e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

Find Online Colleges

Find Campus Colleges

Georgia State...

Georgia

Choose a County

Appling, Athens-Clarke, Atkinson, Augusta-Richmond, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Carroll, Catoosa, Charlton, Chatham, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clay, Clayton, Clinch, Cobb, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Columbus-Muscogee, Cook, Coweta, Crawford, Crisp, Cusetta-Chattahoochee, Dade, Dawson, Decatur, DeKalb, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Douglas, Early, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Fannin, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer, Glascock, Glynn, Gordon, Grady, Greene, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Hancock, Haralson, Harris, Hart, Heard, Henry, Houston, Irwin, Jackson, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Lamar, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, Lumpkin, Macon, Madison, Marion, McDuffie, McIntosh, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Murray, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Peach, Pickens, Pierce, Pike, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Quitman, Rabun, Randolph, Rockdale, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Spalding, Stephens, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Towns, Treutlen, Troup, Turner, Twiggs, Union, Upson, Walker, Walton, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, White, Whitfield, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson, Worth

Georgia Counties

Click Image to Enlarge

Georgia Counties

Georgia is divided into 159 counties. Under the Georgia Constitution, Counties are granted home rule to deal with issues that are local in nature. Four consolidated city-Counties — Athens (Clarke County), Augusta (Richmond County), Columbus (Muscogee County), and Cusseta (Chattahoochee County) — exist.

Georgia has the second-highest number of Counties of any state in the United States, behind Texas (254). A few Georgia Counties have changed names over time. Jasper County was originally known as Randolph County. Later, the current Randolph County came into being. Webster County was once known as Kinchafoonee County, and Bartow County was formerly known as Cass County.

Brooks County, Georgia

Brooks County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Quitman
Year Organized: 1858
Square Miles: 494

Court House:

P.O. Box 272
County Courthouse
Quitman, GA 31643-0272

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Preston Brooks, a member of Congress prior to the Civil War and an avid defender of state rights.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

The first settlers, in what is now Brooks County, were Spanish missionaries from Florida who arrived around 1570. Brooks County was formed from parts of Lowndes and Thomas counties and was named for Preston Brooks, a member of Congress prior to the Civil War and an avid defender of state rights.

During the Civil War, the county was the main producer of food for the confederacy and became known as the "Breadbasket of the South."

The county's courthouse was constructed in 1864. Brooks County officials paid for the structure with $14,958 in Confederate money, a fortunate circumstance for the county, since this currency was soon to become useless.

Points of Interest

The county is home to several endangered plant and animal species including the Pond Spicebush, the Wood Stork, and the Eastern Indigo snake.

The Quitman Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contains late 19th and early 20th century brick buildings in the commercial district and mainly wood frame homes from various periods and styles in the residential area. The streets are laid out in a grid with several central parks.

Also listed on the National Register are the Brooks County Courthouse and the Brooks County Jail.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Cook County
East: Lowndes County
South: Madison County, Fla.
Southwest: Jefferson County, Fla.
West: Thomas County
Northwest: Colquitt County

Cities and Towns:

- Barwick	town	Incorporated Area
- Morven	city	Incorporated Area
- Quitman (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Chamber of Commerce http://www.quitmangeorgia.org/

Additional County Info http://www.georgiaplanning.com/CountyPortal/countyportal.asp?FIPS=13027

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."