Visitors to Swainsboro and Emanuel County will find themselves in a gently rolling landscape of fields, woods and sandy soil. Under a canopy of piney woods, the forest floor is still carpeted with wiregrass, flora and fauna. The native deer, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, alligators, fish, bobcats, quail, foxes, snakes, turtles, and other wildlife compete with recent immigrants such as coyotes and armadillos.

The Ohoopee, Ogeechee, and Canoochee rivers flow through the county, and the smaller streams and innumerable ponds make the region an excellent recreation and fishing area. Along the waterways and low-lying areas are stands of hardwoods. The original inhabitants were, of course, Native Americans. In historical times, Creek Indians lived in the area and, although little material evidence remains to document them here, the names of rivers, historical accounts, and archaeological artifacts testify to their presence. The Indian cessions of 1773 and 1783 conveyed the land that now comprises Emanuel County to the state of Georgia.

The county was established by legislative action in 1812, and was named for David Emanuel, who served briefly as the state’s chief executive in 1801. Swainsboro has been its seat since 1814, except for a brief period in the 1850’s when its name was changed to Paris. In addition to Swainsboro, several smaller towns and communities developed over the years and continue to dot the landscape, including Adrian, Twin City (once the separate towns of Graymont and Summit), Stillmore, Summertown, Oak Park, Nunez, Covena, Lexsy, Modoc, Canoochee, Coleman Lake, and Blundale, to name a few. The pioneer settlers of Emanuel County began to move into the area in the late 1700’s in the aftermath of the Indian cessions.

Noting the characteristically massive, open pine forests of the region, they called their new home the “pine barrens” or “wiregrass Georgia.” Early migrants acquired property by land lottery and the headright system and also by means of land granted for military service in the Revolutionary War. Several veterans of that conflict lie buried in the county. The fact that many of the names left by the pioneers--Thigpen, Sumner, Lane, Durden, Brinson, Overstreet, Thompson, Moore, Rountree, Edenfield, Tapley, Key, Coleman, among many others-- survive among today’s inhabitants lends a strong sense of familial continuity to the region. These settlers engaged in subsistence farming. They raised a few crops and livestock; they hunted and fished; and they set about the task of carving out of the forests the communities that were to characterize the county.

Progress was slow and as late as the Civil War, Emanuel County was lightly populated. Wild lands predominated over cultivated areas. But, as the nineteenth century progressed, Emanuel Countains underwent significant transformations as they found themselves caught up in larger political and economic events.

As the Civil War erupted, a good number of the county’s young men volunteered to serve the Confederate cause and left home, some never to return. Seemingly far removed from the major conflict, local folks found themselves inundated by Federal troops in late November and early December of 1864 as General Sherman’s Union forces marched through on their way to Savannah. For those who witnessed it, the March to the Sea was traumatic, and the war lives on in the stories passed down by local families and in the cemeteries containing the graves of soldiers who fought in the conflict.

Since the times of the earliest settlers, rich and fertile soil, temperate weather, and free flowing streams and rivers have contributed to a productive society. The economy of Emanuel County was established on agricultural productivity and timberland. In time, the towering pine forests led to the development of industry and commerce. In the cultivated fields, common crops include cotton, corn, tobacco, soybeans, peanuts, and wheat. Hogs, goats, and cattle represent the major varieties of livestock.

The lumber and pulpwood industry continues to be important. However, Emanuel County has a mixed and diverse economy. In addition to agriculture, banking, metalworking, manufacturing, and public sector employment make for a more balanced economy. Manufacturing has progressed through textile industries, wood working and cabinet building, chemical production, metal working and fabrication to the latest in computer controlled manufacturing capabilities. Pine trees and cotton are still valuable assets to the local economy, but the greatest asset is the industrious heritage of those individuals working in the region.