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Other Information:
The 1819 act organizing Rabun County authorized the justices
of the county's first inferior court to select a site for the
county seat, to purchase land, and to provide for construction
of a courthouse and jail (Ga. Laws 1819, p. 112). Until this
was done, the act directed that courts and elections be conducted
at the house of Daniel Love. In 1823, the legislature moved the
county seat from land lot 20 to lot 21 in the second district,
and the county began laying out the town of Clayton, Sufficient
lots were sold so that by 1824, the county had raised enough
money to construct Rabun County's first courthouse -- a two-story
log building completed in 1824. That structure was replaced by
a new two-story log courthouse in 1838. In 1878, the courthouse
walls and floor began to collapse, so the superior court judge
closed the courthouse and directed that court be held in the
nearby Masonic Lodge. What served as courthouse for the following
30 years is unclear, but in 1908 a new two-story brick or stone
courthouse with central clock tower was constructed (see
photo 1 and photo
2). This building served until 1967, when a new one-story
courthouse of modern design was completed. More recently, a second
floor, new entrance, and a cupola were added to the 1967 structure.
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
County History:
In the Treaty
of Washington signed Feb. 27, 1819, the Cherokees ceded a
large area of extreme northeast Georgia. In an act of Dec. 21,
1819, the General Assembly used this cession to create Rabun
County, as well as transfer some of the land to Hall and Habersham
counties (Ga. Laws 1819, p. 23). [Note: In the official compiliation
of 1819 session laws , the act's approval date is listed as Dec.
16, 1819. However, the enrolled copy of the act in the Georgia
State Archives indicates that the act was approved on Dec. 21.]
According to the act creating Rabun County:
"That all that part of the [ceded] territory aforesaid,
which lies in the fork of the Chatahoochee and Chestatee rivers,
and south-west of a line beginning on the Chatahoochee river,
where the line dividing the counties of Hall and Habersham corners
on the same, and running thence a due west course, until the
same strikes the Chestatee river, be added to and become part
of Hall county, and that the same be laid out into three districts,
as nearly equal as practicable; and that all of the said territory
which lies north-east of the before cited line, and north-west
of the Chatahoochee and Blair's line, until the same strikes
the top of the Blue Ridge, be, and the same is hereby added to,
and become part of Habersham county, which shall be laid out
into six districts, as nearly equal as practicable; and all the
balance of the said territory shall form one county, to be called
and known by the name of Rabun, and be laid off into five districts,
as nearly equal as practicable."
In an act of Dec. 21, 1819, the legislature organized Rabun
County and provided for election of county officials (Ga. Laws
1819, p. 112).
In 1828, the legislature transferred a portion of Habersham
County to Rabun County (Ga. 1828, p. 58). According to that legislation:
". . . so much of the county of Hahersham, as lies north
and east of a line, beginning near the upper end of the Falls,
on Talloola river, at the corner of fraction, number one hundred
and eighty three, in the thirteenth district of said county of
Habersham, thence the ridge a north west direction, dividing
the waters of said river Talloola, and the waters of Panther
creek, Deep creek, and Leuque creek, until said dividing ridge
intersects, or strikes what is called Blairs line, thence on
said Blairs line, until the same strikes Wild Cat creek, the
line dividing Rabun from Habersham county, the same being a part
of the thirteenth district of Habersham county, be added to,
and become a part of the county of Rabun."
In 1838, the legislature redefined the Rabun-Habersham county
line (Ga. Laws 1838, p. 80). In 1856, the legislature used portions
of Rabun and Union counties to create Towns County (Ga. Laws
1856, p. 121).
Georgia's 47th county was named for Gov. William
Rabun (1771-1819), who had died in office two months earlier.
County Seat:
The legislation creating Rabun County authorized the justices
of the county's first inferior court to select the site of the
county seat. However, on Dec. 15, 1821, the legislature designated
land lot 20 in the second district as the county seat, named
it Claytonsville, and incorporated it as a town (Ga. Laws. 1821,
p. 32). Subsequently, some citizens of Rabun County petitioned
the General Assembly to change the location of the county seat,
so in an act of Dec. 13, 1823, the legislature changed the county
seat to land lot 21, named it Clayton, and incorporated it as
a town (Ga. Laws 1823, p. 196). The county purchased 67 acres
in land lot 21 from Solomon Beck and proceeded to lay out the
town of Clayton.
Historical Maps of Rabun
County:
Size of County (Total
Area): 377.0 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 67th out of 159
Population:
Rabun County
City of Clayton
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