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Georgia · Central Georgia · #640
Pulaski County, Georgia
On the Ocmulgee River in central Georgia, Hawkinsville has been the winter training capital of harness racing in the United States - standardbred horses from across the country have wintered and trained on the county's climate-perfect tracks since the late nineteenth century, a heritage the city celebrates with the annual Grand Harness Race.
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Office: Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office – 141 Commerce Street, Hawkinsville, GA 31036 | (478) 783-1521; Sheriff Danny Brannen. Pulaski County Jail / Law Enforcement Center – 34 Badge Boulevard, Hawkinsville, GA | (478) 783-4011.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-129 and US-341 serve Hawkinsville, the county seat, nicknamed the “City of Thirteen Highways,” on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, which historically made it an important center for steamboat and riverboat freight transportation in the 19th century.
Notes: Pulaski County was created in 1808 from Laurens County, Georgia’s 36th county, named for Polish Count Casimir Pulaski, a Revolutionary War officer who died of wounds suffered at the Siege of Savannah. The Pulaski area had earlier served as the capital of the Creek Indian Confederacy. Hawkinsville, incorporated December 2, 1830, is named for Colonel Benjamin Hawkins, a Revolutionary War soldier, U.S. Senator, and federal agent to the Muscogee (Creek) Indians. The original county seat was Hartford, directly across the river from Hawkinsville; the seat moved to Hawkinsville in 1836 because its higher western bluff offered better protection from flooding. When Georgia’s Supreme Court rotated among eight venues statewide during the 19th century, Hawkinsville served as one of its regular stops.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Pulaski County Courthouse – Courthouse Square, Hawkinsville, GA | P.O. Box 29 | (912) 783-4154 (built 1874, with additions in 1885, 1897, and 1910, Classical Revival; National Register of Historic Places since 1980), part of the Hawkinsville Commercial and Industrial Historic District.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Pulaski County Veterans Services – confirm current contact via hawkinsville-pulaski.org.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Pulaski County Public Library (Hawkinsville) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Hawkinsville is genuinely home to one of the largest harness racing training facilities in the country, the Lawrence L. Bennett Harness Horse Training Facility – the only such facility in Georgia – drawing harness horsemen from across the country each winter thanks to the mild climate and soft clay track; the town celebrates this heritage each spring with the Hawkinsville Harness Horse Festival. The Ocmulgee River offers year-round boating, floating, and fishing. Six Pulaski County sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Hawkinsville Opera House, the Pulaski County Courthouse, Taylor Hall, the Merritt-Ragan House, and St. Thomas AME Church.
Notes: Confirm current parks and recreation facilities via hawkinsville-pulaski.org.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Pulaski County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via hawkinsville-pulaski.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via hawkinsville-pulaski.org; Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Pulaski County Solid Waste / Planning & Zoning – confirm current contact via hawkinsville-pulaski.org.
NOTES: Pulaski County is the one-hundred-and-eighteenth county completed in Georgia’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. Hawkinsville’s genuine distinction as home to Georgia’s only harness horse training facility is among the standout local facts covered in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Pulaski County
Pulaski County’s Hawkinsville has a specific and genuine sporting distinction: the mild central Georgia winters, with warm days and cool nights ideal for conditioning standardbred horses, attracted harness racing trainers who established winter training operations here in the late 1800s. The tradition has continued across generations, and Hawkinsville’s harness racing heritage – the Grand Harness Race each spring, the training stables that operate through the winter months – gives the county an identity hook that most comparable central Georgia communities lack. The Hawkinsville Harness Festival is a legitimate heritage event, not a manufactured one.
The county’s economy is agricultural – cotton, peanuts, timber – and Hawkinsville serves as the modest commercial hub for the surrounding farming community. The Ocmulgee River provides fishing. The county has no major institutional employer beyond county government and the school system.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Georgia assesses property at 40% of fair market value. Property owners have 45 days from the notice of assessment to appeal. Georgia has no estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
Pulaski County Probate Court: 280 Courthouse Square, Hawkinsville, GA 31036 | (478) 783-1911. The Probate Court handles estate administration and guardianship.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF SUPERIOR COURT (Records, Marriage Licenses)
425 Lumpkin St., Hawkinsville, GA 31036
(478) 783-1911
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Pulaski County Probate Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Wiregrass Genealogical Society serves Pulaski among Bleckley, Dodge, Laurens, Twiggs, Telfair, and Wilkinson Counties.
