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Georgia · East-Central Georgia · #632
Taliaferro County, Georgia
Georgia's smallest county by population, Taliaferro County nonetheless holds the home of Alexander Stephens - Vice President of the Confederacy and one of the most intellectually complex figures in American political history - in a county so small that the courthouse and the elementary school share the same community's gravity.
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Office: Taliaferro County Sheriff’s Office – 758 Warrenton Road SE, Crawfordville, GA 30631 | (706) 456-2345 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff Tia M. McWilliams. Divisions include Uniform Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Support Services, and Special Operations.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-278 and GA-22 serve Crawfordville, the county seat and largest city, roughly 90 miles east of Atlanta and 50 miles west of Augusta.
Notes: Taliaferro County (pronounced “Tolliver”) was created December 24, 1825, from parts of Greene, Hancock, Oglethorpe, Warren, and Wilkes Counties, Georgia’s 69th county, named for Benjamin Taliaferro, a Revolutionary War colonel who served with Lee’s Legion and later became a Georgia legislator and judge. Crawfordville, incorporated in 1826, is named for William Harris Crawford, an early presidential cabinet member (Secretary of War and Treasury) and 1824 presidential candidate; its town plan, drawn by James Carlton in 1828, became known as the “Crawfordville Plat” and was later adopted by other Georgia towns. Taliaferro County is genuinely the least populous county in Georgia.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Taliaferro County Courthouse – 113 Monument Street SE, P.O. Box 114, Crawfordville, GA | (706) 456-2123 (built 1901-02, High Victorian, architects Lewis F. Goodrich and J.H. McKenzie & Son; National Register of Historic Places since 1980); according to local newspaper accounts, supporters of the new courthouse reportedly had the old structure demolished overnight to force the county’s hand on replacing it.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Taliaferro County Veterans Services – confirm current contact via taliaferrocountyga.org.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Taliaferro County Public Library (Crawfordville) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: A.H. Stephens State Park, founded in 1933 and built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, honors Alexander H. Stephens, the county’s most famous native, who served as a U.S. Congressman, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, and Governor of Georgia (dying in office). The Taliaferro County Historical Society maintains a museum in Crawfordville’s antebellum post office building. Notable county natives also include Tuskegee Airman John Loyd Atkinson Sr., the first Black superintendent in the Georgia state parks system, and writer Richard Malcolm Johnston.
Notes: Taliaferro County came to national attention in 1965 when local resistance to school desegregation prompted Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to organize a protest march from Crawfordville to Atlanta; the county’s public schools remained effectively segregated through private-school enrollment until 1976 – a difficult chapter in local history noted here factually.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Taliaferro County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via taliaferrocountyga.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via taliaferrocountyga.org; Taliaferro County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Taliaferro County Solid Waste / Planning & Zoning – confirm current contact via taliaferrocountyga.org.
NOTES: Taliaferro County is the one-hundred-and-thirty-third county completed in Georgia’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The county’s genuine status as Georgia’s least populous, and its connections to Alexander Stephens and Tuskegee Airman John Loyd Atkinson, are among the standout local facts covered in this project; the county’s documented, difficult desegregation-era history is noted with appropriate care. 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 Taliaferro County
Taliaferro County is the smallest county in Georgia by population – a fact its roughly 1,500 residents manage with the equanimity of people who value what they have rather than measuring it against what they lack. Crawfordville, the county seat, is a small community where county government, the school system, and local services are woven into the same modest civic fabric. The county’s economy is timber and agriculture, with Conservation Use enrollment covering much of the productive land.
Alexander H. Stephens – Georgia congressman, Confederate Vice President, and the author of the infamous “Cornerstone Speech” in which he explicitly identified the enslavement of African Americans as the cornerstone of the Confederacy – lived at Liberty Hall, his plantation near Crawfordville. The Alexander H. Stephens State Park preserves the house and a museum that examines his complex legacy, including his strong Unionist convictions before secession and his post-war advocacy for reconciliation.
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 to the Board of Assessors. Georgia offers school tax exemptions for seniors 62 and older. Georgia has no estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
Taliaferro County Probate Court: 113 Monument Street, Crawfordville, GA 30631 | (706) 456-2123. The Probate Court handles estate administration and guardianship.
Senior Services
Northeast Georgia Area Agency on Aging
305 Research Drive NE, Athens, GA 30605
Phone: (706) 369-5650
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)
113 Monument St., Crawfordville, GA 30631
(706) 456-2123
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Probate Court of Taliaferro County (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Published local history: “Rest In Peace: A Cemetery Census of Taliaferro County, Georgia” (Jones, 1984).
East Georgia Genealogical Society (Winder) also serves Taliaferro among its 29-county region.
Local societies
East Georgia Genealogical Society (see above) is the primary regional resource; no dedicated Taliaferro-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
Probate Court of Taliaferro County 113 Monument Street, Crawfordville, GA 30631 Judge: Hon. Clarris C. Stephens. Taliaferro County is one of Georgia’s least populous counties.
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 Taliaferro 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
113 Monument St., Crawfordville, GA 30631
(706) 456-2361
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS / VOTER REGISTRATION
113 Monument St., Crawfordville, GA 30631
(706) 456-2123
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
GA Dept of Public Health — East Central
(706) 456-2123
GA DFCS — Taliaferro
(706) 456-2123
GA Medicaid
(800) 869-1150
Augusta University Medical Center (Augusta)
augustahealth.org
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Taliaferro County Health Department – confirm current contact via taliaferrocountyga.org.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Crawfordville
Population: 1,550
Area: 195 sq mi
Established: 1825
Tier: 4
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Taliaferro County facilities via Amazon.
