 County
Profile
Incorporated: February 18, 1854
Population: 10,282
Total Area: 780.8 Square miles
Cities and Towns
• Folkston (County Seat)
• Homeland
• Moniac
• Race Pond
• Saint George
• Winokur
Charlton County was created in 1854 from a portion of Camden
County. Georgia's 110th county was named for Robert M. Charlton
of Savannah, a U.S. Senator and one of Georgia's foremost
jurists.
Charlton County contains a large part of the Stephen C. Foster
State Park and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and
Wilderness Area, which attract 350,000 visitors annually. The
Okefenokee (Seminole for "Land of Quaking Earth") Swamp is
roughly 20 by 40 miles in size and takes up one-third of the
county's land. The impenetrable wilderness served as a sanctuary
for the Seminoles and escaped slaves.
Folkston was for years the self-proclaimed "Marriage Capital
of the World." Floridians who could not endure their state's
waiting period before tying the knot would cross the state line
to wed there.
Charlton-with over 98% of its area in woodlands-is the most
timbered county in Georgia.
90 mile band between Clay County, Florida and Charlton County
contains the richest titanium reserves in the nation. More than
12,000 acres adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
was purchased by DuPont to mine this titanium. After
considerable resident protests that the refuge might be harmed
by the mining, Dupont's mining plan was defeated. |
