Clinch

Formed February 14, 1850 (94^th county)

Clinch County (6,746), Homerville (2,338)

The old southern courthouse was built of stucco and white brick in 1896 and remodeled in 1936.  It is located on Courtland Avenue at Dane Street.  United States Highway 84 is Dane Street.  T. J. Darling provided the designs for this Victorian and Classical Revival style courthouse.  It features columns and veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The county began on February 14, 1850 from parts of Lowndes and Ware counties as the 94^th county.  Magnolia was the first county seat until 1860 when Homerville took over.  Congressman Duncan Lamont Clinch is the source for the county’s name.  Settler John Homer Mattox provided the inspiration for the county seat.  The county center is 9.2 miles South-Southeast of Homerville. 

The area of the county is 809 square miles.  It is 4 of 159 in size in the state.  It ranks 144 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 8.3 persons per square mile making it 158 out of 159 in the state.  Clinch County has 43.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 84 crosses the county east to west from Ware County to Lanier County.  United States Highway 221 cut the northwest tip of the county from Atkinson County, north, to Lanier County, west.  United States Highway 441 comes in from the north, Atkinson County, and exits to the southwest, Echols County.  The county shape resembles a walking cane.  Homerville is in the northwest quarter of the county.  Homerville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 34.7% of the county population. 

Clinch County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Clinch, Atkinson, Baker, Berrien, Brooks, Calhoun, Clay, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Grady, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Turner, and Worth counties and Four County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Clinch County (judicial.) The county is located in southern Georgia on the border with Florida.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Atkinson and Ware counties and Florida and Echols and Lanier counties.

Homerville