Clay County, Georgia

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

County Seat: Fort Gaines
Year Organized: 1854
Square Miles: 195

Court House:

105 North Washington Street
County Courthouse
Fort Gaines, GA 31751-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

It was named for Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Clay County was created from parts of Early and Randolph counties in 1854. It was named for Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky.

Fort Gaines grew up around a fort on the Chattahoochee River established to protect settlers during the Creek Indian Wars. The town, named for the fort's builder, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, became a shipping point for cotton planters for many miles on both sides of the Chattahoochee River, remaining a key market until about 1858 when railroads replaced river freight.

Cemocheechobee Creek is the site of a pre-historic community, consisting of a large village area surrounding three adjacent platform mounds.

Points of Interest

The Walter F. George Lock and Dam in George T. Bagby State Park is just north of Fort Gaines on the Chattahoochee River. Under construction from 1955 until 1963, the dam stretches two and a half miles from Alabama. The lock, second highest east of the Mississippi, forms a lake called Lake Walter F. George . The lake extends 85 miles upriver.

The Fort Gaines Historic District and Frontier Village are tourist attractions. There are several reconstructed fort buildings on the site of the original Fort Gaines, and two Civil War gun emplacements. There are also the remains of an 1890s cottonseed oil mill and an early 20th century waterworks. All of these sites are on the National Register.

Elizabeth Stuart Dill who was captured and held hostage by Indians after the War of 1812, is one of the county's interesting historical figure. Forced to accompany the Indians on their raids, she was able to gather a lot of paper money that the Indians had deemed useless and save it by pinning it to her petticoats. When rescued, she returned with her loot to Fort Gaines and built the Dill House, which is now a Bed and Breakfast.

Other recreational facilities include the Meadowlinks 18-Hole Championship Golf Course.

Notable Citizens

Walter F. George, a notable Clay County resident, rose from tenant farmer beginnings to serve in the US Senate from 1923 to 1956. President Eisenhower also appointed George to be his personal ambassador to NATO.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Quitman County
Northeast: Randolph County
Southeast: Calhoun County
South: Early County
Southwest: Henry County, Ala.
Northwest: Barbour County, Ala.

Cities and Towns:

- Bluffton	town	Incorporated Area
- Fort Gaines (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

County http://www.claycountyga.org/

Additional County Info http://www.georgiaplanning.com/CountyPortal/countyportal.asp?FIPS=13061

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our 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."

Penn Foster High School

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