Clarke County is located in the northeastern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 128,671. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, with which it is a

consolidated city-county In local government in the United States, United States local government, a consolidated city-county (#Terminology, see below for alternative terms) is formed when one or more city, cities and their surrounding County (United States), county (Lis ...

. Clarke County is included in the Athens-Clarke County, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

-Athens-Clarke County- Sandy Springs, GA Combined Statistical Area.

History

Clarke County was created in 1801 by an act of the

Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...

on December 5. It was named for Revolutionary War hero Elijah Clarke and included that was formerly part of Jackson County. Colonel Clarke played a leading role the 1779 victory at the

Battle of Kettle Creek The Battle of Kettle Creek was the first major victory for Patriots in the back country of Georgia during the American Revolutionary War that took place on February 14, 1779. It was fought in Wilkes County about from present-day Washington, ...

in Wilkes County. The Elijah Clarke Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

erected a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

to him in Broad Street in Athens. As the population of the county grew in the early 19th century, its agricultural and

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

industries prospered. The adjacent

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

s flowed through city mills.

Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

and

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

production operations were the major industries in Clarke County, especially after the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

reached Athens in 1841. Athens and Clarke County were second only to

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and Chatham County in the amount of

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

invested in manufacturing in the 1840s. Two

skirmish Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to Screening (tactical), screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They may be deployed in a sk ...

es were fought in Clarke County in 1864, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, one near Barber's Creek and the other near Mitchell's Road. Athens was occupied by the Union Army on May 29 and a provost-marshal took charge. Formal

military occupation Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling pow ...

of the county ended by December 1864, though Union troops remained in the county until early 1866. In 1801 the Clarke County Commission had selected Watkinsville (now in Oconee County) as the

. All county offices, including the courts and jail, moved to Athens when the seat was moved on November 24, 1871. County meetings took place in the old Athens

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, until a new

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

was constructed in 1876. The present courthouse was built in 1914. On February 12, 1875, in response to complaints over the relocation of the county seat to Athens, the state legislature created Oconee County from the southwestern portion of Clarke County, making Watkinsville its seat. Clarke County thus lost one-third of its population and three-fifths of its land area. The position of "commissioner of roads and revenue" was created by the legislature for what are today known as county commissioners. As an extension of the state, the county would conduct welfare and health programs, build and maintain roads, and hold courts of law. On March 29, 1973, the Georgia legislature increased the number of county commissioners from 3 to 5, also adding a county administrator. In 1990, the residents voted to unify the city and county governments creating Athens-Clarke County, the second (after Columbus- Muscogee County) unified city-county government in the State of Georgia.

Geography

Clarke County is located at . The county is located in the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

region of the state. The vast majority of Clarke County is located in the Upper

Oconee River The Oconee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map Accessed April 21, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its origin is in Hall County and it terminates where it join ...

sub-basin of the

Altamaha River The Altamaha River is a major river in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It flows generally eastward for from its Source (river or stream), origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Oce ...

basin, with a very small portion of the county's eastern edge, north of Winterville, located in the Broad River sub-basin of the

Savannah River The Savannah River is a major river in the Southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and South Carolina. The river flows from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, ...

basin. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.5%) is water. It is the smallest county by area in Georgia.

Adjacent counties

Madison County, Georgia Madison County is a County (United States), county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,120. The county seat is Danielsvill ...

- northeast * Oglethorpe County, Georgia - east *

Oconee County, Georgia Oconee County is a County (United States), county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 41,799. The county seat is Watkinsville ...

- southwest *

Barrow County, Georgia Barrow County is a County (United States), county located in the East Central Georgia, East Central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 census, its population was 83,505. Its county seat is Winder, Georgi ...

- west *

Jackson County, Georgia Jackson County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 75,907. The county seat is Jefferson. Jackson County comprises the Jefferson, GA Micropolitan Statistical Ar ...

- northwest

Communities

Cities

(county seat) * Winterville

Town

* Bogart (mostly in Oconee County)

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 128,671 people, 52,124 households, and 24,041 families residing in the county.

Education

Crime

In 2022, Clarke County had the third highest crime rate in Georgia. Clarke County had 35.5 crimes per 1,000 people, based on 4,599 offenses in 2022, and a population of 129,377. Like most other counties, the two more common crimes were larceny theft (2,983 incidents recorded in Clarke in 2022), and aggravated assault (1,979 incidents). Clarke County was only behind

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johann de Kalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama DeKalb County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Alabama, northeastern part ...

and Bibb County for highest crime rate.

Politics

Due to the presence of the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

campus in Athens, Clarke County has long been a Democratic Party stronghold in presidential elections. This predates the recent trend of Democratic gains in counties dominated by large universities. It has only backed the Republican candidate in three presidential elections, the fiercely divided realigning election of 1968 (in which it was one of only eight Georgia counties where

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

came in third) and the 49-state landslides of 1972 and 1984.

Transportation

Major highways

U.S. Route 29 U.S. Route 29 or U.S. Highway 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida, to Ellicott City, Maryland, just west of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, in the Eastern United Stat ...