Historic Sites in Johnson County

The history of Johnson County

Johnson County was created in 1858 from parts of Emanuel, Laurens, and Washington counties and named for Herschel V. Johnson, who had served as Georgia's governor from 1853 to 1857. Johnson opposed secession and was selected as Stephen Douglas's vice-presidential running mate in the 1860 election. Years later, from 1873 to 1880, he sat as a superior court judge, which made him the only Georgia judge ever to preside over court in a county bearing his own name. The county seat, Wrightsville, was laid out in 1859 on land donated by William Hicks and named for John B. Wright, a member of the committee that chose the site and a state legislator; the town was incorporated in 1866. Union troops on William T. Sherman's March to the Sea moved through the county in 1864, and Wrightsville now lies on a Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail. Railroads shaped the town's growth, and the depot the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad built in 1900 survives as a community center. The Johnson County Courthouse, built in 1895, joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and the Grice Inn, headquarters of the county historical society, was listed in 1978. Wrightsville is also the hometown of Herschel Walker, the University of Georgia running back who won the 1982 Heisman Trophy.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.org