Wayne County, Georgia

Wayne County, Georgia
Wayne County courthouse in Jesup
Location in the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location in the U.S.
Founded	December 7, 1803
Named for	Anthony Wayne
Seat	Jesup
Largest city	Jesup
Area
• Total	649 sq mi (1,681 km2)
• Land	642 sq mi (1,663 km2)
• Water	7.0 sq mi (18 km2), 1.1%
Population
• (2010)	30,099
• Density	47/sq mi (18/km²)
Congressional district	1st
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	www.waynecountyga.us

Wayne County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 30,099. The county seat is Jesup.

Wayne County comprises the Jesup, Georgia Micropolitan Statistical Area.

At the time of European contact, the area of what would become Wayne County was settled by the Guale people. Being close to the coast and bordered by the Altamaha River, Wayne County's history includes occupation by Spanish missionaries at the time of the settlement of Saint Augustine as well as short-lived French occupation. The flags of France, Spain, England, and the Confederate States of America all flew over Wayne with little success.

Seventy years after General James Oglethorpe settled the colony of Georgia and 27 years after that colony became one of the 13 original states, Wayne County came into being. The county was named for Mad Anthony Wayne whose military career had made him a well-known hero. When he surprised the British garrison at Stony Point on July 15, 1779, he acquired the nickname “Mad” Anthony. From one siege to another, he was a vital member of General George Washington’s staff serving well under General Nathanael Greene and coming to Georgia in 1781 in his service during the American Revolution.

It was created by an Act of the Legislature in 1803 after the Wilkinson Treaty was signed with the Creek Indians on January 16, 1802, which ceded part of the Tallassee Country and part of the lands within the forks of the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers to the United States. As originally laid out, the new county – the 28th Georgia county – was a long narrow strip of land approximately 100 miles (160 km) in length but with varying measures of width along the way. It was six miles (10 km) as it stood just south of the Altamaha River, eight miles (13 km) wide near the Satilla and five miles (8 km) wide at a location about 27 miles (43 km) south of the Altamaha. All counties organized prior to 1802 were headright counties – no surveys were ever made of those counties. It was found that under the headright system more land was given away than actually existed and this was the case for Wayne County. Although created in 1803, no valid lottery was done for the county until the Land Lottery Act of 1805. The 1805 Act divided the half million acres (2,000 km²) of Wayne County, formed the Tallassee Strip, and set the stage for the land lottery that would result in more formal settlement of the area. It is the second date, December 7, 1805, that the county chose to observe as the creation date. The area was not a popular one for lottery draws as the straws were drawn sight unseen and the winner was as likely to draw swampland as he was prime agricultural lots.