Local societies
Wiregrass Genealogical Society (see above) is the primary regional resource; no dedicated Pulaski-County-only genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Pulaski County Probate Court Pulaski County Courthouse, 141 Commerce Street, Hawkinsville, GA 31036 Judge: Hon. Jeffrey Jones.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Georgia is NOT a Uniform Probate Code state and doesn’t use a simple dollar-threshold “small estate affidavit” like many states. Instead it offers several distinct shortcuts, each suited to a different situation:
Banking Affidavit – for intestate estates with less than $15,000 in bank deposits and no other assets requiring administration. No court filing needed at all.
No Administration Necessary (Standard Form 9) – available when all heirs agree on how to divide the property and there are no debts (or all creditors consent). Can transfer real estate without full administration, but requires unanimous heir agreement – any disagreement forces the estate into formal probate.
Year’s Support (Standard Form 10, O.C.G.A. Chapter 53-3) – a distinctively Georgia protection: the surviving spouse and minor children can petition for property sufficient to maintain their standard of living for 12 months from the date of death. This takes priority over virtually all creditor claims and even most specific bequests in the will. Must be filed within 24 months of death. No bond, no inventory filing, no creditor claims period required – the fastest and simplest path when it applies.
Formal Administration – Petition to Probate Will (Common Form or Solemn Form) or Petition for Letters of Administration, when none of the above shortcuts fit.
COMMON FORM VS. SOLEMN FORM (a distinctively Georgia choice)
Common Form: the executor files the will with supporting evidence and the court admits it without notifying all heirs – faster and cheaper, but leaves a 4-year window during which interested parties can challenge the will.
Solemn Form (Standard Form 5): requires notice to all heirs; once granted, it’s final and binding much sooner, closing off future challenges.
If formal administration is needed
File the appropriate petition with the Pulaski County Probate Court – Petition to Probate Will (Common or Solemn Form) if there’s a will, or Petition for Letters of Administration if not.
The court issues a citation, published in the county’s legal organ once a week for four weeks (O.C.G.A. § 53-5-2), giving interested parties a chance to object.
After the publication period, attend the hearing for appointment as personal representative.
Once appointed, the court issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without one).
Send certified copies of the death certificate and Letters to all banks, brokerages, insurers, and retirement custodians; request date-of-death valuations and begin marshaling assets.
Obtain an EIN via IRS Form SS-4 and open an estate checking account.
Prepare an inventory of assets with date-of-death fair market values; the court may require this under O.C.G.A. § 53-7-30.
Pay debts and expenses in Georgia’s priority order (see below), then distribute remaining assets per the will or intestacy law.
What it costs
No Georgia state estate tax or inheritance tax.
Court filing fees typically range $100–$300 depending on the county.
Certified copies of Letters typically cost around $10 each.
Indigent petitioners may file an Affidavit of Indigency to request a fee waiver.
E-filing is available and encouraged statewide through platforms like PeachCourt or Odyssey eFileGA.
DEBT PRIORITY ORDER IF THE ESTATE CAN’T PAY EVERYTHING (O.C.G.A. §§ 53-3-1, 53-7-40)
Year’s Support for surviving spouse and minor children under 18.
Funeral expenses.
Costs of probate administration.
Expenses of the decedent’s last illness.
Taxes.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
425 Lumpkin St., Hawkinsville, GA 31036
(478) 783-3233
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS / VOTER REGISTRATION
425 Lumpkin St., Hawkinsville, GA 31036
(478) 783-1911
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
GA Dept of Public Health — South Central
(478) 783-1011
GA DFCS — Pulaski
(478) 783-0020
GA Medicaid
(800) 869-1150
Taylor Regional Hospital (Hawkinsville)
taylorregional.org
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Pulaski County Health Department – confirm current contact via hawkinsville-pulaski.org.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Hawkinsville
Population: 11,000
Area: 250 sq mi
Established: 1808
Tier: 4
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Pulaski County facilities via Amazon.
