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Georgia Counties

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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.

Grady County, Georgia

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

County Seat: Cairo
Year Organized: 1906
Square Miles: 458

Court House:

250 North Broad Street
County Courthouse
Cairo, GA 39828-2107

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Henry W. Grady, who was editor of the Atlanta Constitution and an advocate of the "New South."

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Grady County was created in 1905 from portions of Decatur and Thomas counties. It was named for Henry W. Grady, who was editor of the Atlanta Constitution and an advocate of the "New South."

Accounts of Hernando DeSoto's trek through the southeast in 1540 indicate that he entered Georgia in what is now Grady County.

Cairo, the county seat, was named for either the city in Egypt or the town of Cairo, Illinois. The city's name, however, is pronounced "Kayro."

Points of Interest

The Birdsong Nature Center is located in Grady County. Dedicated to providing natural history education programs for the public and preserving the natural environment of the area, the center is located on a 565-acre tract that was formerly known as Birdsong Plantation. The center features several nature trails and exhibits that highlight the diverse wildlife of the area. Herons, bluebirds, anhingas, wood ducks, otters, and alligators inhabit the center's grounds.

Grady County is located in the heart of South Georgia's famed "Plantation Trace" and is only 60 miles from the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico.

Notable Citizens

Several famous individuals hail from Grady County. These include football standouts Rosie Grier and Bill Stanfill; Teresa Edwards, a gold medalist in Olympic basketball; and baseball great Jackie Robinson, who was born in Cairo. Mack Robinson, Jackie's older brother, took the 200-meter dash silver medal behind Jessie Owens at the 1936 Olympics held in Munich.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Mitchell County
East: Thomas County
South: Leon County, Fla.
Southwest: Gadsden County, Fla.
West: Decatur County

Cities and Towns:

- Cairo (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Whigham	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Chamber of Commerce http://www.cairoga.com/

Additional County Info http://www.georgiaplanning.com/CountyPortal/countyportal.asp?FIPS=13131

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."