The county is named for William Yates Atkinson, who served as Governor and Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. Willacoochee is home to McCraine’s Turpentine Still, a preserved wood-burning turpentine still of 19th-century design that operated from 1936 to 1942. Atkinson County, created from Clinch and Coffee counties, has a county courthouse that was constructed in 1921. Pearson, was named to honor Benjah Pearson who served in the Indian War of 1838.