Liberty County was created in 1777 from the colonial parishes of St.
Andrews, St. James, and St. John. The land that made up these parishes
was originally held by the Creek Indians. The county's name honors Lyman
Hall and Button Gwinnett of Midway, who were Georgia's first delegates
to the Continental Congress and signers of the Declaration of
Independence.
Although not born in Georgia, Lyman Hall moved to present
day Liberty County to serve as a physician to the settlers. Elected
Governor in 1783, Hall became the first in that office to exercise
strong executive leadership. An advocate of public schools, Hall helped
to charter the University of Georgia.
The county's historical sites
include the Midway Museum, located in a typical 18th-century house; the
Dorchester Church built in 1854; and Fort Morris.
Almost half of Liberty County's usable land area is occupied by the
U.S. Army installation, Fort Stewart.
Naturalist, mathematician and scholar Louis LeConte, for whom the
LeConte pear was named, resided in Liberty County. His home is now the
site of the LeConte Botanical Gardens.
Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, was from St. Catherine's Island in Liberty County.
In Liberty County, 32.0% of the
county’s residents were age 18 or younger, while 3.9% were age 65 or
older. Statewide, 26.5% were age 18 or younger and 9.6% were age 65
or older.
The Census reports 11.1% of Liberty
County's households were headed by females with children under 18
years of age, compared with 9.0% statewide. Total households with
children under 18 comprised 50.5% of all households in the county
and 35.0% of those in the state.
Between 1996 and 2000, Liberty
County school system reported an average high school dropout rate of
3.6%, for students in grades 9 to 12. Statewide, this rate is 6.8%
for the same period of time.
Liberty County spent an average of
$4,334 per student for public education each year between 1996 and
2000. This expenditure was less than the state wide average of
$5,285
Based on the 2000 graduating class
for Liberty County school system, 46.3% of the students were
eligible for the HOPE Scholarship Program. The scholarship is
available to eligible students to attend a post-secondary school in
Georgia. Statewide, 57.9% of the graduating students were eligible
for the HOPE scholarship.
Between 1995 and 1998, the infant
mortality rate (infant deaths per 1,000 live births) was 10.1 for
the county. The statewide rate was 9.2 during the same period.
In 2000, the number of physicians
in the county per 1,000 population was 1.0, compared with the 1.9
state average. Liberty County had 0.5 hospital beds per 1,000
population in 2000, which was less than the statewide average of 3.1
beds per 1,000 population.
The 2000 index crime rate (crimes
per 1,000) for Liberty County was 4.3. Statewide, in 2000, the rate
was 3.4. Of the total index crimes reported, 8.0% were violent
crimes, while 92.0% were property crimes.
In 2000, 37.5% of the adult population in the county was
registered to vote. Of those registered voters, 65.6% voted in the
2000 general election. Statewide, in 2000, 64.1% of eligible
Georgians were registered to vote. Of those registered, 69.6% voted
in the general election that year.
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Liberty County was created in 1777 from the colonial parishes of St.
Andrews, St. James, and St. John. The land that made up these parishes
was originally held by the Creek Indians. The county's name honors Lyman
Hall and Button Gwinnett of Midway, who were Georgia's first delegates
to the Continental Congress and signers of the Declaration of
Independence. 
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Facts