History |
Screven County, the 14th county formed in Georgia, was named for Revolutionary War General James Screven who died in the war. Created in 1793 from parts of Burke and Effingham counties, parts of the original county later formed Bulloch and Jenkins counties.
The founding of Sylvania is said to have been the result of a curse. In 1821 an itinerant minister, Lorenzo Dow, came to preach at the local church in Jacksonborough, the small town that was at that point Screven's county seat. A pack of rowdy drunks attacked Dow but he was rescued by a man named Seaborn Goodall. Later, as Dow was leaving town, he was attacked again. As he stood on the bridge out of town, he prayed that the town be destroyed except for the home of Goodall. Within 30 years, Jacksonborough had disappeared due to mysterious fires and floods. By 1847, a new town, Sylvania, grew up just south of the site of Jacksonborough and became the county seat.
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Points of Interest |
The Savannah River is the county's eastern border and is also the border between Georgia and South Carolina. The Ogeechee River forms the southwestern boundary of the county.
The Brier Creek Battle Site, with visible breastworks, is a Revolutionary Battle Site located east of Sylvania.
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