South Georgia

South Georgia is the area of the state located below the fall line that separates the piedmont area from the southern coastal plain. The region borders Alabama to the west, South Carolina to the east and Florida to the south, and includes the Okefenokee Swamp and Georgia’s one-hundred-and-ten-mile Atlantic coast. The largest cities in south Georgia include Savannah, Albany, Valdosta, and Statesboro.

The Creek Confederation was the largest group of inhabitants in southern Georgia when the English arrived in the area in the eighteenth century. James Oglethorpe founded Savannah as the first city in the newly established Georgia colony. The city served as capital of Georgia until 1786. During the Civil War, the Confederacy established the Andersonville Prison in Macon County. The prison was infamous for its treatment of Union prisoners of war, who were subjected to starvation and disease. South Georgia was a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, including the Albany Movement, a widely-publicized effort to desegregate the city that involved the participation of Martin Luther King, Jr.

South Georgia remains a largely agricultural area of the state. The principal crops in the region include blueberries, peanuts, cotton, Vidalia onions, and peaches. South Georgia is also home to the barrier islands along the coast, Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, and the birthplace of baseball legend Jackie Robinson in Cairo.

For information on the historical placement of Georgia's counties, see William Thorndale and William Dollarhide's Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920.

Titles By County

Chatham 104
South Georgia region map

Counties Included

Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clay, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dougherty, Doughtry, Early, Echols, Effingham, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Lanier, Lee, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McIntosh, Miller, Mitchell, Montgomery, Pierce, Quitman, Randolph, Screven, Seminole, Tattnall, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Ware, Wayne, Wheeler, Wilcox, Worth

Cities Included

Abbeville, Adel, Alamo, Alapaha, Albany, Alma, Arlington, Ashburn, Bainbridge, Baxley, Blackshear, Blakely, Boston, Broxton, Brunswick, Cairo, Camilla, Claxton, Clyde, Colquitt, Coolidge, Cordele, Cuthbert, Darien, Dawson, Doerun, Donalsonville, Douglas, Edison, Fitzgerald, Folkston, Fort Gaines, Glennville, Guyton, Hahira, Hazlehurst, Helena, Hinesville, Homerville, Jesup, Kings Bay, Kingsland, Lakeland, Leary, Leesburg, Lenox, Ludowici, Lumber City, Lyons, McRae, Meigs, Metter, Millwood, Morgan, Moultrie, Mt. Vernon, Nahunta, Nashville, Newton, Ocilla, Odum, Omega, Patterson, Pavo, Pearson, Pelham, Pembroke, Quitman, Reidsville, Rincon, Ruskin, Savannah, Screven, Sea Island, Shellman, Soperton, Sparks, Springfield, St. Marys, Statenville, Statesboro, Sumner, Sycamore, Sylvania, Sylvester, Thomasville, Tifton, Valdosta, Vidalia, Waycross, Whigham, Willacoochee, Woodbine