Glynn County, Georgia

Glynn County
Glynn County
County
	Glynn County Courthouse
	Seal
	Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
	Georgia's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 31°13′N 81°29′W / 31.22°N 81.49°W
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	1777; 247 years ago
Named for	John Glynn
Seat	Brunswick
Largest city	Brunswick
Government
• Chairman, Board of Commissioners	David O'Quinn
Area
• Total	585 sq mi (1,520 km2)
• Land	420 sq mi (1,100 km2)
• Water	165 sq mi (430 km2) 28.3%
Population (2020)
• Total	84,499
• Density	201/sq mi (78/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	1st
Website	glynncounty.org

Glynn County is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 84,499.^[1] The county seat is Brunswick.^[2] Glynn County is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Glynn County, one of the state's original eight counties created on February 5, 1777, was named after John Glynn,^[3] a member of the British House of Commons who defended the cause of the American Colonies before the American Revolution. The Battle of Bloody Marsh was fought in Glynn County. James Oglethorpe built Fort Frederica, which was used a base in the American Revolutionary War. Glynn Academy, established to educate boys, is the second oldest school in Georgia.

Glynn County includes the most prominent of the Sea Islands of Georgia, including Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, and Sea Island. The Georgia poet Sidney Lanier immortalized the seacoast there in his poem, "The Marshes of Glynn", which begins:

Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven

With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven

Clamber the forks of the multiform boughs,--

Emerald twilights,--

Virginal shy lights,

Wrought of the leaves to allure to the whisper of vows,

When lovers pace timidly down through the green colonnades

Of the dim sweet woods, of the dear dark woods,

Of the heavenly woods and glades,

That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach within

The wide sea-marshes of Glynn;--

During World War II, Naval Air Station Glynco, named for the county, was a major base for training for blimps and anti-submarine warfare. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) now uses a substantial part of the former NAS as its main campus.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 585 square miles (1,520 km²), of which 420 square miles (1,100 km²) is land and 165 square miles (430 km²) (28.3%) is water.^[4]

The majority of Glynn County is located in the Cumberland-St. Simons sub-basin of the St. Marys- Satilla River basin. Most of the county's northern and northwestern border area is located in the Altamaha River sub-basin of the basin by the same name.^[5]

Major highways

I-95 (Interstate 95)
US 17
US 25
US 82
US 341
SR 25
SR 25 Conn.
SR 25 Spur
SR 27
SR 32
SR 99
SR 303
SR 405 (unsigned designation for I-95)
SR 520

Adjacent counties

McIntosh County - north
Camden County - southwest
Brantley County - west
Wayne County - northwest

Communities

City

Brunswick

Census-designated places

Unincorporated community

Ghost towns

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1790	413		—
1800	1,874		353.8%
1810	3,417		82.3%
1820	3,418		0.0%
1830	4,567		33.6%
1840	5,302		16.1%
1850	4,933		−7.0%
1860	3,889		−21.2%
1870	5,376		38.2%
1880	6,497		20.9%
1890	13,420		106.6%
1900	14,317		6.7%
1910	15,720		9.8%
1920	19,370		23.2%
1930	19,400		0.2%
1940	21,920		13.0%
1950	29,046		32.5%
1960	41,954		44.4%
1970	50,528		20.4%
1980	54,981		8.8%
1990	62,496		13.7%
2000	67,568		8.1%
2010	79,626		17.8%
2020	84,499		6.1%
2023 (est.)	86,172	^[7]	2.0%
U.S. Decennial Census^[8] 1790-1880^[9] 1890-1910^[10] 1920-1930^[11] 1930-1940^[12] 1940-1950^[13] 1960-1980^[14] 1980-2000^[15] 2010^[16]

Glynn County racial composition as of 2020^[17]
Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	52,987	62.71%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	20,469	24.22%
Native American	175	0.21%
Asian	1,175	1.39%
Pacific Islander	92	0.11%
Other/Mixed	3,265	3.86%
Hispanic or Latino	6,336	7.5%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 84,499 people, 34,614 households, and 22,352 families residing in the county.

