Greene County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the east central portion & the Lake country region 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 18,915. The

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 ...

Greensboro Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...

. The county was created on February 3, 1786, and is named for

Nathanael Greene Major general (United States), Major General Nathanael Greene (August 7, 1742 – June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War. He emerge ...

, an

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

major general.

History

Greene County was formed on February 3, 1786, from land given by Washington County. It was named in honor of General Nathanael Greene, a hero of the American Revolutionary War.

Geography

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 (4.6%) is water. The majority of Greene County, west of a line between Woodville, Union Point, and White Plains, 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. The northern half of the remainder of the county is located in the Little 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, while the southern half is located in the Upper

Ogeechee River The Ogeechee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 26, 2011 blackwater river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It heads at the confluence of its North and Sout ...

sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin.

Major highways

* (Interstate 20) * * * * * * (unsigned designation for I-20)

Adjacent counties

* Oglethorpe County (north) * Taliaferro County (east) * Hancock County (southeast) * Putnam County (southwest) * Morgan County (west) * Oconee County (northwest)

National protected area

* Oconee National Forest (part)

Communities

Cities

* Union Point * White Plains * Woodville

Towns

* Siloam

Unincorporated communities

* Bairdstown

Other

* Scull Shoals, an extinct town on the

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 18,915 people, 7,132 households, and 4,975 families residing in the county.

Education

The county supports the Greene County School Board, Lake Oconee Academy and Nathanael Greene Academy.

Role in passage of the Georgia Indigent Defense Act

In 2001, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Benham convened a committee to investigate indigent defense in the state of Georgia. An avalanche of complaints about the state of public defense in Greene County, along with a number of lawsuits filed by

Stephen Bright Stephen B. Bright (born 1948) is an American lawyer known for representing people facing the death penalty, advocating for the right to counsel for poor people accused of crimes, and challenging inhumane practices and conditions in prisons and ja ...

and the

Southern Center for Human Rights The Southern Center for Human Rights is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to enforcing the civil and human rights of people in the criminal justice system in the South. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it has won cases in several state ...

, contributed to the formation of this commission. The commission discovered during its investigation that indigent defendants in Greene County were routinely pleaded guilty by judges without the presence of counsel and sometimes without even being present in court to make their pleas, violations of the Sixth Amendment. Excessive bail, e.g. $50,000 for loitering, was often set as well, a violation of the Eighth Amendment. After two years of investigation, the committee's recommendations led to the passage of the Georgia Indigent Defense Act.

Politics

Prior to

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, the only time Greene County failed to back a Democratic Party candidate in a presidential election was in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, when

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

won every county in Georgia and all but 130 counties nationwide. From

onward, it has been consistently Republican due to the growth of white residents moving to Reynolds Lake Oconee.

References

External links

Greene County
historical marker
Old Greene County "Gaol"
historical marker {{Coord, 33.58, -83.17, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-GA_source:UScensus1990 Georgia (U.S. state) counties 1786 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Populated places established in 1786