plantations. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,425, roughly one-third of its peak population in 1910, when there were numerous agricultural workers. The county seat is Cuthbert.
Lowndes County is a county located in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 118,251. The county seat is Valdosta. The county was created December 23, 1825.
Jasper County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,588, up from 13,900 in 2010. The county seat is Monticello. Jasper County is part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell MSA.
Evans County is a county in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,774. The county seat is Claxton. A bill creating the county was passed in the Georgia General Assembly on August 11, 1914, and later, on November 3, 1914, an amendment was ratified by a vote of the people which formally created the county. Evans became part of the Statesboro micropolitan area in 2023, joining Bulloch County.
Columbia County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,010. The legal county seat is Appling, but the de facto seat of county government is Evans.
Dahlonega is the county seat of Lumpkin County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,242, and in 2018 the population was estimated to be 6,884.
Georgetown is a city in Quitman County, Georgia, United States. It is on the Alabama-Georgia state line next to Walter F. George Lake and across the Chattahoochee River from Eufaula, Alabama. Per the 2020 census, the population was 2,235. In 2006, Georgetown and Quitman County voted to consolidate their governments, becoming the smallest such consolidated entity in the Lower 48 states.
Lumpkin is a city and county seat of Stewart County, Georgia, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 891.
Historic Westville was a history museum representing a 19th-century Georgia town in Columbus, Georgia, United States.
The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States and the first in Georgia, and overshadowed the previous rush in North Carolina. It started in 1829 in present-day Lumpkin County near the county seat, Dahlonega, and soon spread through the North Georgia mountains, following the Georgia Gold Belt. By the early 1840s, gold became difficult to find. Many Georgia miners moved west when gold was found in the Sierra Nevada in 1848, starting the California Gold Rush. Since the 16th century, American Indians in Georgia told European explorers that the small amounts of gold which they possessed came from mountains of the interior. Some poorly documented accounts exist of Spanish or French mining gold in North Georgia between 1560 and 1690, but they are based on supposition and on rumors passed on by Indians. In summing up known sources, W.S. Yeates observed: "Many of these accounts and traditions seem to be quite plausible. Nevertheless, it is hardly probable that the Spaniards would have abandoned mines which were afterwards found to be quite profitable, as those in North Georgia."
The Tucker County Seat War (1893) was a dispute between the towns of Parsons and St. George, in Tucker County, West Virginia, over which should be the county seat.
Louvale is an unincorporated community in Stewart County, Georgia, United States. The community is located along U.S. Route 27, 8.7 miles (14.0 km) north of Lumpkin. Louvale has a post office with ZIP code 31814.
The 1968 United States presidential election in Georgia was held on November 5, 1968. American Independent Party candidate George Wallace received the most votes, and won all twelve of the state's electoral college votes.
The Stewart County Courthouse, in Lumpkin, Georgia is a historic courthouse built in 1923 for Stewart County, Georgia. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
References
↑ "Counties". GEORGIAINFO: An Online Georgia Almanac. Digital Library of Georgia. 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
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