Founded December 14, 1809, Twiggs County, GA is celebrating 200 years of history. Twiggs County was created by Act of the Georgia Legislature with the charter signed on December 14, 1809.

On November 14, 1809, Mr. Arthur Fort of Wilkinson County introduced in the Georgia Legislature meeting at Milledgeville a bill to set Twiggs County apart from Wilkinson County. The bill became law December 14, 1809. The immense size of original Wilkinson County was one reason for the division. It was not uncommon for citizens living in large counties to protest and petition the Legislature to carve new counties. (Ref: House and Senate Journal 1808).

The establishment of Twiggs County was aided by the wisdom and foresight of the citizens of Wilkinson County who realized that the seat of government needed to be more accessible to a greater number of citizens.

The county was named for the Revolutionary hero, Major General John Twiggs. Shortly before the war started, he came to Georgia from Maryland. He entered the army as a captain and surged to the rank of Brigadier General. He was a no partisan leader in Georgia and never defeated in all his fights and battles.

Marion, incorporated in 1816, was the first county seat of Twiggs County. Named for General Francis Marion, the Revolutionary "Swamp Fox", it was the trading center and metropolis in ante bellum days. Its decline began when residents refused to accept the "intrusion of the iron horse" after the original survey of the Central Georgia Railroad routed the line through Marion. In 1868, the county site was moved six miles to Jeffersonville. Residents moved away, leaving a dead town and large abandoned homes. US Geodetic Survey in 1948 established this vicinity as the exact center of Georgia.

Twiggs County was settled largely by immigrants from eastern counties, some of whom had migrated from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The sturdy, pious pioneer settlers, who came to Twiggs, settled on the rich wilderness lands. They built crude hand-hewn log houses in scattered communities. The small log house had dirt floors with a stick and dirt chimney at one end on which most of the meals were cooked in iron pots hanging from hooks. This crude house served the family until a larger and more expansive house could be constructed. Usually this new house was built in front of or to the side of the log house which then served as a kitchen connected by a gang-plank without any cover.

Today, Twiggs County is a beautiful land of pleasant contrasts within 360 square miles and also has distinction of being the geographic center of the state. Twiggs County has a major interstate running through the heart of the county. I-16 gives us easy access to both Savannah and Macon. We now have two industrial parks, one with 150 acres and the other 500 acres, at the intersection of I-16 and Hwy 96.

Our county contains the flat pine woods associated with South Georgia and the gentle rolling hills of the Piedmont in the northern end of the county. Located along the Fall Line, we have been blessed with an abundance of kaolin. The kaolin industry, along with forestry and farming, sustained the county's economy throughout the 20th Century.

Twiggs County has a current population of 10,590 according to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau. The present county seat and courthouse is in Jeffersonville. The 100-year-old courthouse built in 1902-03, in Romanesque Revival style architecture, recently underwent major renovation and substantial expansion.