Washington County, which once embraced all the territory from the Cherokee corner north, from the Ogeechee to the Oconee and the Liberty on the south, was surveyed in 1784. Soon the small settlement known as Warthen’s Store was designated as the area in which court was to be held. The first Superior Court session sat at the home of Mr. Benjamin Tennille. Court sessions continued to be held in the vicinity until 1798 when a more central point was selected. The hewn log jail, in which Aaron Burr was confined over night, stands a few yards west. Bethlehem Academy, chartered in 1832, was one of four schools established by the State Legislature in Washington County. These educational institutions were maintained by a lottery authorized for this purpose.