The history of Warren County precedes the birth of our Nation.  Many of the old deeds recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court of Warren County refer to certain plots of land lying east of the 82nd parallel (which runs almost through the center of Warrenton) as being derived from grants from King George III of England.

The rest of the land lying to the west was described as being wild land.  During colonial times, this land was known as St. Paul's Parish.

Warren County, rich in Southern history and tradition,  was created from parts of Columbia, Hancock, Richmond and Wilkes counties by an act of the legislature on December 19, 1793.
  
The county, Georgia's 20th, was named for Revolutionary War hero  Gen. Joseph Warren (1741-1775), from Massachusetts, who was killed early in the American Revolution at the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1857, Glascock County was created entirely from Warren County.  Also, portions of Warren County were used to create Jefferson County (1796),
Taliaferro County (1825), and McDuffie County (1870).

Yale (‘75) graduate David Bush/Bushnell  built the first submarine to actually make an attack on an enemy warship. Dubbed the "Turtle" because it resembled a sea-turtle floating vertically in the water, it was operated by Sergeant Ezra Lee.

The scheme: be towed into the vicinity of the target; open a foot-operated valve to let in enough water to sink, close the valve; move in under the enemy by cranking the two propellers – one for forward and one for vertical movement – turned by foot treadle "like a spinning wheel;" drill into the hull to attach a 150-pound keg of gunpowder with a clockwork detonator; crank to get away; operate a foot-pump to get the water out of the hull and thus re-surface.

A commission was named by the General Assembly  to select the county seat and erect a courthouse and jail.. Until that action was taken, Warren County courts were to meet in the house of James McCormick. By 1796, no county seat had been selected, so the General Assembly directed that county courts temporarily meet at the house of Sterling Gardner. An act of Feb. 9, 1797 designated a lot on Gardner's plantation as the permanent county seat of Warren County. This lot became the town of Warrenton, which the General Assembly incorporated on Dec. 8, 1810.


The beautiful Warren County Courthouse with its architecturally significant structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Located in the county seat, the courthouse and the Confederate Monument are the center pieces of Warrenton's business community.