Glynn County, Georgia

Coordinates: 31°13′N 81°29′W / 31.22°N 81.49°W / 31.22; -81.49
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Glynn County
Glynn County Courthouse
Glynn County Courthouse
Map of Georgia highlighting Glynn County
Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
Map of the United States highlighting Georgia
Georgia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 31°13′N 81°29′W / 31.22°N 81.49°W / 31.22; -81.49
Country United States
State Georgia
Founded1777; 247 years ago (1777)
Named forJohn Glynn
SeatBrunswick
Largest cityBrunswick
Government
 • Chairman, Board of CommissionersDavid O'Quinn
Area
 • Total585 sq mi (1,520 km2)
 • Land420 sq mi (1,100 km2)
 • Water165 sq mi (430 km2)  28.3%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total84,499
 • Density201/sq mi (78/km2)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district1st
Websitewww.glynncounty.org

Glynn County is located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 84,499.[1] The county seat is Brunswick.[2] Glynn County is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History[edit]

Glynn County, one of the state's original eight counties created on February 5, 1777, was named after John Glynn,[3] a member of the British House of Commons who defended the cause of the American Colonies before the American Revolution. The Battle of Bloody Marsh was fought in Glynn County. James Oglethorpe built Fort Frederica, which was used a base in the American Revolutionary War. Glynn Academy, established to educate boys, is the second oldest school in Georgia.

Glynn County includes the most prominent of the Sea Islands of Georgia, including Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, and Sea Island. The Georgia poet Sidney Lanier immortalized the seacoast there in his poem, "The Marshes of Glynn", which begins:

Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven
With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven
Clamber the forks of the multiform boughs,--
Emerald twilights,--
Virginal shy lights,
Wrought of the leaves to allure to the whisper of vows,
When lovers pace timidly down through the green colonnades
Of the dim sweet woods, of the dear dark woods,
Of the heavenly woods and glades,
That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach within
The wide sea-marshes of Glynn;--

During World War II, Naval Air Station Glynco, named for the county, was a major base for training for blimps and anti-submarine warfare. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) now uses a substantial part of the former NAS as its main campus.

Geography[edit]

Old Glynn County Courthouse
Historical marker

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 585 square miles (1,520 km2), of which 420 square miles (1,100 km2) is land and 165 square miles (430 km2) (28.3%) is water.[4]

The majority of Glynn County is located in the Cumberland-St. Simons sub-basin of the St. Marys-Satilla River basin. Most of the county's northern and northwestern border area is located in the Altamaha River sub-basin of the basin by the same name.[5]

Major highways[edit]

Adjacent counties[edit]

Communities[edit]

City[edit]

Census-designated places[edit]

Unincorporated community[edit]

Ghost towns[edit]

Demographics[edit]

Historical population
CensusPop.Note
1790413
18001,874353.8%
18103,41782.3%
18203,4180.0%
18304,56733.6%
18405,30216.1%
18504,933−7.0%
18603,889−21.2%
18705,37638.2%
18806,49720.9%
189013,420106.6%
190014,3176.7%
191015,7209.8%
192019,37023.2%
193019,4000.2%
194021,92013.0%
195029,04632.5%
196041,95444.4%
197050,52820.4%
198054,9818.8%
199062,49613.7%
200067,5688.1%
201079,62617.8%
202084,4996.1%
U.S. Decennial Census[7]
1790-1880[8] 1890-1910[9]
1920-1930[10] 1930-1940[11]
1940-1950[12] 1960-1980[13]
1980-2000[14] 2010[15]
Glynn County racial composition as of 2020[16]
Race Num. Perc.
White (non-Hispanic) 52,987 62.71%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 20,469 24.22%
Native American 175 0.21%
Asian 1,175 1.39%
Pacific Islander 92 0.11%
Other/Mixed 3,265 3.86%
Hispanic or Latino 6,336 7.5%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 84,499 people, 34,614 households, and 22,352 families residing in the county.

2015[edit]

In terms of European ancestry, 40.8% were English, 10.6% were "American", 10.2% were Irish, and 7.9% were German.[17]

Education[edit]

Glynn County's public schools are operated by Glynn County School System.

