A Brief
History of Nashville, Berrien
County, Georgia
The act creating Berrien County authorized the county's inferior court to
contract for construction of a courthouse and other public buildings (Ga.
Laws 1855-56, p. 112). Reportedly, a log schoolhouse served as the county's
temporary courthouse until a two-story wooden structure was built in 1858.
That structure served until the present two-story brick courthouse was built
in 1898.
County History: Berrien
County was created on Feb. 25, 1856 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga.
Laws 1855-56, p. 112). Georgia's 116th county was created from portions of
Coffee, Irwin, and Lowndes counties. Cook County was created from Berrien
County in 1918. Also, portions of Berrien County were used to create Tift
County (1905) and Lanier County (1920). Berrien County was named for former
U.S. Senator, U.S. Attorney General, and Georgia politician
John Macpherson Berrien (1781-1856).
County Seat: The 1856
act creating Berrien County appointed William Roberts, Josiah Parish,
Cornelius Tison, Jasper M. Luke and Owen Smith as commissioners to purchase
land for a county seat. However, the law also directed that election of
county officials be held on the first Monday of April 1856. Should the
commissioners not have selected a county seat by the time of the election,
the new justices of the county's inferior court were authorized to make this
decision. Shortly thereafter, the community of Nashville was named county
seat. Like its Tennessee counterpart, Nashville was named for Revolutionary
War hero Gen. Francis Nash (1742-1777), who was mortally wounded in the
Battle of Germantown. The General Assembly incorporated Nashville on Dec.
20, 1892 (Ga. Laws 1892, p. 162).
