Historic Sites in Screven County

The history of Screven County

Screven County was established on December 14, 1793, as Georgia's fourteenth county, carved from Burke and Effingham counties, and its original bounds took in land that later became parts of Bulloch, Emanuel and Jenkins counties. It is named for General James Screven, who commanded troops around Savannah during the Revolutionary War. The Yuchi were the area's earliest known inhabitants, and at the 1763 congress held in Augusta, Native leaders ceded the country between the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers to colonial Georgia. German settlers arrived in 1751, followed two years later by colonists from the Carolinas and Virginia. On March 3, 1779, British troops under Colonel Mark Prevost surprised and routed American forces at the Battle of Brier Creek, a defeat that dashed Patriot hopes of quickly regaining control of Georgia. George Washington visited the county in 1791. The seat of government moved from Rocky Ford in 1793 to Jacksonborough in 1797, and in 1847 the legislature relocated it to Sylvania. Local lore attributes Jacksonborough's decline to a curse pronounced by the Methodist preacher Lorenzo Dow, who was angered by his treatment there. People with Screven County roots include congressman Edward Junius Black, World War II hero J. R. McKinney and Bucky Dent, most valuable player of the 1978 World Series.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orggeorgiahistory.com