Barrow County, Ga

Barrow County, created in 1914, helped settle a dispute among three counties: Gwinnett, Walton and Jackson. Because the City of Winder, the county seat, sat at the juncture of the three counties, residents were plagued with disputed taxes and business affairs related to uncertain boundaries. The state legislature solved the problems by creating a county around Winder, formerly known as “Jug Tavern,” and naming it for David Crenshaw Barrow, chancellor and popular instructor at the University of Georgia.

Barrow is home of the Bethlehem Christian Academy Knights, Winder-Barrow Bulldoggs, and Apalachee Wildcats. Barrow County is home to four middle schools, and recently built Bear Creek Middle School, a new middle school in the City of Statham.

Barrow County and Gwinnett County are the homes of the Chateau Elan resort, winery, and estate, which is also Georgia’s largest winery. It is located in Braselton.

Oconee County, GA

Oconee County, named for the river that sets its eastern boundary, branched off from Clarke County in 1875. Watkinsville, the county seat, takes its name from an Augusta lawyer who helped compile the first Digest of Georgia Laws.

Oconee County was created from the southwestern part of Clarke County in 1875 by the Georgia General Assembly. The new county was created to satisfy southwestern Clarke County residents’ demand for their own county after the county seat was moved from Watkinsville to Athens by the General Assembly in 1872. It is named for the river flowing along part of its eastern border.

The county was ranked as the third-best rural county to live in by Progressive Farmer magazine in 2006.

Clarke County

Clarke County, now consolidated with the City of Athens, took its terri­tory from Jackson County. Still, the smallest of all 159 Georgia counties, Clarke honors the memory of General Elijah Clarke of Revolutionary War fame. Athens grew up around the University of Georgia, the country’s first university to earn a state-supported charter.

Clarke County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 116,714. Its county seat is Athens, with which it is a consolidated city-county.

Jackson County

Jackson County, established in 1796 and carved from Franklin County lands, takes its name from General James Jackson who, after serving in the Revolutionary War, joined the U.S. Congress. Jefferson, the county seat, honors Thomas Jefferson. It was in Jackson County that, on March 30, 1842, Dr. Crawford W. Long performed the first surgery to use an anesthetic, either.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 343 square miles (890 km2), of which 340 square miles (880 km2) is land and 3.4 square miles (8.8 km2) (1.0%) is water.

The vast majority of Jackson County is located in the Upper Oconee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin, with just a small portion of the county’s northern edge, between Maysville to just east of Commerce, located in the Broad River sub-basin of the Savannah River basin.

Walton County

Walton County is located about 30 miles east of the city of Atlanta. Monroe is the county seat; Loganville is another major town.

Walton County, an original land lot county designated in 1818, is named for George Walton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Born in Virginia, Walton came to Savannah to study law. He was twice governor of Georgia and a U.S. senator in 1795. Settlers built homes in Monroe, the county seat, as soon as the state legislature divvied Cherokee Indian lands to create the county. The seat honors James Monroe, fifth president.

The western half of Walton County, in a half circle from Social Circle through Monroe to northeast of Loganville, is located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin. The eastern part of the county, east of that curve, is located in the Upper Oconee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin.

Gwinnett County

Gwinnett County, created in 1818 from treaty lands ceded by the Creek and Cherokee Indians, recognizes Button Gwinnett, one of the three Georgia signers of the Declaration of Independence. He not only helped draft the state constitution but also agreed to fill the unexpired term of the governor. When he later failed to win the election, Gwinnett entangled himself in his last political stand, a fatal duel with General Lachlan Mclntosh. The county seat, Lawrenceville, is named for Captain James Lawrence, a wounded commander of the Chesapeake during the War of 1812. It was he who, dying, gave his crew the battle cry: “Don’t give up the ship!”

The southern and central portions of Gwinnett County are located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin. Most of the county’s northern edge, from south of Peachtree Corners to north of Buford, is located in the Upper Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The county’s eastern edge, north, and south of Dacula, is located in the Upper Oconee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin.