Jasper 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 central portion 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 14,588,US 2020 Census Bureau report, Jasper County, Georgia up from 13,900 in 2010. 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 ...

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

. Jasper County is part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell MSA.

History

This area was inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. At the time of European-American settlement, it was inhabited by the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

and Muscogee Creek peoples, who became known as among the

Five Civilized Tribes The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by the United States government in the early federal period of the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Cr ...

of the Southeast. The county was created on December 10, 1807, 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 ...

with land that was originally part of Baldwin County. It became part of the new area of upland settlement through the South eventually known as the Black Belt, and a center of large

plantations 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, tobacco ...

for short-staple cotton. Invention of the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

in the late 18th century had made processing of this type of cotton profitable, and it was cultivated throughout the inland areas. As migration continued to the west, the county population rapidly rose and fell through the nineteenth century. Georgia settlers pushed Congress for the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, ...

of 1830, which eventually forced most of the Native Americans west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. Jasper County was originally named Randolph County (after the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

n John Randolph). Because of Randolph's opposition to U.S. entry into the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, the General Assembly changed the name of Randolph County to Jasper County on December 10, 1812, to honor Sergeant William Jasper, 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 ...

hero from South Carolina. However, Randolph's reputation eventually was restored, and in 1828, the General Assembly created a new Randolph County. Newton County was created from a part of the original Jasper County in 1821. In March 1921, the bodies of at least nine Black men were found mutilated in shallow graves or local rivers. Reports indicated the men were held in peonage by a local farmer, John Williams. The Jasper County courthouse was shown and used for filming the courthouse scenes in the 1992 comedy film ''

My Cousin Vinny ''My Cousin Vinny'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Dale Launer. It stars Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei, Mitchell Whitfield, Lane Smith, Bruce McGill, and Fred Gwynne in his final film app ...

''. Although the setting of the movie is in Beechum County, Alabama (a fictitious place), near the end of the movie, Sheriff Farley (played by actor

Bruce McGill Bruce Travis McGill (born July 11, 1950) is an American actor. He worked with director Michael Mann in the films '' The Insider'' (1999), '' Ali'' (2001), and '' Collateral'' (2004). McGill's other notable film roles include Daniel Simpson "D-D ...

), actually mentions Jasper County, Georgia by name.

Government

The county has a five-member county commission, elected from single-member districts. The commission elects a chairman and vice-chairman to aid in conducting business. The county is protected by a combined Fire Rescue Department providing EMS and Fire Services. The department operates out of seven fire stations with the majority of their manpower being volunteers. The department employs 50 personnel, which include full-time, part-time, and volunteer employees, and is headed by a Fire Chief Christopher Finch.

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 (1.4%) is water. The western portion of Jasper County, west of a line formed by State Route 11 to northwest of

, then along the eastern border of the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, is located in the Upper

Ocmulgee River The Ocmulgee River () is a western tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi (410 km) long, in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the westernmost major tributary of the Altamaha.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 eastern portion of the 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 same

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.

Major highways

State Route 11 * Georgia 16

State Route 16 * Georgia 83

State Route 83 * Georgia 142

State Route 142 * Georgia 212

State Route 212 * Georgia 380

State Route 380

Adjacent counties

* Morgan County - northeast * Putnam County - east * Jones County - south * Monroe County - southwest * Butts County - west * Newton County - northwest

National protected areas

* Oconee National Forest (part) * Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Communities

City

(county seat)

Towns

* Shady Dale

Unincorporated communities

* Adgateville * Aikenton * Broughton * Farrar * Gladesville * Hillsboro * Morrow * Prospect

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 14,588 people, 5,171 households, and 3,807 families residing in the county.

Notable people

* Susan Holmes - American politician born in Jasper County. 2001 Jasper County Citizen of the Year. * Roy "Buckshot" Jones -

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

driver. * Odell Thurman -

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

player. *

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American country singer. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single "She's in Love with the Boy", which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Country Songs ...

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist. In 2005, she released a studio album titled '' Jasper County''.

References

External links

Jasper County Sheriff's Office

Jasper County
historical marker
The Old Loyd Place
historical marker {{Coord, 33.32, -83.69, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-GA_source:UScensus1990 Georgia (U.S. state) counties 1807 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Populated places established in 1807

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...