Old Clinton Historic District

Old Clinton is a historic district of about 290 acres in Jones County, Georgia, centered on a courthouse square laid out when the town became county seat in 1808. Twelve major frame houses survive on a grid of streets, most built between 1809 and the late 1820s in the plain style, often with refined classical details. Several are attributed to Daniel Pratt, a Connecticut craftsman who also managed Samuel Griswold's cotton gin factory. That factory was among the largest of its kind in the country until Sherman's army destroyed it in 1864. Clinton also housed an academy tied to early women's education. A Methodist church and an old town cemetery with graves from the 1790s remain. Because the town declined to support a railroad route, it stagnated, and that lack of growth helped preserve its early character. The district was listed to protect this setting from highway widening and commercial pressure.