Liberty

Formed February 5, 1777 (6^th county)

Liberty County (65,274), Hinesville (34,889)

The red brick Neo-Classical Revival courthouse in Hinesville was built in 1926 with a 1964 addition.  It is on Main Street at Court Street.  United States Highway 84 is three blocks east of the site.  James J. Baldwin is the architect.  It features columns and a cannon and veteran memorials on the grounds.  A Justice Center is east on Main Street.  Liberty is one of the original Georgia counties founded on February 5, 1777.  Sundbury (1777), Riceboro (1798), and Hinesville (1836) have all been the county seat.  The county is named for the ideal of liberty for the American colonies.  The county seat is named for Senator Charlton Hines.  Liberty County was the birthplace of 1 Georgia Governor, Richard Howly.  The county center is 16 miles East of Hinesville near Fleming. 

Liberty County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 7 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-one Superior Court Judges serve Liberty, Appling, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Coffee, Effingham, Evans, Glynn, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, Screven, Tattnall, Ware, and Wayne counties and Eight County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Liberty County (judicial.) The county is in southeast Georgia on the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Savannah, Georgia.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Bryan County and the Atlantic Ocean and McIntosh, Long, Tattnall, and Evans counties. 

The area of the county is 519 square miles.  It is 19 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 38 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 125.8 persons per square mile making it 49 out of 159 in the state.  Liberty County has 66.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 95 comes the north, Bryan County, and heads to the south, McIntosh County.  United States Highway 17 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from Bryan County to McIntosh County.  United States Highway 84 originates in the county and goes west into Long County.  The Canoochee River is its northern border.  A backward diagonal is the county’s overall shape.  Hinesville is sited on the western border of the county.  Hinesville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 53.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Hinesville-Fort Stewart Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Walthourville