Historic Sites in Jasper County

The history of Jasper County

Jasper County was formed from part of Baldwin County in 1807 under the name Randolph County, honoring Virginia politician John Randolph. After Randolph's opposition to the War of 1812 made him unpopular, the legislature renamed the county in 1812 for Sergeant William Jasper, a hero of the Revolutionary War. Monticello, named by settlers from Virginia for Thomas Jefferson's estate, was incorporated in 1810 and serves as the county seat. Long before statehood, Muscogee (Creek) people lived near the shoals of the Ocmulgee River, and Carolina fur traders were visiting the 'Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee' as early as the 1670s. In the cotton era, plantation crops moved along the Seven Islands Stagecoach Road, and cotton gins, gristmills, sawmills and textile mills operated in the county for generations, until cotton lost its dominance. In November 1864 Union troops of Sherman's March to the Sea crossed the Ocmulgee on pontoon bridges at Planter's Factory and destroyed railroad lines. After the war, peaches, livestock, poultry and wood products broadened the farm economy. Lloyd Shoals Dam created Jackson Lake, which the county shares with Butts and Newton counties, and part of the Oconee National Forest lies within its borders. Country singer Trisha Yearwood, born in Monticello, titled her 2005 album Jasper County.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orgen.wikipedia.org