24/7 Trauma & Biohazard Cleanup Near Cedar Bluff Athens, GA

Athens is the county seat of Clarke County and operates as the consolidated city-county government of Athens-Clarke County, formed in 1991 after voters approved unification and the old City of Athens surrendered its charter.

Athens sits about 70 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta in northeast Georgia.

The 2020 census counted 127,315 residents in Athens-Clarke County, living in 51,640 households.

Athens is home to the University of Georgia, chartered on January 27, 1785, which was the first state-chartered university in the United States.

The University of Georgia is Georgia's flagship public university and a land-grant research institution, and the city grew up around the campus.

Athens is also home to Athens Technical College, a public technical college serving the northeast Georgia region.

Athens is famous for its music scene, which produced the bands R.E.M., the B-52s and Widespread Panic, and venues such as the 40 Watt Club and the Georgia Theatre remain landmarks of that scene.

The city celebrates its local music and arts every June at the AthFest festival.

Downtown Athens displays the world's only double-barreled cannon, a Civil War-era weapon cast in the city in 1863 that was designed to fire two chain-linked cannonballs at once.

Athens is home to the 'Tree That Owns Itself,' a white oak that legend says was deeded ownership of the land within eight feet of its trunk; the original tree fell in 1942 and today's tree grew from one of its acorns.