County Profile
Incorporated: December 15, 1818
Population: 17,419
Total Area: 508.8 Square miles
Cities and Towns
• Baxley (County Seat)
• Graham
• Surrency
The county was named for Colonel Daniel Appling, who was
considered Georgia's most outstanding soldier in the War of
1812. The county was created in 1818 from treaty lands obtained
from the Creek Indians.
At one time, Appling County was known as the "Turpentine
Capital of the World."
Incorporated in 1875, Baxley was named for Wilson Baxley.
Baxley was an early settler who, like most of the early white
settlers in the area, came from coastal North Carolina. He
operated a general store where the town later developed.
Lake Mayer and the Altamaha River are available for boating,
swimming, and fishing in the county.
The Georgia Power Company's Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power
Plant is located in the county on a 2,200-acre site on the
Altamaha River. Completed in 1974, the Hatch Plant makes Georgia
Power one of the county's largest employers.
Annual events in the county include the week-long Baxley Tree
Fest and Ditch Water Jazz Festival in April, the Piney Bluff
Festival in November, and Baxley's "Celebration of Light"
Christmas Parade in early December. |
