Burke County, Georgia was created in 1777 from St George Parish. The county seat is Waynesboro. Burke County Georgia Courthouse was burned twice once in 1825, second in 1856.
Burke is rich in history.
A few white settlers began to move into this area as early as the 1740's. The Cession by the Indians in 1763 opened up the area for settlement. The first Courthouse in St George's was erected in 1763. Counties taken from Burke were Screven in 1793, Jefferson in 1796 and Jenkins in 1805.
Following the Revolutionary War, a substantial migration flowed from such states as Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Many new settlers lived out there time in Burke County, but the next generation moved westward to new Georgia counties or into Alabama.
Eli Whitney had three cotton gins in Burke County.