Superfund sites[edit]

Glynn County is home to four Superfund sites. Those include the "LCP Chemicals Georgia" site,[18] the "Brunswick Wood Preserving" site,[19] the "Hercules 009 Landfill" site,[20] and the "Terry Creek Dredge Spoil Areas/Hercules Outfall" site.[21]

The Hanlin Group, Inc., which maintained a facility named "LCP Chemicals" in Glynn County just outside the corporate limits of Brunswick, was convicted of dumping 150 tons of mercury into Purvis Creek, a tributary of the Turtle River and surrounding tidal marshes between the mid-1980s and its closure in 1994. Three executives were sentenced to prison time over the incident.[22]

The LCP facility had been declared a Superfund site when it closed in 1994. It had been under scrutiny by the EPA after Service biologists discovered mercury poisoning in endangered wood storks on St. Simons Island. Fish, shellfish, crabs, and shrimps taken in coastal waters, as well as other bird species, also contained the toxic metal. The Service traced the source of the contamination to the LCP plant and documented the extent of the damage to wildlife resources. Their effort resulted in the addition of Endangered Species Act charges to those that would be brought against Hanlin and its officers.[23]

Crime[edit]

In 2020, the FBI ranked the Brunswick metropolitan area (which includes the counties of Glynn, Brantley and McIntosh) as the 7th most dangerous metropolitan area in the state of Georgia.[24]

On August 29, 2009, Glynn County resident Guy Heinze Jr. murdered eight members of his extended family including his father, Guy Heinze Sr. in the family's trailer located in New Hope Plantation Mobile Home Park near Brunswick. Two others were critically injured, with one dying later in a hospital in Savannah. Heinze Jr. avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole on October 30, 2013.[25]

Politics[edit]

Similar to Southeast Georgia, Glynn County is heavily Republican, having last voted Democratic in 1980, when the Democratic nominee was Jimmy Carter.

United States presidential election results for Glynn County, Georgia[26]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 25,617 61.00% 15,882 37.82% 495 1.18%
2016 21,512 62.47% 11,775 34.19% 1,150 3.34%
2012 20,893 62.95% 11,950 36.00% 348 1.05%
2008 20,479 61.31% 12,676 37.95% 248 0.74%
2004 18,608 67.08% 8,962 32.31% 169 0.61%
2000 14,346 64.09% 7,778 34.75% 260 1.16%
1996 12,305 56.96% 8,058 37.30% 1,239 5.74%
1992 11,242 49.02% 8,581 37.42% 3,109 13.56%
1988 11,126 63.18% 6,339 35.99% 146 0.83%
1984 11,724 64.07% 6,574 35.93% 0 0.00%
1980 7,214 47.54% 7,540 49.69% 419 2.76%
1976 5,403 36.35% 9,459 63.65% 0 0.00%
1972 9,443 75.88% 3,002 24.12% 0 0.00%
1968 3,725 30.24% 3,251 26.39% 5,341 43.36%
1964 7,341 56.22% 5,712 43.75% 4 0.03%
1960 2,926 44.95% 3,584 55.05% 0 0.00%
1956 3,098 50.22% 3,071 49.78% 0 0.00%
1952 2,575 43.47% 3,348 56.53% 0 0.00%
1948 1,090 23.80% 2,444 53.36% 1,046 22.84%
1944 385 16.18% 1,995 83.82% 0 0.00%
1940 274 11.94% 2,014 87.76% 7 0.31%
1936 260 11.88% 1,925 87.98% 3 0.14%
1932 186 12.81% 1,262 86.91% 4 0.28%
1928 799 59.27% 549 40.73% 0 0.00%
1924 283 29.18% 612 63.09% 75 7.73%
1920 132 23.83% 422 76.17% 0 0.00%
1916 36 6.45% 477 85.48% 45 8.06%
1912 16 3.21% 470 94.19% 13 2.61%

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Glynn County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 139.
  4. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  5. ^ "Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Interactive Mapping Experience". Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2015.
  6. ^ Thalmann, Georgia Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide – Train Web)
  7. ^ "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decades". United States Census Bureau.
  8. ^ "1880 Census Population by Counties 1790-1800" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1880.
  9. ^ "1910 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1910.
  10. ^ "1930 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1930.
  11. ^ "1940 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1940.
  12. ^ "1950 Census of Population - Georgia -" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1950.
  13. ^ "1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1980.
  14. ^ "2000 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000.
  15. ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 3, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  16. ^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  17. ^ "DP03 SELECTED ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  18. ^ "LCP Chemicals Georgia". EPA. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  19. ^ "Brunswick Wood Preserving". EPA. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  20. ^ "Hercules 009 Landfill". EPA. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  21. ^ "Terry Creek Dredge Spoil Areas/Hercules Outfall". EPA. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  22. ^ "Former LCP Official Gets Jail Time, Fine". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  23. ^ "LCP Chemicals Georgia - Site Details". EPA. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  24. ^ Lashway, Zachery. "FBI ranks Brunswick 7th most dangerous metro area in Georgia". News 4 Jax. Graham Media Group. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  25. ^ Bynum, Russ. "Georgia man gets life sentence in beating deaths of 8". OnlineAthens. Athens Banner-Herald. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  26. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 20, 2018.

External links[edit]

31°13′N 81°29′W / 31.22°N 81.49°W / 31.22; -81.49