Chatham

Formed February 5, 1777 (3^rd county)

Chatham County (295,280), Savannah (147,768)

The Modern style masonry courthouse was built in 1978 using the designs of Maddox and Associates.  There was an 1889 courthouse also in Savannah, the only county seat.  The building is located on Montgomery at York streets.  Interstate Highway 16 begins eight blocks south of the site.  A County Administration building augments the courthouse.  The county is one of the original counties formed on February 5, 1777.  The county was named for the Earl of Chatham.  The county seat is named for the river which is Native American for “grassy land”.  Chatham County was the birthplace of 4 Georgia Governors, Seth J. Cuthbert, Samuel Elbert, Josiah Tattnall, Sr., and John Milledge.  The county center is in Savannah 6.5 miles South of the city center. 

Chatham County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 9 Commissioners (legislative.)  Twenty-one Superior Court Judges serve Chatham, Appling, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Charlton, Coffee, Effingham, Evans, Glynn, Jeff Davis, Jenkins, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, Pierce, Screven, Tattnall, Ware, and Wayne counties and Three State Judges and Nine County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Chatham County (judicial.) The county is in southeast Georgia on the border with South Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean.  The county is surrounded clockwise by South Carolina and Atlantic Ocean and Bryan and Effingham counties. 

The area of the county is 440 square miles.  It is 46 of 159 in size in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 671.1 persons per square mile making it 12 out of 159 in the state.  Chatham County has 68.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 16 originates in the county and heads west into Effingham County.  Interstate Highway 95 goes north to south through the county from South Carolina into Bryan County.  United States Highway 17 parallels Interstate Highway 95 from South Carolina to Bryan County.  United States Highway 80 parallels Interstate Highway 16 originating in the county and going into Effingham County.  The county looks like a high heeled shoe with an extra heel.  Savannah dominates the central and northwest part of the county.  Savannah is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 50.0% of the county population.  This county is in the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area.