Montgomery County was cut from Washington County in 1793. Its first court was held in William Neal’s House in 1794, now in Emanuel County. Later court sites were Arthur Lott’s plantation on the Ohoopee from 1797 to 1801, near Ebenezer Church, now in Emanuel County, from 1802 to 1812, and James Alston’s house in Montgomery County in 1813 as a temporary site. On November 30, 1813, the General Assembly of Georgia declared that the site of Montgomery County’s permanent buildings would be known as Mount Vernon. The present building is the third courthouse in Mount Vernon.