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Other Information:
Chattooga County's first courthouse was a two-story structure
built in 1840 (see
photo). The building continued in use until the present courthouse
was built in 1909.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
Chattooga County was created on Dec. 28, 1838 by an act of the
General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1838, p. 77). Created from Walker
and Floyd counties, Chattooga County's original boundaries were
defined by law as:
. . . beginning on the Alabama line, at the corner of the
12th and 13th districts of the fourth section, and running
thence east on said district line to the north east corner
of the twenty-fifth district and third section, thence south
on the district line to the south east corner of the same district,
thence west of the district line to the north west corner of
lot number five, in the 24th district of the third section,
thence on a direct line to be run by the Surveyor for the county
of Floyd, by the way of the south west corner of the fifth
district and fourth section.
Georgia's 93rd county was named for the Chattooga River that
flows through the county. [Georgia has two different Chattooga
rivers, with the second forming the eastern border of Rabun County
in extreme northeastern Georgia.] "Chattooga" is a
Cherokee word of debated origin and definition.
Between 1840 and 1856, the General Assembly transferred land
between Chattooga and Floyd counties on ten occasions.
County Seat:
The law creating Chattooga County authorized the justices of
the county's new inferior court to select the site of the county
seat, purchase the necessary land, have the land divided into
town lots, sell those lots, and use the proceeds to build a courthouse
and jail. Until this was done, the legislation directed that
county business take place at the house of John Henry (Ga. Laws
1838, p. 77). Subsequently, the inferior court may have designated
Summerville as county seat. In any event, the General Assembly
on Dec. 21, 1839 incorporated Summerville and made it the permanent
county seat (Ga. Laws 1839, p. 210).
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 314.0 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 95th out of 159
Population:
Chattooga County
City of Summerville
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