Historic Sites in Jeff Davis County

The history of Jeff Davis County

Jeff Davis County was created in 1905 from parts of Appling and Coffee counties, becoming Georgia's 142nd county, and was named for Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Its county seat, Hazlehurst, grew up where railroad lines from Macon and Brunswick met in 1870, and it takes its name from George H. Hazlehurst, the civil engineer who surveyed the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. The town was incorporated in 1891 and was the natural choice for the seat of government when the new county was organized. The Hazlehurst depot dates to 1870, the year the rail lines converged. The county courthouse, completed in 1907 and later renovated, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The Pace House, built in 1900 and listed on the National Register in 2003, now holds the Hazlehurst Jeff Davis Museum. Tobacco was long the county's principal crop until cotton and peanuts took its place, and timber has remained a major part of the local economy. Along the county's northeastern border, the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers meet to form the Altamaha River, and the Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area covers some 14,000 acres.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orgen.wikipedia.org