Rockdale County, Georgia

History

Rockdale County was formed on October 18, 1870 and received its name from Rockdale Baptist Church (est. May 29, 1847), which was named after the granite strata that rests under the county's red clay top soil. A bill introduced by John F. Hardin and John Harris carved Rockdale out of the northern portion of Newton County; parts of Rockdale County also came from neighboring Henry, Walton, Gwinnett, and DeKalb counties. Conyers, Rockdale's only incorporated town and urban center, became the county seat.

Prior to Rockdale becoming a county, the land had been inhabited by the Creek and Cherokee; the boundary between the two native nations, the Hightower Trail, ran directly through the area. Burial remains have been discovered in the Honey Creek and Hi-Roc areas. Whites began migrating to the area in the early 19th century and initial white settlers suffered from Indian raids. Early white settlements developed along Big Haynes Creek in the northern part of the county, the Yellow River in the middle portion of the county, and Honey Creek in the south.

Communities formed around grist mills and newly formed churches such as Haralson Mill, Costleys Mill, Dial Mill, Zacharys Mill, McElroys Mill, Union Grove Baptist Church, Ebenezer Methodist Church, Philadelphia Methodist Church, Salem Baptist Church, Smyrna Presbyterian Church, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Bethel Christian Church, Honey Creek Baptist Church, and Whites Chapel Methodist Church. Other communities included Magnet and Zingara. These settlers were largely subsistence farmers.

During the American Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman marched the Union Army north of Conyers on his way to Covington from Lithonia. Seizure and destruction of property accompanied his army's march through the area. Many of the residents of Conyers, fearing Sherman would raze the city, fled to nearby Social Circle in Walton County, since Conyers was an important stop on the Georgia Railroad, but Conyers remained unscathed by the war.

The city is a fine example of residential and commercial architecture of the 19th century. According to a historical marker on U.S. Highway 278 west of Conyers, Major General Joseph Wheeler of the Confederate States Army and part of his staff were captured by Union troops pursuing Jefferson Davis on May 9, 1865. Wheeler was later released in Athens only to be recaptured again. He was wounded three times and had his horse shot out from under him sixteen times.

During Reconstruction, Conyers and Rockdale County experienced tremendous growth. According to the local newspaper, The Weekly Farmer, the population of Conyers increased from 300 to 2,000. The number of stores, businesses, schools, and churches of the county rapidly multiplied as well. Parts of the county were infamous for moonshining and the county became dry in 1882, prohibiting the sale and manufacture of liquor except by a licensed pharmacist as prescribed by a physician. The economy of the county was still based primarily on agriculture into the early 20th century. The PBS documentary The Lost Children of Rockdale County is about a syphilis outbreak which occurred in the county during the 1990s.

Rockdale County continued to be primarily rural in nature until the construction of I-20 in the 1960s, and it was added to Atlanta's metropolitan statistical area in the 1970 census. As late as 2000, the county had a white majority, but by 2020, whites only accounted for 27% of the county's population. This is partially attributed to the "new great migration", as the county's growth has coincided with strong growth in its black population. The county became majority-black in 2013.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 132 sqmi, of which 130 sqmi is land and 2.3 sqmi (1.7%) is water. It is the second-smallest county in Georgia by area, ahead of Clarke County.

The entirety of Rockdale County is located in the Upper Ocmulgee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin.

Adjacent counties

• Newton County – Southeast
• Henry County – southwest
• DeKalb County – west
• Walton County – northeast
• Gwinnett County – north

Communities

City

• Conyers

Census-designated places

• Lakeview Estates
• Milstead

Demographics

| align-fn = center 1790-1880 1890-1910 1920-1930 1930-1940 1940-1950 1960-1980 1980-2000 2010 2020

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 93,570 people, 33,114 households, and 23,533 families residing in the county.

The median age was 39.7 years; 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18, and 15.5% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 88.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 85.6 males age 18 and over.

Eighty-six point three percent of residents lived in urban areas, while 13.7% lived in rural areas.

The racial makeup of the county was 27.4% White, 58.1% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.6% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 5.7% from some other race, and 6.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 10.2% of the population.

Of the 33,114 households, 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 32.7% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 22.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 35,427 housing units, of which 6.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 67.9% were owner-occupied and 32.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.2% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.3%.

2010 census

In 2010, the median income for a household in the county was $53,599, and the median income for a family was $60,065. Males had a median income of $41,087 versus $29,189 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,300. About 5.70% of families and 8.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.00% of those under age 18 and 7.70% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Main article: Rockdale County School District

Government and policing

Rockdale County Sheriff

The Sheriff's Office provides police patrol to the county areas other than in Conyers which has a municipal police department. The Sheriff also protects the court, maintains the county prison, and provides administration services.

Politics

A former Republican stronghold, Rockdale County has undergone a massive shift towards the Democratic Party in recent decades, primarily due to large growth of the African-American population. In 2000, Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush won 62.64% of the county's vote, defeating Democrat Al Gore by 29 percentage points. However, just 20 years later, Democratic nominee Joe Biden won 69.88% of the county's vote, defeating Republican incumbent Donald Trump by nearly 41 percentage points. Contrary to national and statewide trends, Rockdale County delivered a larger margin for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, who defeated Republican nominee Donald Trump by 47 percentage points even as Trump narrowly flipped the state of Georgia back to the GOP column.

Rockdale County is one of nine counties that shifted more than 25 percentage points to the left from 2012 to 2024.

Georgia General Assembly

Georgia State Senate

Georgia House of Representatives

Recreation

• Georgia International Horse Park
• Black Shoals Lake and Covered Bridge
• Old Towne Conyers Historic District
• Monastery of the Holy Spirit
• Salem Campground
• Smyrna Campground
• Milstead Historic Mill Village
• Panola Mountain State Park
• Rockdale Baptist Church
• Georgia Revolution FC

Transportation

Major highways

Pedestrians and cycling

• Arabia Mountain Path
• Conyers Trail
• Deer Run Trial
• Rockdale River Trail
• S River Trail

Notable people

• Jill Arrington, ESPN college football reporter
• Billy Buckner, former Major League Baseball player
• Pop-punk band Cartel's Will Pugh, Joseph Pepper, Jeff Lett, Nic Hudson, & Kevin Sanders
• David Elder, former Major League Baseball player
• Dakota Fanning, actress
• Elle Fanning, actress
• Holly Hunter, actress
• John Mark Karr, JonBenét Ramsey's falsely claimed murderer
• Clint Mathis, World Cup soccer player
• Jack McBrayer, actor
• Kevin Ware, current college basketball player
• E.R. Shipp - Pulitzer Prize recipient
• Grady Jarrett - NFL player
• Teddy Swims - Singer

Sources

• Margaret G. Barksdale, E. L. Cowan, Francis A. King, eds. A History of Rockdale County (Conyers, Ga., 1978).
• The Heritage of Rockdale County, Georgia (Waynesville, N.C., 1998).

References

References

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21. "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Rockdale County, Georgia". [[United States Census Bureau]].
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