Formed November 3, 1914 (147th county)
Bacon County (11,140), Alma (3,434)
The red brick Neo-Classical Revival courthouse was built in 1919. It is located at the corner of Dixon and 12th streets. Georgia State Highway 32 is 12th Street. James J. Baldwin designed the courthouse. The building was enlarged in 2000. It features columns and veteran memorials on the grounds. The county was created on November 3, 1914 from parts of Appling, Pierce and Ware counties as the 147th county. Alma has been the only county seat. Senator Augustus Octavius Bacon provided the source for the county’s name. The county seat’s name was created from the capitals of Georgia: Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, and Atlanta. The county center is 2 miles East of Alma.
Bacon County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive). It has 6 Commissioners (legislative.) Twenty-one Superior Court Judges serve Bacon, Appling, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Coffee, Effingham, Evans, Glynn, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, Screven, Tattnall, Ware, and Wayne counties and a State Court Judge and six County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Bacon County (judicial.) Bacon County is located in southeast Georgia, southwest of Savannah, Georgia. The Big Satilla River is its northern border. The county is surrounded clockwise by Appling, Pierce, Ware, Coffee, and Jeff Davis counties.
The area of the county is 285 square miles. The county is 104 of 159 in the state. It ranks 119 out of 159 in population in the state. It has a density of 39.1 persons per square mile making it 108 out of 159 in the state. Bacon County has 30.8% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 1 passes north to south in the county from Appling County to Ware County. United States Highway 23 enters from the northwest, Jeff Davis County, and joins United States Highway 1 to go south into Ware County. The county is shaped like a horse’s head. Alma is located west of center in the county. Alma is the county seat and the largest city and only incorporated city. It is 30.8% of the county population.
Alma
