Lowndes County, Georgia
| Lowndes County, Georgia | |
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Lowndes County Courthouse in Valdosta
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 Location in the U.S. state of Georgia |
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 Georgia's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | December 23, 1825 |
| Named for | William Jones Lowndes |
| Seat | Valdosta |
| Largest city | Valdosta |
| Area | |
| • Total | 511 sq mi (1,323 km2) |
| • Land | 496 sq mi (1,285 km2) |
| • Water | 15 sq mi (39 km2), 2.8% |
| Population | |
| • (2010) | 112,865 |
| • Density | 220/sq mi (85/km²) |
| Congressional districts | 1st, 8th |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 |
| Website | www |
Lowndes County (pronounced Lounds) is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 Census the population was 109,233. The county seat is Valdosta. The county was created December 23, 1825.
Lowndes County is included in the Valdosta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located along the Florida border.
The county is a major commercial, educational, and manufacturing center of south Georgia with considerable forest products including pulpwood and naval stores, such as turpentine and rosin. Part of Grand Bay, a 13,000-acre (53 km2) swamp, is located in Lowndes County.
The land that became Lowndes County had historically been inhabited by the Timucua. During most the age of European colonization, the area of modern Lowndes County was part of the colony of Spanish Florida. From approximately 1625 to 1657, the Spanish Empire maintained a Catholic mission to the Timucua, dubbed Mission Santa Cruz de Cachipile, in the southern portion of Lowndes County near present-day Lake Park. In the centuries that followed, Timucua civilization collapsed due to slave raiding and disease.
The Creek Nation peoples moved into the area and, by the early 19th century, they were well established here. On December 15, 1818, European Americans organized what they called Irwin County, which had been settled by pushing out the Creek people. In the 1830s Georgia and the federal government completed Indian Removal of most of the Native Americans from what became the state.
Lowndes County was established by an act passed by the Georgia legislature on December 23, 1825. It was formed out of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th, and 16th land districts of Irwin County, Georgia. The county was named for William Jones Lowndes (1782–1822), a prominent South Carolina lawyer and Congressman. His father Rawlins Lowndes had been a Revolutionary War leader and was elected as South Carolina Governor. The Coffee Road was an improved trail first cut by Georgia militia to supply federal troops in Florida during the Creek Wars. It was the first route through the area of Lowndes County and opened up the area to white settlers.
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