2015

In terms of European ancestry, 40.8% were English, 10.6% were "American", 10.2% were Irish, and 7.9% were German.^[18]

Education

Glynn County's public schools are operated by Glynn County School System.

Superfund sites

Glynn County is home to four Superfund sites. Those include the "LCP Chemicals Georgia" site,^[19] the "Brunswick Wood Preserving" site,^[20] the "Hercules 009 Landfill" site,^[21] and the "Terry Creek Dredge Spoil Areas/Hercules Outfall" site.^[22]

The Hanlin Group, Inc., which maintained a facility named "LCP Chemicals" in Glynn County just outside the corporate limits of Brunswick, was convicted of dumping 150 tons of mercury into Purvis Creek, a tributary of the Turtle River and surrounding tidal marshes between the mid-1980s and its closure in 1994. Three executives were sentenced to prison time over the incident.^[23]

The LCP facility had been declared a Superfund site when it closed in 1994. It had been under scrutiny by the EPA after Service biologists discovered mercury poisoning in endangered wood storks on St. Simons Island. Fish, shellfish, crabs, and shrimps taken in coastal waters, as well as other bird species, also contained the toxic metal. The Service traced the source of the contamination to the LCP plant and documented the extent of the damage to wildlife resources. Their effort resulted in the addition of Endangered Species Act charges to those that would be brought against Hanlin and its officers.^[24]

Crime

In 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ranked the Brunswick metropolitan area (which includes the counties of Glynn, Brantley and McIntosh) as the 7th most dangerous metropolitan area in the state of Georgia.^[25]

On August 29, 2009, Glynn County resident Guy Heinze Jr. murdered eight members of his extended family including his father, Guy Heinze Sr. in the family's trailer located in New Hope Plantation Mobile Home Park near Brunswick. Two others were critically injured, with one dying later in a hospital in Savannah. Heinze Jr. avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole on October 30, 2013.^[26]

Politics

Similar to Southeast Georgia, Glynn County is heavily Republican, having last voted Democratic in 1980, when the Democratic nominee was Jimmy Carter.

United States presidential election results for Glynn County, Georgia^[27]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	25,617	61.00%	15,882	37.82%	495	1.18%
2016	21,512	62.47%	11,775	34.19%	1,150	3.34%
2012	20,893	62.95%	11,950	36.00%	348	1.05%
2008	20,479	61.31%	12,676	37.95%	248	0.74%
2004	18,608	67.08%	8,962	32.31%	169	0.61%
2000	14,346	64.09%	7,778	34.75%	260	1.16%
1996	12,305	56.96%	8,058	37.30%	1,239	5.74%
1992	11,242	49.02%	8,581	37.42%	3,109	13.56%
1988	11,126	63.18%	6,339	35.99%	146	0.83%
1984	11,724	64.07%	6,574	35.93%	0	0.00%
1980	7,214	47.54%	7,540	49.69%	419	2.76%
1976	5,403	36.35%	9,459	63.65%	0	0.00%
1972	9,443	75.88%	3,002	24.12%	0	0.00%
1968	3,725	30.24%	3,251	26.39%	5,341	43.36%
1964	7,341	56.22%	5,712	43.75%	4	0.03%
1960	2,926	44.95%	3,584	55.05%	0	0.00%
1956	3,098	50.22%	3,071	49.78%	0	0.00%
1952	2,575	43.47%	3,348	56.53%	0	0.00%
1948	1,090	23.80%	2,444	53.36%	1,046	22.84%
1944	385	16.18%	1,995	83.82%	0	0.00%
1940	274	11.94%	2,014	87.76%	7	0.31%
1936	260	11.88%	1,925	87.98%	3	0.14%
1932	186	12.81%	1,262	86.91%	4	0.28%
1928	799	59.27%	549	40.73%	0	0.00%
1924	283	29.18%	612	63.09%	75	7.73%
1920	132	23.83%	422	76.17%	0	0.00%
1916	36	6.45%	477	85.48%	45	8.06%
1912	16	3.21%	470	94.19%	13	2.61%