Telfair County, Georgia

Telfair County
Telfair County
County
	Telfair County Courthouse in McRae-Helena
	Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
	Georgia's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 31°56′N 82°56′W / 31.93°N 82.94°W
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	December 10, 1807; 217 years ago
Named for	Edward Telfair
Seat	McRae-Helena
Largest city	McRae-Helena
Area
• Total	444 sq mi (1,150 km2)
• Land	437 sq mi (1,130 km2)
• Water	6.7 sq mi (17 km2) 1.5%
Population (2020)
• Total	12,477
• Density	29/sq mi (11/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	8th
Website	telfaircounty.georgia.gov

Telfair County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,477.^[1] The largest city and county seat is McRae-Helena.^[2]

In 2009, researchers from the Fernbank Museum of Natural History announced having found artifacts they associated with the 1541 Hernando de Soto Expedition at a private site near the Ocmulgee River, the first such find between Tallahassee, Florida and western North Carolina. De Soto's expedition was well recorded, but researchers have had difficulties finding artifacts from sites where he stopped. This site was an indigenous village occupied by the historic Creek people from the early 15th century into the 16th century. It was located further southeast than de Soto's expedition was thought to go in Georgia.^[3]

History

Archaeologists associated with Atlanta's Fernbank Museum of Natural History have excavated a 2,000-acre (8.1 km²) plot near McRae-Helena and approximately a mile from the Ocmulgee River, beginning in 2005. In 2009 they announced finding evidence of a Spanish settlement dating to the first half of the 16th century.^[4] The archaeologists originally believed that the artifacts may have come from a settlement founded by Spanish leader Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón from Hispaniola in 1526 and briefly occupied by hundreds of colonists. The group encountered hard conditions and fewer than 200 survived to return to Hispaniola.^[5]

Additional research suggests that the site instead was one visited in 1541 by the de Soto Expedition. Researchers have recovered Murano glass beads, made in Venice, Italy, and brought by the Spanish for trading with Native Americans; pottery fragments, and iron weapons. Some of the beads bear a chevron pattern. Such beads have been identified as a hallmark of the de Soto expedition, due to the limited period of time in which they were produced. Excavations have also produced six metal objects, including three iron tools and a silver pendant.^[6]

The site is further west than scholars had earlier believed that the de Soto expedition had traveled, based on documentation from his expedition. This was the first evidence found of his expedition between Tallahassee, Florida, where excavations have revealed artifacts of his expedition, and western North Carolina^[4] where another site has been found.

What we have now is the best-documented collection of Spanish artifacts in Georgia; many are unique, and they are the only examples of certain artifacts ever found outside Florida.
— Archaeologist Dennis Blanton, 2009^[6]

This site is believed to have been a Native American community, occupied from the end of the 15th century through the first decades of the 16th century. At that time, they had neither glass nor metal goods.^[6] Blanton presented a paper on his findings on November 5, 2009, at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Mobile, Alabama.^[4]

The historic Creek people occupied much of this area of Georgia. Telfair County was established by European Americans on December 10, 1807, as part of Georgia. Development of the county largely took place after Indian Removal in the 1830s of the Creek Confederacy, who had occupied a large territory, including the southern two thirds of present-day Georgia, for thousands of years. They were removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, in today's Oklahoma. The county is named for Edward Telfair, the sixteenth governor of Georgia and a member of the Continental Congress.^[7]

Many of the first European-American settlers were Scottish immigrants and Scots-Irish migrants who traveled down the backcountry from Pennsylvania and Virginia.^[8]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 444 square miles (1,150 km²), of which 437 square miles (1,130 km²) is land and 6.7 square miles (17 km²) (1.5%) is water.^[9] The county contains at least 50 artesian wells.

The southern two-thirds of Telfair County, bordered by a line from Milan east to Lumber City, are located in the Lower Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin. The northern portion of the county is located in the Little Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin.^[10]

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Wheeler County (northeast)
Jeff Davis County (southeast)
Coffee County (south)
Ben Hill County (southwest)
Wilcox County (west)
Dodge County (northwest)
Laurens County (north)

Communities

Cities

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1810	744		—
1820	2,104		182.8%
1830	2,136		1.5%
1840	2,763		29.4%
1850	3,026		9.5%
1860	2,713		−10.3%
1870	3,245		19.6%
1880	4,828		48.8%
1890	5,477		13.4%
1900	10,083		84.1%
1910	13,288		31.8%
1920	15,291		15.1%
1930	14,997		−1.9%
1940	15,145		1.0%
1950	13,221		−12.7%
1960	11,715		−11.4%
1970	11,381		−2.9%
1980	11,445		0.6%
1990	11,000		−3.9%
2000	11,794		7.2%
2010	16,500		39.9%
2020	12,477		−24.4%
2023 (est.)	10,920	^[11]	−12.5%
U.S. Decennial Census^[12] 1790-1880^[13] 1890-1910^[14] 1920-1930^[15] 1930-1940^[16] 1940-1950^[17] 1960-1980^[18] 1980-2000^[19] 2010^[20]

Telfair County racial composition as of 2020^[21]
Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	5,970	47.85%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	4,326	34.67%
Native American	28	0.22%
Asian	30	0.24%
Other/mixed	195	1.56%
Hispanic or Latino	1,928	15.45%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 12,477 people, 4,668 households, and 3,259 families residing in the county.

Politics

Telfair County had been a reliably Democratic county in its Solid South days, but later became a swing county for the rest of the 20th century. The last Democrat to win the county was Tennessean Al Gore in 2000, and the county has trended towards the GOP in more recent elections.

United States presidential election results for Telfair County, Georgia^[22]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	2,825	65.17%	1,488	34.33%	22	0.51%
2016	2,450	64.54%	1,313	34.59%	33	0.87%
2012	2,480	57.17%	1,805	41.61%	53	1.22%
2008	2,486	56.81%	1,862	42.55%	28	0.64%
2004	2,171	57.49%	1,590	42.11%	15	0.40%
2000	1,693	48.47%	1,777	50.87%	23	0.66%
1996	1,143	34.30%	1,856	55.70%	333	9.99%
1992	1,324	31.58%	2,238	53.39%	630	15.03%
1988	1,805	50.21%	1,765	49.10%	25	0.70%
1984	1,980	49.14%	2,049	50.86%	0	0.00%
1980	1,173	29.76%	2,700	68.51%	68	1.73%
1976	637	15.27%	3,534	84.73%	0	0.00%
1972	2,245	76.57%	687	23.43%	0	0.00%
1968	720	16.90%	1,038	24.37%	2,502	58.73%
1964	1,914	50.55%	1,872	49.45%	0	0.00%
1960	791	21.30%	2,922	78.70%	0	0.00%
1956	284	12.04%	2,075	87.96%	0	0.00%
1952	243	8.27%	2,695	91.73%	0	0.00%
1948	75	6.65%	712	63.18%	340	30.17%
1944	174	12.78%	1,187	87.22%	0	0.00%
1940	104	6.90%	1,391	92.24%	13	0.86%
1936	121	9.46%	1,158	90.54%	0	0.00%
1932	45	5.65%	746	93.60%	6	0.75%
1928	332	13.90%	2,057	86.10%	0	0.00%
1924	264	15.03%	1,382	78.66%	111	6.32%
1920	37	3.35%	1,069	96.65%	0	0.00%
1916	29	3.51%	773	93.47%	25	3.02%
1912	19	2.59%	694	94.68%	20	2.73%