Wilkes

Formed February 5, 1777 (8^th county)

Wilkes County (9,567), Washington (3,750)

The classic tan brick courthouse was built in 1903, restored in 1959 after a fire and enlarged in 1989.  It sits on a square at Court Street at East Square.  It sits one block north of United States Highway 78 Business in the town.  Frank Pierce Milburn provided the Richardsonian Romanesque designs.  The facility features a tower with a working clock.  Wilkes County is one of the original counties formed on February 5, 1777 with Washington as the county seat.  The county is named for British Parliament member John Wilkes.  The county seat is named for George Washington.  He is also the namesake for Washington County.  Wilkes County was the birthplace of 1 Georgia Governor, George W. B. Towns.  The county center is 8.2 miles Northwest of Washington nearer Tignall. 

Wilkes County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-four Superior Court Judges serve Wilkes, Banks, Barrow, Burke, Clarke, Columbia, Elbert, Franklin, Glascock, Hart, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, McDuffie, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Richmond, Taliaferro, Walton, and Warren counties and Three County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Wilkes County (judicial.) The county is in eastern Georgia northwest of Augusta, Georgia and southeast of Athens, Georgia.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Elbert, Lincoln, McDuffie, Warren, Taliaferro, and Oglethorpe counties. 

The area of the county is 471 square miles.  It is 33 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 128 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 20.3 persons per square mile making it 143 out of 159 in the state.  Wilkes County has 45.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 78 enters the county from the southeast, McDuffie County, and exits to the west, Oglethorpe County.  United States Highway 378 comes from Lincoln County to the east and terminates in the county.  The county looks like a tipping bowl.  Washington is in the southern third of the county.  Washington is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 39.2% of the county population.