# Elbert County, Georgia

Elbert County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,637. The county seat is Elberton. The county was established on December 10, 1790, and was named for Samuel Elbert.

## Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 374 square miles (970 km$^2$), of which 351 square miles (910 km$^2$) is land and 23 square miles (60 km$^2$) (6.2%) is water. The county is located in the Piedmont region of the state.
The northern half of Elbert County, north of a line made by following State Route 17 from Bowman southeast to Elberton, and then following State Route 72 east to just before the South Carolina border, and then heading south along the shores of Lake Richard B. Russell & Clarkes Hill to the county's southeastern tip, is located in the Upper Savannah River sub-basin of the larger Savannah River basin. The portion of the county south of this line is located in the Broad River sub-basin of the Savannah River basin.

### Major highways

* State Route 17
* State Route 72
* State Route 77
* State Route 77 Connector
* State Route 79
* State Route 172
* State Route 368

### Adjacent counties

* Anderson County, South Carolina (northeast)
* Abbeville County, South Carolina (east)
* McCormick County, South Carolina (southeast)
* Lincoln County (southeast)
* Wilkes County (south)
* Oglethorpe County (southwest)
* Madison County (west)
* Hart County (north)
* Franklin County (northwest)

## Communities
### Cities

* Bowman
* Elberton

### Census-designated place

* Dewy Rose

### Unincorporated communities

* Hard Cash
* Ruckersville
* Rice Town

### Ghost town

* Petersburg

## Demographics

Elbert County racial composition as of 2020 :
| Race | Num. | Perc. |
| White | 12,610 | 64.22% |
| Black or African American | 5,253 | 26.75% |
| Native American | 26 | 0.13% |
| Asian | 182 | 0.93% |
| Pacific Islander | 3 | 0.02% |
| Other/Mixed | 567 | 2.89% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 996 | 5.07% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 19,637 people, 7,559 households, and 5,065 families residing in the county.

## Judiciary and government

Elbert County is part of the Northern Judicial Circuit of Georgia, which also includes the counties of Hart, Franklin, Madison, and Oglethorpe. Elbert County's governing authority, the Elbert County Board of Commissioners, has five Commissioners elected in districts, a Chairperson elected County-wide, and an appointed County Administrator.

### Politics

United States presidential election results for Elbert County, Georgia :
| Year | Republican | Republican | Democratic | Democratic | Third party(ies) | Third party(ies) |
| Year | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
| 2024 | 6,860 | 71.54% | 2,700 | 28.16% | 29 | 0.30% |
| 2020 | 6,226 | 67.85% | 2,879 | 31.38% | 71 | 0.77% |
| 2016 | 5,292 | 65.93% | 2,539 | 31.63% | 196 | 2.44% |
| 2012 | 4,859 | 59.58% | 3,181 | 39.00% | 116 | 1.42% |
| 2008 | 4,868 | 58.43% | 3,366 | 40.40% | 98 | 1.18% |
| 2004 | 4,626 | 60.33% | 2,984 | 38.91% | 58 | 0.76% |
| 2000 | 3,262 | 55.73% | 2,527 | 43.17% | 64 | 1.09% |
| 1996 | 2,393 | 40.86% | 2,900 | 49.51% | 564 | 9.63% |
| 1992 | 2,372 | 38.46% | 3,025 | 49.05% | 770 | 12.49% |
| 1988 | 2,796 | 56.77% | 2,118 | 43.01% | 11 | 0.22% |
| 1984 | 3,366 | 55.77% | 2,670 | 44.23% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1980 | 1,967 | 32.45% | 4,014 | 66.23% | 80 | 1.32% |
| 1976 | 961 | 16.89% | 4,730 | 83.11% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1972 | 2,875 | 76.48% | 884 | 23.52% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 914 | 16.98% | 1,216 | 22.59% | 3,252 | 60.42% |
| 1964 | 1,887 | 37.30% | 3,172 | 62.70% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 609 | 14.23% | 3,672 | 85.77% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 447 | 10.95% | 3,635 | 89.05% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1952 | 552 | 14.41% | 3,279 | 85.59% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 152 | 7.16% | 1,617 | 76.17% | 354 | 16.67% |
| 1944 | 370 | 19.11% | 1,564 | 80.79% | 2 | 0.10% |
| 1940 | 357 | 14.70% | 2,052 | 84.48% | 20 | 0.82% |
| 1936 | 438 | 19.62% | 1,772 | 79.39% | 22 | 0.99% |
| 1932 | 77 | 3.63% | 2,023 | 95.47% | 19 | 0.90% |
| 1928 | 931 | 46.95% | 1,052 | 53.05% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1924 | 72 | 5.59% | 1,024 | 79.56% | 191 | 14.84% |
| 1920 | 187 | 13.04% | 1,247 | 86.96% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1916 | 0 | 0.00% | 1,756 | 90.56% | 183 | 9.44% |
| 1912 | 13 | 1.15% | 882 | 77.85% | 238 | 21.01% |

## Historical and cultural sites

Historical and cultural sites in Elbert County include the Nancy Hart cabin, the Dan Tucker gravesite, the Stephen Heard Cemetery, the Petersburg Township site, Vans Creek Church, the Elbert County Courthouse, the Elberton Seaboard-Airline Depot, the Rock Gym, the Granite Bowl, the Elberton Granite Museum and Exhibit, the Richard B. Russell Dam, the Elbert Theatre, Richard B. Russell State Park, and Bobby Brown Park. The Georgia Guidestones stood in Elbert County from 1980 until their destruction in 2022.

## Notable people

* Warren Akin Sr., member of the Georgia House of Representatives and Confederate States Congress
* Milton Alexander, brigadier general during the Black Hawk War
* William J. Alston, U.S. House of Representatives, Alabama House of Representatives, and Alabama Senate
* Richard E. Banks, physician and surgeon
* William Barnett, U.S. House of Representatives
* William Augustus Bell, academic and president of Miles College
* Fred Bond Jr., tobacco industry representative and mayor Cary, North Carolina
* Nathaniel J. Hammond, United States House of Representatives and Georgia Attorney General
* Mecole Hardman, professional football player
* Derek Harper, professional basketball player
* Corra Mae Harris, journalist and war correspondent
* Sampson Willis Harris, U.S. House of Representatives and Georgia House of Representatives
* Nancy Hart, rebel heroine of the American Revolutionary War
* William Henry Heard, clergyman and diplomat
* R. H. Hunt, architect
* Mammy Kate, enslaved women
* Joseph Rucker Lamar, US Supreme Court justice
* Otis Leavill, R&B singer, songwriter and record company executive
* Daniel Parker, leader in the Primitive Baptist Church
* Charles Tait, United States Senator and a United States district judge
* Horace Tate, educator, activist, scholar, and politician
* Daniel Tucker, Methodist minister, farmer, and ferryman as well as a captain during the American Revolution
* Matthias Ward, lawyer and United States Senator from Texas.
* William J. White, civil rights leader, minister, educator, and journalist
* Thomas Simpson Woodward, brigadier general in the Georgia militia