Jug Tavern · 1893 · The county seat
Winder History
Winder's history runs from a settlement called Snodon to the county seat of Barrow County. It was known as Jug Tavern, fought a Civil War battle under that name, and was renamed Winder in 1893 for the railroad man John H. Winder.
The strangest chapter is the three-county one: before Barrow County existed, the city straddled Jackson, Walton, and Gwinnett, and the county was carved out in 1914 to settle it.
The founding story
Jug Tavern and the railroad
The settlement the Creek and Cherokee knew as Snodon was settled by Europeans in 1793 and became known as the Jug, then Jug Tavern. Railroads arrived in the 1880s, and the Battle of Jug Tavern was fought nearby in July 1864 during the Civil War. The city was incorporated as Jug Tavern in 1884 and renamed Winder in 1893 for John H. Winder, the builder and general manager of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad.
The three-county chapter
The making of Barrow County
Before Barrow County existed, Winder straddled Jackson, Walton, and Gwinnett counties, which met at the center of the city and caused years of disputed taxes and business affairs. To settle it, the Georgia General Assembly carved Barrow County out of those three in 1914, and Winder became the county seat. The city was also home to the United States senator Richard B. Russell Jr.
An editorial guide, not a listings site. Updated September 13, 2026. Real-estate guidance on this page is provided by Rob Dietrich, REALTOR® with eXp Realty, LLC.