Historic Sites in Emanuel County

The history of Emanuel County

Emanuel County was created on December 10, 1812, from parts of Bulloch and Montgomery counties and named for David Emanuel, a Revolutionary War veteran who became governor in 1801. The Muscogee (Creek) had lost this land in the cessions of 1773 and 1783, and many of the families who settled it afterward, including Revolutionary War veterans, lived by subsistence farming and the resources of the pine forest, operating sawmills and turpentine stills. State senator Stephen Swain championed the new county, and in 1814 its seat was located on a high hill; the town was officially named Swainsborough in his honor in 1822, was incorporated as Paris in 1854, and returned to the Swainsboro name in 1857. In late 1864 Union troops on Sherman's March to the Sea swept across the county, and many farms fell into ruin. Railroad tracks arrived in the 1870s and opened an era of large-scale lumbering, while rail lines tied Swainsboro, Twin City, and Stillmore to broader markets as cotton gained importance. Twin City, formed from the towns of Summit and Graymont, preserves a historic district. The county's forestry heritage has been celebrated at the Pine Tree Festival since 1946, and Swainsboro calls itself the Crossroads of the South for its position where U.S. Highways 1 and 80 meet.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orgemanuelco-ga.gov