Formed February 18, 1854 (110th county)
Charlton County (12,518), Folkston (4,518)
The red brick courthouse was built in 1928 at the corner of Main and 3rd Streets. Its site is one block east of United States Highway 1. Roy A. Benjamin provided the Neo-Classical Revival and Georgian Revival style designs. The building was renovated in 1978. It features columns and a working clock. Veteran memorials are across the street and an annex is next door. There was a 1902 version also in Folkston. Trader’s Hill also served as the county seat. The county was created on February 18, 1854 from Camden and Ware counties as the 110th county. Senator Robert Milledge Charlton was the namesake of the county. Doctor William Brandon Folks provided the source for the county seat name. The county center is 6.8 miles Southwest of Folkston nearer Traders Hill.
Charlton County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Twenty-one Superior Court Judges serve Charlton, Appling, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Coffee, Effingham, Evans, Glynn, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, Screven, Tattnall, Ware, and Wayne counties and a State Judge and Five County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Charlton County (judicial.) The county is in extreme southeast Georgia on the border with Florida. Jacksonville, Florida is southeast and Savannah, Georgia is northeast. The St. Marys River forms most of its southern border. The county is surrounded clockwise by Brantley and Camden counties and Florida and Ware County.
The area of the county is 781 square miles. It is 5 of 159 in size in the state. It ranks 112 out of 159 in population in the state. It has a density of 16.0 persons per square mile making it 149 out of 159 in the state. Charlton County has 43.1% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highways 1/23 enter the county from the north, Ware County, and exit south, Florida. United States Highway 301 comes from Brantley County, north, joins with United States Highways 1/23 to go into Florida. The county is shaped like the number 7. Folkston is located in the far east near the border with Florida. Folkston is the county seat and the largest city. It is 36.1% of the county population. The county is pronounced CHARL-TON.
Folkston
Homeland
