Brookscountyga.us Website Review

you with instant weather alerts by voice or text to any phone. Sign up today! The Brooks County Board of Commissioner's meet on the first Monday of every month. Meetings begin at 5 p.m. and include Public Hearings and Located just west of Valdosta in southwest Georgia, on the Florida border, Brooks is a county of moss-laden oaks and a long and honored Founded on December 11, 1858, Brooks County was created from portions of Lowndes and Thomas counties. The 494-square-mile county was named for Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina, an extremely popular young legislator known for his intensely southern sentiments and his zealous defense of southern rights. In 1853 Brooks was elected to Congress as a States' Rights Democrat and served until his death four years later, at the age of thirty-eight. A year later the Georgia legislature showed their appreciation of him by naming a county for him. 1818, U.S. president Andrew Jackson entered a treaty with the Spanish and the Native Americans and claimed the land that is now Brooks County for the United States. Settlers later came down the Coffee Road from middle Georgia in their covered wagons, ox-drawn carts, and buggies. These early settlers had three things uppermost in their minds: religion, education, and agriculture. In 1859, the home of Thomas Folsom in Quitman was used as Brooks County's first courtroom. Later that year, work began on a permanent courthouse. The Civil War slowed the building's progress until it was finished in 1864. The first courthouse is still in use today, although The largest town in Brooks County, Quitman, was named the county seat. Quitman, in Brooks County, is known as the Camellia City. Longtime resident Betty Sheffield developed a camellia variety that carries her name. Other small towns in the county include Barney (famous for its peaches), Barwick, Dixie, Morven, and Pavo. According to the 2010 U.S. census, the population of Brooks County is 16,243, a decrease from the 2000 population of 16,450.